gnostic19

Hey everyone, thanks for reading my post...

I have been driving a '00 Impreza RS, love the car, have had it since '02. It's time to get rid of her, as the clutch bearing went out and it will cost 1100 to fix. Also need a new cat and several other minor issues, which make the car not worth keeping.

I'd love to get another AWD vehicle, but the new Imprezas are milk toast performance-wise it seems. The RS i have is 165 hp and has some good torque, love driving it cause it sits up a bit high, which i like. I'd love to get a 200 hp hatch, but Mazdas look funny..

My budget is under 20k for whatever car i decide to get.

Anyway, i have kind of settled on a '13 Si as a replacement and i found a used one in my area. It has less that 30k miles, so we still have the Honda 30k & 60k coverage. Only thing is, the used car dealer has terrible reviews on yelp. Mostly financing tricks and telling people the car they want is still here, but when they get there it's gone so they try to sell them something else.

I went and drove it yesterday and it drove great, steering was responsive as hell compared to my wore out RS, and the shifting was a delight. The Carfax actually has all oil changes noted and were done every 3k miles, which you don't see often on these Carfax reports. The car has been on their lot for over a month, fwiw.

A couple issues though...

-it has a small bend in one of the rims and a 1" chunk of the tire's sidewall is ripped half way off where the dent in the rim is. Weird that the used car dealer( only used cars, not new) would not have noticed or fixed it before selling.

-Also there's a small chip of paint taken out between the windshield and the sunroof, guessing a rock or something caused it.

So the shady "closer/GM" of the place took 1k off the price (i never mentioned the issues above, he just brought that up on his own), so it would be 17k, plus $1500 for TTL. I want to bring up those other issues at the end of negotiations to get some more $$$ knocked off if i ultimately decide to go for the car.

My concern is, i feel weird buying a car from this place, due to the poor reviews and the apparent neglect of not noticing the tear in the tire. It's a pretty big lot and they had all kinds of cars, vintage, hot rods, newer models, motorcycles. I'm guessing a place like this isn't doing a head to toe inspection of their cars before putting them on the lot. The only good thing is i have that coverage still remaining on the Honda warranty.

I'm a self acknowledged procrastinator/worrier, so maybe i am obsessing on things that i shouldn't be, as the car is still covered under the Honda warranty. I thought about negotiating a 30 day added warranty cause I don't want to drive the thing home have have an engine light go off.

Anyways, appreciate you guys making it to end of this long post, and i appreciate any input/advice.

ezone

An inspection is only that, an inspection.


What does YOUR mechanic say? You did take it to your trusted mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection, yes?


Much of the time, a car lots inspection is done so the SELLER knows what all a prospective buyer might notice an try to haggle over for a lower price.

Someone has to decide if money should be spent, and consider how to spend it most effectively to maximize their return on investment. Nobody is gonna restore every car that's for sale.
Usually that money goes into making the car shine.

(Much like a kitchen renovation prior to selling a house. Will it help it sell and get more money?)

Unless the tire is leaking, many car lots would not replace it or the wheel. They can't restore each car to showroom new, and if it isn't super dangerous or ugly it may be ignored and hope nobody notices. If it sells that way, that's more money they didn't have to spend to sell it.

Plan on buying a tire and wheel.
It might even be due for a set of tires already anyway.

gnostic19

i think a new wheel is $250. Like i said, i guess i could use that as a bargaining tool.

I haven't taken it to my mechanic. I know people say this is a must for a used car purchase but every time i've asked a dealer about it they look at me like i'm crazy.

ezone

Of course they look at you like you're crazy, they stand to lose money or a sale if your mech finds something wrong.