sharen123 said:I knew someone in LA who had bought a pre-owned BMW from a dealer. He had a similar case where his car met with an accident, and upon inspection by the mechanic found that the car had previously been through an accident. The mechanic showed him the weld line that went from the inside at the back.It was apparently a major damage. I saw that myself, the work was beautifully done!! If you looked from the outside it never seemed that anything had happened.
The guy sued the dealership and last heard, the dealer agreed to pay in full for the car.So he ended up getting a 90k car for free!! Now that's what I call a deal.
That's a pile of crap. The only resolution would be a full dealer buyback. Please stop posting imagination and urban legends as facts.

ifyouhavetoask said:This thread is amusing, in that there are so many people terrified of used cars...to the extent that they'll only buy a brand new one...and eat all the depreciation. Yes, depreciation does matter, even if you drive a new car into the ground.

Find a good 1 year old car, spend $200 having it inspected, and save 30%+ off new.
I just checked kbb.com, and the private party value of a 2007 Toyota Corolla with 10K miles in excellent condition is $2K less than a new 2009 Corolla. That's a savings of 12% off new, not including the cost of inspection, a "useless" CarFax report, the hassle, the worry about whether or not the car was in a wreck, etc.

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/824972/m12205492/#m12205492
ifyouhavetoask said:You're doing all this because of $800?

You've wasted $1,600 worth of time trying to collect $800.

Even if you get the money, you still lose.

A smart businessman/woman knows when to take a loss and move on.
I'd rather "waste" $1,600 worth of time trying to collect $800 from someone who scammed me than spend $1,600 worth of time trying to save...$1,600 on a car that will not be in as good condition as a new car.

Sold a flawless BMW motorcycle a few years ago on eBay. Delivered it to the guy -- took it for its last ride, so to speak...

----

I stick with CPO vehicles in the 2-3 year old bracket. Pay a bit of a premium for the extra warranty and guarantee, but let someone else pay depreciation. First one was a 2000 VW Jetta TDI that I actually got at a price that was good for a non-CPO since it was in an area that was less diesel friendly.

Most recent one is a Land Rover LR3 with a warranty that is pretty much equal to if it was new. (it was extended about the amound the original warranty was depleted) For those that complain about such things: Yes, I do need the offroad capability for my job. I chose to get the LR3 over similar US and Japanese vehicles based on comfort/cargo capacity and actually being an offroad vehicle. It was surprising how many SUVs don't even have a 4WD option -- or have a non offroad AWD version of it. If only the Xterras were a bit bigger....

ifyouhavetoask said:ArbolLoco said:in CA if a car is considered a "total loss" [operative language] then notice is given to the DMV and the DMV will issue a demand for the return of the plates to avoid this. this would show up all over the DMV records. I litigated this exact case in February and obtained a favorable jury verdict because the seller never sent in the plates and instead filed a "declaration of lost or stolen plates".It's only going to be reported to the DMV if the owner or insurer reports it to the DMV.

There's plenty of total-loss cars which are never reported to the DMV. Instead, they're quietly repaird and re-sold. Most of them seem to end up on eBay if insurance is involved, they will report the vehicle to the dmv as a total loss.

NY153 said:who wants to drive the same honda for 10+ years???

berlinsmommy said:I know that this is highly unpopular here on FatWallet, but reading all of this info about totalled cars finding their way back into the market, airbag fraud, cars flooded in Katrina, etc. it just reinforces the way DH and I buy cars, which is to buy brand new, after next years models are out, negotiate price as much as possible, get exactly what we want, and keep it a LOOOOOOOOOONG time so that depreciation is irrelevent, you drive it until it is worth nothing. By then, usually car prices have gone up enough to make it an even better value, such as my brand new 1992 Honda Civic that I paid $8,333 OTD for in October of '92. Drove it until 2002, it had 250k + miles, cost almost nothing to maintain, insure, or fill w/ gas. By 2002 when I got rid of it, the fact that I could have bought used for $6k was irrelevant, I felt I got the best use of my money buying new.
I agree. But some of us are forced to, that is why we hang, lurk on sites like these.

ALWAYS take the car to a mechanic to have them inspect it. We test drove a 2005 camry (back in 2006) that was mildly used. There was a little whistle to the car so we took it to the mechanic. He looked it over and found that it had been wrecked pretty bad. We drove back to the dealer and asked him if it had been wrecked- he said no. We told him we knew it had been, and then he started to back peddle. This was a from a large 'reputable' toyota dealership that my dad and I had personally bought several cars from and we knew the manager and dealer well...just goes to show- trust no one.

sharen123 said:delzy said:sharen123 said:I knew someone in LA who had bought a pre-owned BMW from a dealer. He had a similar case where his car met with an accident, and upon inspection by the mechanic found that the car had previously been through an accident. The mechanic showed him the weld line that went from the inside at the back.It was apparently a major damage. I saw that myself, the work was beautifully done!! If you looked from the outside it never seemed that anything had happened.
The guy sued the dealership and last heard, the dealer agreed to pay in full for the car.So he ended up getting a 90k car for free!! Now that's what I call a deal.
That's a pile of crap. The only resolution would be a full dealer buyback. Please stop posting imagination and urban legends as facts.

I don't know much about cars/dealers. But this is hardly the way to respond to my post. This is no imagination, OK! It happened to someone I know so I posted it since it was an almost similar case to OP's. I don't know why some FWer's become so critical of the post.It just makes us few vary of posting on these forums because of these few over critical people around who love to rip the whole thing apart in the worst way possible. Seriously, I've better things to do than to fabricate a story like this!
A friend of mine drove through a McDonald's and burned his crotch with hot coffee. He's now the biggest stock holder in the company..... not.

rigor said:you know that eBay is home to alot of scammers. fake/counterfeit products galore. its the worlds largest fence (ie laptops) etc. so i'd never buy a car there. thats almost as bad as craigslist. almost guaranteed scam. people looking for a hot deal. you'll get one all right.

sometimes piece of mind is paying just a wee bit extra.

Amen! I know that I do NOT want to go to the Dr and have him give me an injection of a medicine that he bought off fleabay either. There are just some things that do NOT make sense to buy, sight unseen. Personally, after all the people I know of that have been ripped off buying from there, I am amazed fleabay is still around. My only transaction with a seller ended up having the guy prosecuted for mail fraud, so I know fleabay has never cared if you are ripped off as a buyer on there.

Does not eBay have eBay Motors Vehicle Purchase Protection?
Take it to eBay after you deal with carfax:

# The vehicle has a title with an undisclosed salvage, rebuilt/rebuildable, unrebuildable, reconstructed, scrapped/destroyed, junk, lemon, manufacturer buyback, or water damage brand at the time of the end of the listing.
...
# The vehicle had undisclosed engine, body, transmission, and/or frame damage at the time of purchase that will cost more than $1,000 to repair. The cost of repair to any one of those components must exceed $1,000. For vehicles in the Boats (engine and hull only), Buses, Commercial Trucks, and RVs & Campers categories, the cost of the undisclosed engine, body, transmission, or frame damage must exceed $1,500. Race Cars are not eligible for this protection.

cyrax78 said: Paypal will more or less always give you your money back if you ask
You posted that at 10:09, it's now 10:25 and I've just now gotten of the floor from laughing.