Thumbs up for alphasenior/TDI Innovations!
Let me recommend the finest (and only) TDI guru I know in northeast Texas. The man variously known as alphasenior/Brain Hague/TDI Innovations just helped me buy a used Beetle TDI from two states away.
For a very reasonable fee, Brian drove an hour north to the little cow town where my Beetle sat on a used car lot, and gave it a good checkout. After I bought the car, he drove it down to Dallas, cleaned the intake and installed a skid plate, and even picked me up at the airport in my new, used New Beetle. The car ran great on the way home, giving 47 mpg all the way back to Denver. He did everything possible to make this remote purchase a breeze, and I'm thankful enough to spread the word.
Friends who aren't familiar with the current TDI bubble market wondered why I went to all this trouble, but the rest of us know why we search nationally for these scarce cars. Finding a well-equipped '02 with just 100K rural miles for just $8500 was worth the trouble, don't you think?