Car Shopping: A Buyer’s Perspective

This is a warning because normally, I do not do this, but I am going to rant a bit today.  

Introduction

Yes, I am at a place in life where the kids are getting to be on their own.  We don’t need to haul them around as much because they are driving. I have an itch for a motorcycle.  I am trying to scratch that itch with a fun car.  In years past, I would have just bought the motorcycle after a quick conversation.  Mostly, that conversation would be my wife telling me why she is scared that I am going to die on the motorcycle.  I assure her that there are many ways to minimize the risk. Then I make the joke that if I do die, just put the helmet on top of the coffin, and the people can lift the visor to say goodbye.  I still think that was kind of funny, but I can see why my wife did not find it too assuring to have a long life together.  So, now I am searching for a fun car. This is what I have learned so far in my car search.

The Facebook Burnout Reels

I found one car on Facebook that intrigued me.  The car looked clean. The car has a manual.  The car has lower mileage.  Yeah, this looks like something worth pursuing.  

Then I looked at the person’s profile, and there were burnout videos.  Quick tip: if you are selling your car, please avoid posting burnout reels.  This might be a one-night thing before you get new tires, but it appears this car has just been clutch-dumped A LOT! 

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So, I moved onto another car.  I really did not want to replace the clutch in the first few months of ownership. 

The Marketer

Some car dealerships are masters at marketing.  I called on a Miata that looked really clean. I was told there are some “cosmetic issues” with the top and the paint.  Well, I asked for some pictures.  The top had multiple patches.  This tells me that the top is wearing out.  The rear bumper had faded clear coat, and a decent dent in the front.  

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I grant that the top is not necessarily a deal breaker.  Miatas need new tops every decade or so.  The dent on the front of the car could be the result of a parking lot.  The clear coat is fading on the rear, and this happens with a car that has aged a good decade.  

However, these things might tell a bit of a story.  The person who sold the car probably couldn’t afford to own the car, or just didn’t care about the car.  If I proceed with this one, I will want a very thorough pre-purchase inspection on it.  Overall, it seems that the car was neglected rather than abused. 

So, yes, “cosmetic issues” is a pretty funny marketing sales pitch to me.

The Carfax Minimizer  

Another dealer was selling another car that caught my attention. There is a note on the CarFax, “structural alteration.”  CarFax notes that I should have a certified body shop inspect the car.  The dealer told me nothing is wrong except that there is one body panel that is not lining up.  

(Image generated by Chat GPT)

This one made me chuckle when I received the note from the salesman.   I was like, “Really?  Structural alteration, and now the bumper has a panel gap?  Yeah, I am sure that everything is fine with the car.”

This car has been 100 percent crossed off the list. This car is out of state, and I really don’t want to pay for a body shop to inspect it.  

The High Roller

Know the value of your car.  I learned that if someone has their car priced way high, they are going to have unreasonable expectations.   Here are some examples. 

One individual has a car that was offered in a special color one year.  The color was a 500 dollar option when the car was new.  The color did not come with any special package.  However, it was very evident that the car was purchased by the seller because of the special color.  No matter how many times I told him that the color does not matter to me, he kept returning to the color to justify his asking price.

The car was decent.  He did some cool stuff to the car.  However, the wheels and tires?  Well, the wheels were really cheap, and my plan was to sell them or put snow tires on them.  So, this option added no value for me.  His price was high: dealer retail book value plus the full price of what he added to the car. 

I looked at another car.  The car was priced really high for what it was.  So, I thought the car would be mint.  Nope!  The hood and trunk had hail damage.  The front spoiler/air dam needed some love because the person had hit something on the interstate.  This car was priced like an absolute mint car.  I brought that up with the person.  Response, “Well, I didn’t want joy riders looking at my car.”  Well, it would have been nice to hear about the car’s condition before looking at it.  

(Image generated by Chat GPT)

The people who say, “I really want…” might need to adjust their expectations.  I want to find the money tree at the nursery to plant in my back yard.  It is a great fantasy, but it is not going to happen.  There are many things that I want, but my expectations need to adjust to reality. 

So, know the value of your car.  A Z06 package, YES, that adds value.  A Roush Edition…. YES!  California edition mustang?  Eh… paint scheme is kind of cool, but really not that collectible.  A factory color or paint scheme is not going to add 2-10K to the value of your car.  Someone might like it, but not an additional 10K like it.  So, please do your research.

