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I’m buying a new POS used car. As suspected I’m finding a lot of cars have one or more accidents in their past. Is this a horrible thing? Is the worry that the repair might have been done badly? Or is it that, no matter how good the mechanic is, some things are irreparable?
Does the size of the accident matter? I’m looking at a 2008 Saturn Astra with only 80000K on it (so about 50000 miles) and it has had one accident that did almost 5000 dollars in damage. But the car is selling for 4000 dollars.
Are there specific things to look for when buying a car that’s had an accident before?
Thanks for any advice!
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If it has been in an accident, find out what kind of accident… $5,000 really isn’t a whole lot when it comes to repairing things these days! 🙂 I just got scraped on the side of the car and it was $2,900 to repair it…
Some tips are to:
Visually inspect under the car… Take it to a tech if you are really concerned and have him put it on a lift for you and examine things from underneath…
Look for poor fit and finish (gaps between panels, doors not shutting quite right, hood alignment off, headlight gap between body and the lights)
Listen for any unusual noises. Drive over bumpy and rough terrain, listen for any popping or thuds or thumping…
Feel for any pull when driving down the road (I.E. the alignment is good)..
Have someone drive behind you to see if the car drives straight (ever been behind an old Chevy Nova that the rear end was 2 inches offset from the front of the car? LOL)
Most people will tell you that “yeah the frame is straight” but on many cars with a unibody design/ quarter frame, there is no frame to be bent…so look over everything…
Caveat Emptor and Good luck!
-Karl
I’ve actually had great luck with salvage/rebuilt cars. Just thoroughly check everything out and get under it to see how well the work was done. I bought a rebuilt 4 year old explorer in great shape for $5k less than an equivalent model with a clear title and it has lasted me 7 years and 100k miles since I got it with no issues due to the previous accident. Also $5000 in damage is nothing nowadays with every car having huge crumple zones. My fiancé had a low speed accident with a large rock in a parking lot with my ’12 Fusion and did $4500 in damage. Unfortunately you can easily hit $5k in repairs under 15mph accidents with most modern cars.
To me at least, repaired right and POS don’t really go together. Sine it is a 2008, and if it was repaired right and it really does that few miles I would think of it as more than a POS. But that’s just me. The advice ToyotaKarl is great. I would only add that if you find issues by following his advice, then get a pro to review what you found. Bent frame and major parts that are out of alignment will make you hate your POS because the $4,000 price tag is no longer a bargain. If you are in a state where you can get a title and drive a salvage title car on public roads, then salvage cars CAN be an option. But if it has a salvage title get a LOW LOW price because 1) banks won’t be loaning you money to buy the car (unless you have so much in savings you don’t need to even borrow the money) and 2) the resale value when you someday want to sell it, it going to be next to nothing. I will probably never buy a salvage title car because I’d be wanting to fix it up and that would be financially dumb (maybe fun but still dumb).
I cover this in this series as well as what to look for in a used car.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/what-to-look-for-in-a-used-car-purchase
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