Originally Posted by tmv

Or you can do escrow.
Personally, I think the reputable manufacturing dealer or very well-known Indy can inspect the car better than I do. The important factor is to find someone who knows what he/she doing.
I bought my 4.8iS without seeing and driving it in person also. A member on here found it, had it inspected by BMW dealer. He decided to pass on it. I got in touch with him and the selling dealer. Share some cost of the PPI and had the report. I looked over it and decided to take it. Called the selling dealer. Put down the deposit. Booked a flight that weekend and drove it home from Chicago. There were 2 issues: blinking tamper dot (due to cluster replacement), and intermittent Self.Level.Susp Inact (battery). I coded the cluster and replace the battery. All is good.