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Re: Car in accident? Still worth looking at? Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Mon, 21 Mar 2005 05:35:40
In Reply to: Car in accident? Still worth looking at?, Rob  [Profile/Gallery]
, Sun, 20 Mar 2005 09:10:37
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It all depends. It's easy to run up a $6K bill - heck, most shops will charge $2K just to shoot some paint (including prep). So a relatively minor accident that required repaint, and a lot of (always expensive) parts could easily run $6K. Or the car is actually two cars put back together, done cheaply.
A few thoughts-
Safety - your biggest concern should be the body integrity, from a safety standpoint. Open all the doors, and look at the B-pillar. Does it look smooth, with original paint, or does it look repaired? To me, if the B-pillar was compromised, I'd worry about how the car would stand up in a crash. THen again, if someone did a very nice job, you wouldn't see the seam. But a nice job implies they did a nice job.
Condition - has nothing to do with an accident. Don't get so excited about saving some money that you forget that all used cars are suspect until proven good. How does the car look, drive, feel? Has it been well maintained? The standards for any car, hit or not.
Bargaining. You didn't say what the year, model, or mileage is, much less the asking price. Is this a bargaining chip? Yes, but how much? If it's a '93 with 135K, it's about $4K or so. What do you think it will save you? $1K? Is that worth it? I don't know, it's up to you. Now, if it's a '98 that looks clean and has 75K miles, and you can shave $3K from the price, it may be worth considering.
In '87 bought a '86 900T that had 2K miles on it - the original owner had it three months before he profoundly broke it. A guy that buys and sells Ferraris bought it and had his shop fix it, then drove it for a few months. List was about $19,9, I bought it for $15K with 2K miles. The repair was undetectable. I drove the car for 8 years and 160K+ more miles, totally trouble free. And when I hit some ice and spun into a bridge abuttment, the car held up perfectly, and did it's job. So it can be OK.
But (1) you should inspect even more carefully, and (2) decide if the $ savings is that good.
posted by 192.249....
, Sun, 20 Mar 2005 09:10:37, Mon, 21 Mar 2005 05:35:40 <-- Viewing This Message
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