‘Spending New Year’s alone in a hotel’: Buyer’s cross-country trip for yellow Corvette turns into nightmare he can’t escape

A car buyer named Carlos flew 2,500 miles from California to Florida to pick up a yellow 2002 Corvette he had been searching for. Just ten minutes after he got the keys, the seat broke. After that, more and more problems kept showing up with the car.

According to Motor1, Carlos has been stuck in Florida for over a week now. The Corvette started having battery issues, the brakes failed, and the engine developed unknown problems within just a few days. He has shared his frustrating experience in multiple videos on TikTok. His only option now is to ship the car back to California on a trailer and fly home himself after spending too many days in a hotel room eating fast food and cheap store snacks.

Carlos lives in the Los Angeles area and started posting videos on TikTok when he was excited about buying the car. He had spent weeks looking for the right used Corvette that matched his budget and what he wanted. He found one at a small dealership in Florida after making many phone calls and exchanging photos and videos with the seller. He signed the paperwork and sent money before even traveling to Florida, which he now says was his biggest mistake.

Long-distance car purchases come with serious risks

Buying cars from far away has become common for people looking for rare colors or specific models. But distance makes things riskier. Buyers have to trust photos and what sellers tell them. When you travel far to get a car, you feel rushed to finish the deal quickly once you arrive.

The pressure gets worse when you sign papers before seeing the car in person. Once a car is legally sold, it becomes very hard to cancel the deal. This is especially true when the car is sold “as is,” which is normal for most used car sales. These nightmare scenarios happen more often than people think when purchases go wrong.

Carlos said the dealership delivered the Corvette directly to him at Orlando International Airport instead of letting him check it at their location. Airport pickup areas are busy places where you have to load up and leave quickly. This gave him almost no time to inspect the car properly or test drive it carefully.

Within minutes of driving away, the seat adjustment broke. This made it hard for him to sit safely while driving the manual transmission car. As he kept driving to get food and supplies, more problems appeared. The fuel door wouldn’t close and blocked his side mirror.

Soon after, the car wouldn’t restart after he turned it off. He needed a jump-start to get it running again. Warning lights came on shortly after that. Later, he said the brakes failed while he was driving, which turned the situation from annoying to dangerous. Similar to other car service disasters that spiral out of control, Carlos found himself helpless.

“I’m spending New Year’s alone in a hotel, 2,500 miles away from my family, with a car that doesn’t function,” Carlos said in one of the videos. “I should have been home days ago.”

Experts say older sports cars can hide problems that don’t show up in short videos or when the car is just sitting idle. A car might start and run smoothly for a few minutes but still be a terrible choice for a long cross-country drive without a professional mechanic checking it first.