My father-in-laws friend does that all the time, without any issues.
He will fly down, and drive his "new" vehicle back.
He picked up a 2006 canyon for $6,000. he just had to put a new bed on the back (couple thousand), and it was like a brand new truck.
Not a bad deal for around $8,000ish.
I say go for it!
With that money your going to save, feel free to put a down payment on a nice new 21 ft. Ranger for me!