x2 on what bobbys said - deal in person and drive it back!! Best way to baseline a vehicle and it is not like you are driving a 40
As for the PPI who are you using? The only folks I would trust are Tony and Matt at Landcruiser NW.
I have had mixed luck with long distance purchases and shipping...
Won a random bid on a BJ40 in New York and that went great. Worked with an importer in Vancouver BC to bring a BJ44 from Japan and wished I had inspected it in person. Significant rust and ended up taking a bath on it.
Vowed I would never do a deal without an in-person inspection and then purchased my HJ61 through an importer in Canary Islands and everything went great.