I can give you my opinion on Ebay. Depending on where you are, it may be the only option. I bought 2 cars on ebay, my 83 cj7 and my 74 challenger. My Cj7 was great, and because it was sold by a dealership on ebay, the problem I had with the jeep (no catalytic converters), was solved by the dealership just sending me a check for the work.
The second one was my 74 challenger. It was a private seller. I got it for a good price, all the pics looked good, the guy had all the right answers and I asked over and over... is its ok to drive? He said yes. Well, flat out, he was wrong. First, it was blowing oil like a mofo, and 2nd, the car dove HARD to the right when braking. Very dangerous for the drive from Misssouri to DC. I tried to work it out with the guy, but he was not willing to give me any money for the work, not to mention saying it was ok to drive a car 1000 miles with bad brakes. Because of all the issues, I initiated the ebay buyer protection. It worked like this:
1. Demonstrate that you tried to work it out with seller.
2. Need 2 Quotes from ASE certified shops stating how much the repairs will be.
3. Be Careful, on old cars it really only covers certain things like engine work, and axle work (ie. no rust repair, transmission repair, brake repair, etc etc etc) READ GUIDELINES CAREFULLY.
4. Once you get the quotes. It was pretty quick to get the check from Ebay's insurance company. Although they did screw me (like a good insurance company) because the wouldnt pay to "drop the transmission" to repair the rear main seal. Note that had the quote said "remove the engine" to fix the rear main seal, they would have paid for it.
