I live in Arizona and have traveled to California 3 different times to buy a vehicle. Arizona can have good deals, but from my experience, vehicles from California seem to be taken care of better. I think its because more people in CA have more money and are more willing to properly maintain their vehicles. I looked at a few runners here in az and they were overpriced and trashed. Any good deals were gone within a day and I found numerous good deals in CA before finding mine with lower miles, no major issues, well maintained, absolutely rust-free and all for a great price. I really only used craigslist when I searched, and I made sure I could travel at the drop of a hat so I wouldn't miss a deal when it came up because they can go very fast. My backup plan was to spend a week in CA and wait for one to pop up, but the one I was interested in checked out so I was really happy. I spent a month or so searching, and the latter 2 weeks with cash in hand ready to jump on a deal.
Take your time and don't get excited because its close to what you want, if you stick it out you can get exactly what you're looking for. Btw I was searching hourly and got the guy to hold it until I could come take a look at it, he had like 3 people after me if I wasn't gonna take it
