Car sales hopscotch... wtf

We all know GRMers will travel to the ends of the earth to find the 'right' vehicle... but dealers.. I dunno. Wassup w/ that.

With the aid of CarFax subs I been checkin' out vehicle histories. Seems a lotta state-hoppin' goin' on, not that it's a bad thing, just wonder the whys and details of it all.

My current DD was originally titled in MN, sold to FLA then PA then WV then PA where I bought it. The PA/ WV thing was all auction btw afaik. When I had my first CarFax sub I checked out friends and family VINs and was surprised at the sales criss-crossing of states too. OK, fine there.

Later, lusting after a '08 Bullitt I tracked it from GA to FLA to MS to PA to WV all w/ in 18K. After a few calls from the WV dealer to the tuner (who installed the Vortec supercharger) to the owner of the PA dealer who vouched it, the car was total legit.

Latest lust is a '11 Mustang GT listed at a PA Ford dealer. First thought it would be a local trade w/ only 13K... but no, 2 owners in KS, auctioned in MO to PA. I hate to be suspicious but why buy and transport a relatively new vehicle 10 states away.

I'm prolly just leery of title washing stories.

What's GRM think.

Depends on the car. I can see an '08 Bullitt criss-crossing the country, but not an 08 Camry.

I've rarely bought a car in-state, but then again I've rarely bought a car that could be found on every other used car lot. So I guess I am not surprised to see cars with an enthusiast following move around a lot.

I am a car dealer. It's common practice among us to buy a car in one region where said car is cheap and abundant, then take it to another part of the country to sell at auction for profit. Some examples: Mercedes are cheaper here in MA than they are in Virginia and Mustang convertibles are much cheaper in Florida than they are here. I know a guy who buys a truckload of Mercedes, sends it to the Baltimore auction & has the truck return with a load of ragtop Mustangs from Ft Lauderdale. He makes a lot of money doing this. I wish I had enough working capital to copy him.

In reply to M030:

thanks, that makes sense

I never figured how many cars criss-crossed the country until I started CarFaxing