Buying a Royal Enfield long distance

"Shiner" on the Yahoo Royal Enfield Message Board comments on how he checked out his used Bullet before buying:

"I live in the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland. The bike I liked was 700 miles away across the sea. We have ways of getting stuff up here so the telephone conversation went like this:

"Hi, do you still have the bike?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever dropped it?"

"No."

"Have you looked after it?"

"Yes, it's been serviced by the dealer and has 4,000 miles on it."

"Great I'll take it."

"(Pause) Dont you want to see it?"

"No, the round trip will cost me about £300. I'll send you a cheque and when it clears a huge blue carrier truck will come and get it."

"Oh alright then, thanks."