gismo
Touchdown! Greaser!
I've been shopping for a car that my daughter will be driving this summer and I came across an otherwise nice one at a local dealer that had been in a serious front end collision. I kinda wandered into the deal backwards though and have pretty much concluded that this is not the right car. We had gone to several different dealers to "try out" various make/model vehicles to see where her preferences lay with no intention of making an immediate purchase. The one that got her highest ratings was a Mazda3 sedan at a Mazda dealer so we went home and began researching this type more thoroughly (I had done some preliminary checking on prices/safety/reliability etc) and discovered that the car we drove appeared to be one of the best deals around although it was slightly above my intended price ceiling. I called the salesman back and explained that we liked the car but wondered if there was any wiggle room on the "out the door" price (this was a "no haggle" fixed price outfit). He told me that they do re-evaluate the prices fairly often and the official price might indeed come down a bit. Lo and behold, when he called me back later he offered that the price had indeed been lowered slightly (enough to close the gap to my ceiling sufficiently) but that there was another couple looking at the car for their grandaughter (who knows, this could actually have been true) so I went ahead and authorized a credit card deposit of $1000 on the car subject to further inspection since we really hadn't gone over the car anywhere near adequately on the first visit.
This was last Friday, and the car was to be prepped and ready on Saturday, including the correction of whatever was causing a vibration in the steering when we drove it (we were assured on the drive that this would certainly be fixed before delivery). We were also told by the salesman that the car's original factory warranty was still in effect for several months and 20some thousand miles. I'm pretty sure he also said there had been no serious accidents. I also knew they had the CarFax report available but hadn't seen it yet. So when we arrived at the dealer to close the deal, we started looking at the car closely and found some issues. For one thing the leading edge of the driver's door was really chipped up with what looked like a liberal coating of touchup paint applied without much prep. There were also some broken plastic pieces under the hood such as the battery box and the bumpers that should hold up the hood were either missing or broken. We found that the alloy wheels were a bit roughed up on the edges, and there was at least one 25 cent piece sized spot on the left front pillar where the paint appeared to be coming off due to corrosion underneath the paint. Then we learned that they hadn't quite been able to resolve the vibration and that the tech had determined that the "motor mounts" needed replacing with the suggestion that this would completely eliminate the residual vibration.
Once we brought this all up we were invited to look over the CarFax which indicated two accidents in the car's one owner history. The first said something about a front end collision and "Airbags deployed". The second was even more cryptic, listing two different case numbers and the note: "Car was on fire". Now I couldn't see any evidence of fire around the engine compartment (there were some obviously original plastic parts that weren't heat damaged and the wiring harness looked original and unharmed) so we all suspect that this bit of info is in error but I suppose the fire could have been in the rear as there was no mention of the exact circumstances of the second collision. At my request the dealer then contacted the previous owner (who had traded the car in on a new one) to learn more about the collisions and repairs. He was told that the second accident was relatively minor (got no more details) and that the first one's damage was indeed extensive but the car was repaired since it was barely a year old at the time. He was also told that the repair shop for the first accident was "Maaco", a chain that has a less than stellar reputation when it comes to top notch body work.
At this point we were pretty convinced that we didn't want this car anymore even though there were conflicting emotions pushing us to conclude the sale (disappointment etc). I told the dealer that I'd think it over and get back on Monday and that I would want their shop to compile a complete inspection report with an explanation about the engine mounts and whatever else might have been affected by the collision. They also suggested that they might be able to obtain the work order for the damage repairs for us to check for completeness etc.
And now that I've had time to reconsider I've concluded that we'd simply not ever be comfortable with this car and I'm going to ask for my deposit back. I don't expect any hassle with that (they pretty much said I was entitled to it) and in any case they have a "5 day 300 mile, no questions asked" return policy so worst case would be to purchase the car and return it (probably sans the title fee etc).
