Bid on a used car auction yesterday on Bring a Trailer and won. First time I won a car auction online. I was very excited about it. The seller had more than 140+ detailed pictures of the car including a paint thickness gauge measuring the paint on each panel. I even requested a video of the car running and driving which the seller promptly uploaded with limited time left on the auction.

The problem is I'm out of state and he's got the title but wants me to send him the money via wire transfer. I've been told explicitly by others and what I've read online not to wire money to the seller if you don't have the title because of internet fraud. There's no guarantee I will ever see the car or it'll arrive in the condition seen in the pics if I wire the money.

I've asked the seller if I could send a deposit via Paypal and he could send me the title, the rest of the cash to be sent once I got the title. He refused that offer so I asked if I could use an escrow service like escrow.com to hold the funds until the car is shipped to me and I inspect in within an agreed upon time period. He doesn't want to do that either. So, the seller is leaving me with very few options. Normally when I buy a car, I just hand the seller cash, get the title and it's good to go. I've traveled to buy a car and drove it home. But, I don't want to do that in this case because it's a low-mileage vintage and I'd rather ship it enclosed carry.

I can understand where the seller's coming from if he's a legitimate seller. Some escrow services are scams and maybe he's worried he's not going to get paid. But, I don't think he's putting himself in my shoes either. I bid a lot of money on this car and I really don't want to wire the money to him. I'd appreciate any additional advice on how to proceed with the transaction or shared experiences on out-of-state car buying and how a mutually agreeable arrangement was made.