After a few false starts, including one Westy described as Mint and a perfect driver, an MOT check revealed it hadn't been tested since 1999 and on questioning the seller further, he agreed it needed MOT'ing and they would repair any failures, he couldn't actually tell me what number of miles he had done in it to declare it a perfect driver.

Next, and after a few more false starts, I saw this Westy, asked lots of questions and got back sensible replies, spoke to the seller a few times, he agreed to MOT the car ( even though it had plenty of MOT ) compete a service, and sent a nice dated video of the car being put through it's paces !

It had no weather gear, and given the 300+ miles trip home it would take, I was unsure.

I eventually found a transport company, that would also do a visual and drive check of the car, and talk to me prior to me paying the balance by bank transfer.

And the deal was done, the seller dropped the price an agreed amount to cover half the transport costs, and deposit was paid.

2 days later the transport guy arrived in Sunny ! ( nope, pishing down ) Scotland at 5pm and did the inspection and drive then spoke to me honestly about the car. I was happy that everything he pointed out had been covered by the seller already, and he said he even enjoyed the roofless soaking he got !

I spoke to the seller, made payment , and the car was loaded for the journey home.

10:30pm and the delivery agent rings to ask if it's OK to deliver, or he will happily take it back to base and deliver on Saturday, I tell him to crack on and deliver it, he's happy as his next pickup is near me and they have agreed a late night collection, so he is making more money by being loaded again.

He arrived with the West neatly covered under a plastic sheet, and he's managed to keep 99% of the terrible weather at bay, he apologised for the late hour, but said he'd stopped regularly to adjust the cover and keep the car as dry as possible, we unload the Westy and push it ( it's 11:30pm now and it's described as quite loud for such a small wee thing by the seller ) into the drive, and under my car cover.