Since the car was otherwise looking like a pretty good deal I'm still wondering if this is the best course but that's defintely my plan for now. And I have located a couple other choices that are comparable and might even be better. The car discussed above was a 2004 model with 32,000 miles, my current first choice is a 2006 with 67,000 miles from a private party, and the backup is a 2006 with 87,000 miles from another local dealer. The 67k mile one is about 200 miles away in Wisconsin so it involves some complicated logistics but the price is a thousand less than the local 89k version and the distant one also has an automatic transmission which is my daughter's preference. For comparison the 32k mile 2004 model was $1600 more than the 67k mile 2006 but it also has a shot term "dealer warranty" and a couple perks like free car washes and oil changes for the life of the vehicle.
What does the collective PoA mind think of all this? Would you walk away from the damaged car (the other two have clean records and the local one appears to be damage free to me).
This was last Friday, and the car was to be prepped and ready on Saturday, including the correction of whatever was causing a vibration in the steering when we drove it (we were assured on the drive that this would certainly be fixed before delivery). We were also told by the salesman that the car's original factory warranty was still in effect for several months and 20some thousand miles. I'm pretty sure he also said there had been no serious accidents. I also knew they had the CarFax report available but hadn't seen it yet. So when we arrived at the dealer to close the deal, we started looking at the car closely and found some issues. For one thing the leading edge of the driver's door was really chipped up with what looked like a liberal coating of touchup paint applied without much prep. There were also some broken plastic pieces under the hood such as the battery box and the bumpers that should hold up the hood were either missing or broken. We found that the alloy wheels were a bit roughed up on the edges, and there was at least one 25 cent piece sized spot on the left front pillar where the paint appeared to be coming off due to corrosion underneath the paint. Then we learned that they hadn't quite been able to resolve the vibration and that the tech had determined that the "motor mounts" needed replacing with the suggestion that this would completely eliminate the residual vibration.
Once we brought this all up we were invited to look over the CarFax which indicated two accidents in the car's one owner history. The first said something about a front end collision and "Airbags deployed". The second was even more cryptic, listing two different case numbers and the note: "Car was on fire". Now I couldn't see any evidence of fire around the engine compartment (there were some obviously original plastic parts that weren't heat damaged and the wiring harness looked original and unharmed) so we all suspect that this bit of info is in error but I suppose the fire could have been in the rear as there was no mention of the exact circumstances of the second collision. At my request the dealer then contacted the previous owner (who had traded the car in on a new one) to learn more about the collisions and repairs. He was told that the second accident was relatively minor (got no more details) and that the first one's damage was indeed extensive but the car was repaired since it was barely a year old at the time. He was also told that the repair shop for the first accident was "Maaco", a chain that has a less than stellar reputation when it comes to top notch body work.
At this point we were pretty convinced that we didn't want this car anymore even though there were conflicting emotions pushing us to conclude the sale (disappointment etc). I told the dealer that I'd think it over and get back on Monday and that I would want their shop to compile a complete inspection report with an explanation about the engine mounts and whatever else might have been affected by the collision. They also suggested that they might be able to obtain the work order for the damage repairs for us to check for completeness etc.
And now that I've had time to reconsider I've concluded that we'd simply not ever be comfortable with this car and I'm going to ask for my deposit back. I don't expect any hassle with that (they pretty much said I was entitled to it) and in any case they have a "5 day 300 mile, no questions asked" return policy so worst case would be to purchase the car and return it (probably sans the title fee etc).
Since the car was otherwise looking like a pretty good deal I'm still wondering if this is the best course but that's defintely my plan for now. And I have located a couple other choices that are comparable and might even be better. The car discussed above was a 2004 model with 32,000 miles, my current first choice is a 2006 with 67,000 miles from a private party, and the backup is a 2006 with 87,000 miles from another local dealer. The 67k mile one is about 200 miles away in Wisconsin so it involves some complicated logistics but the price is a thousand less than the local 89k version and the distant one also has an automatic transmission which is my daughter's preference. For comparison the 32k mile 2004 model was $1600 more than the 67k mile 2006 but it also has a shot term "dealer warranty" and a couple perks like free car washes and oil changes for the life of the vehicle.
What does the collective PoA mind think of all this? Would you walk away from the damaged car (the other two have clean records and the local one appears to be damage free to me).