The Carfax Dodger

The other thing is when I ask someone, “Hey, if I pull the CarFax, will I find anything?”  When the seller answers “no”, but then I find that the car had a moderate to severe accident.  That is something a seller really wants to tell a potential buyer.  You see, if the buyer thinks the seller is lying on the phone, then there is a good chance the buyer is not going to trust the seller.  The whole negotiation starts with a very skewed perspective.

I found one car that was reported as a total loss.  I did look at the total loss car just to see what it was because the guy told me it was mint, and he priced it as mint.  I figured I could run over there and look at the car because it was only 5 minutes away from my house.

I still feel bad for this guy because I don’t think he realizes he got conned.  He did not know that the car was a total loss. He only knew that the original owner had had an accident.  

Now listen to his side of things.  He said that the previous owner hit a tree.  The original owner did not want to go through the insurance, and so he paid a shop to fix the car.  There is no receipt for the shop fixing the car, and no shop is named.  Personally, I would have insisted on the receipt and the shop. I would have called around to figure out the shop’s reputation. The seller showed me only the title.  The first thing noted is that there is no “salvage”, “rebuilt”, or any other indicator that the car was a total loss.  This is good, but buyer beware.  Please think beyond the title and pay attention to the CarFax.

This is where we pause and make sure we are not emotionally attached to the car we are looking at.  Montana, Wyoming, and Texas have pretty high limits in terms of the rebrand/salvage title.  An insurance company is going to declare the car a total loss, and declare the loss before these states will make the declaration on the title.  So, the original owner could do a deal with the insurance and then retitle the car. The problem: the state will not issue a rebranded/salvaged title, but a clean title. CarFax is what noted the total loss. Believe the CarFax!

Now revisit the story.  The seller said the original owner did not want to go through insurance.   Well, the Carfax story contradicts the claim.  The insurance company already declared it a total loss, but the damage does not meet the requirements for Montana to call the car a total loss.  This means that a claim was filed, and the insurance paid out for the car.  The guy would then buy the car from the insurance company. So, the insurance was notified. The state stays out of it. My first question for the original owner is, “Why are you lying to me? Clearly, the insurance was involved.”

(Image created by Chat GPT)

The next thing I noticed on the title was the mileage.  The car says it has 20K, but the title says over 30K.  At this point, I felt really bad for the seller.  Supposedly, the original owner wrote 3K, and the DMV entered 30K.  The original owner didn’t care about the mistake.  So the original owner never filed a mileage discrepancy.  At least, that is the story.

Um, it is pretty tough for the DMV to make that mistake.  If DMV made that mistake for me I would be down there filing the necessary paperwork. I just mentally called BS at that point.  The seller assured me that it is nearly impossible to roll back the mileage on a new car, unlike an older car that I drive. Well, I know that his claim is not true. It is tough to roll back mileage, but not impossible.

The first thing that could happen is that someone could have swapped out the instrument panel with a different odometer.  There is no body shop identified that repaired the car.  The original owner could have put the car back together himself and swapped out the instrument cluster.  He already has it apart and may have put two cars together. This does happen!

When I was in California, I tried to help a kid get out of some bad crap, like chop shop crap with very bad people.  Unfortunately, he ended up going back into it.  I did learn from him that you can get OBD tools to adjust mileage.  Ethical shops use these tools to install new instrument panels.  Ethical shops report that the odometer was replaced, and the mileage is set.  The mileage is set to the same mileage as the replaced odometer or the mileage noted.  Carfax will note this, and there will be a note with the car. Unethical chop shops use this to roll back the mileage and sell the car as a low-mileage granny car that just went to the grocery store. The problem: when this is not done properly, then safety systems do not always work correctly. For instance, your airbags may not deploy at the time of an accident. The other issue is: are there even airbags in the car? So, buyer beware when you find these inconsistencies.

I politely told him that I would pass on the car and did not even take it for a drive.

I honestly felt bad for this guy.  He traded a nice pickup truck for the car.  I hope the car works well for him, but this is a reminder to be careful!  Premium prices do not always mean premium products. 

Conclusion 

We want to do our research.  Not everyone out there is a confidence artist.  Some people are just trying to get the value out of what they are selling. Sometimes their expectations might be high, and sometimes we might not want what they are selling that badly.  

I am reminded that the tragedy of a good con is leading the marked person to think they are too smart to be conned. I am reminded to do my research.  It is important to trust people.  I don’t want that to fall to the wayside in our society.  However, you can trust, but remember to verify their claims.  None of us is too smart to be conned. Con artists prey on our basic desire to trust people.  This is why we can trust, but VERIFY!  

Do you have any experiences that I missed?  Leave them in the comments sections.