Need Suggestions

Hello All, I recently purchased a used car 1999 camry LE with 6900 miles on it. I thought it was a steal for a price I got it for until I took it my mechanic who looked at the car and said it was repainted. When he made a closer observation he found out that the roof of the car was probably damaged and someone put a new factory roof and welded it to the body. When he pulled the rubber linings on the doors I could see the welding signs. Now I brought this car by checking the VIN number on carfax which claimed that it has no major damages or accidents reported on the car. After reliazing the issues with my car I emailed carfax but they say since it was not totalled by DMV its still a good car and hence they would not cover it for a buyback guarantee. Has anyone come across something like this and what do you think are my options now? Thanks a lot in advance for a tips or suggestions. Ciao!!!!

Reply to
learnfpga
Loading thread data ...

The real question is: was the car priced appropriately, given the car's condition?

If the car's engine and trans is like new in operation, which is what you;d expect at 6,900 miles then it's probably going to give you decades of reliability. If the car has noises and vibrations courtesy of that accident,..then its not such a good buy,..plus how good a job did they do on the spray-job? Stuff like that,..its an assessment.

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

Thanks for the reply. One correction it was 69000 miles and not 6900 miles (Still less than what the average mile should be for a 6 year old car) . Even then Camry will go for a long time and doesnt look like the engine and transmission are bad. The bad thing is that the paint job was not good and thats how the mechanic spotted the first time and the question is if I plan to keep the car (Since carfax is not gonna do anything about it) how much do you think it will cost to do a good paint job to avoid rusting of body in a year or so. Once again thanks for the reply....

Reply to
learnfpga

The old saying "you get what you pay for" applies to paint-jobs more so than most things. I can only say, that if the car drives/steers well, has no noises or vibrations, then a proper paint job may well be worth it. Paint primarily protects the outer side of the sheetmetal. Rust almost always comes from inside the panel, thru leaking window seals and courtesyof blocked drain-holes..so for the large part, because Camrys dont have these seal and drain-hole problems unless the accident interfered with these, the paint-job is for appearance. A "good" paint job can cost thousands and is up to you how far you want to go. Quick cheap jobs are detected by noting prominent edges around body fittings where they only masked the fitting, rather than removing it, poor colour matching and a change in appearance of the surface compared to original areas.

Thing is, many cars once they reach a certain age, have body repairs, and a lot have cheap paint repairs. So its a personal thing how far you want to go. If the roof repair was reasonable, and the paint repair had to be revealed by very careful examination, then perhaps its not that bad a job.

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

I guess you are right. I could not tell that it had a paint job till the mechenic told me so. Also mechenic says if I dont get a paint job then the body will start rusting (bu I guess he is just looking for a quick business). Considering the miles on the car and other factors I will use the car for a year or so and then think if I want it painted or not. Otherwise the car runs fine. Thanks for taking time to give suggestions. Have a good one.

Reply to
learnfpga

What? I thought the point of carfax was to get the *history* of a car. Not just a restatement about a salvage title.

If the car was "totaled" by an insurance company, it would have a salvage title. Yeah, the DMV would know that, but the title would also say "salvage" on it! So what would you need carfax for?!?

It sounds like carfax ripped you off. If there was major repair done from a rollover including a paint job--and there's *no* record of any of that, carfax is pretty useless I'd say....

Reply to
Big Kahuna

I agree - you bought the car based on a clean bill of health from CarFAX. CarFAX is a waste if money if they didn't report major accident damage like a roof being replaced - that has to be 3K worth of repairs. If it wasn't doen right - it will rust out from the inside out - plus it is a safety issue should you have a role over accident. I'd contact a laywer and at hleast have him write a letter to CarFAX threatening a suit. Their guaranty has a lot of loop holes - it has to be DMV reported damage -- a tree falls on the car and it would not be reported to DMV!

Reply to
Wolfgang

Well the way I understood from car fax email which I am pasting here

"Accident data that does not result in a branded title being issued by the state is not covered under CARFAX Buyback guarantee. If an accident produces a salvage or junk title as a result, then that branded title would be a possible subject of a claim if Carfax failed to report on it. Accident data, however, is not by itself a suitable subject matter for claims. "

So basically someone can have an accident and have it fixed by a mechanic through cash transaction then it would not come on the report and hence would not get a salvage title and hence does not come under carfax buyback gaurantee.

Anyways....I am going to bite the bullet and keep the car and may be have it repainted.

Reply to
learnfpga

Reply to
Seamus J. Wilson

I dont think this car was katrina but I am aware of this thing happening and thats why I did not go to the dealer to buy a car. I picked a totally random person "Ptivate Seller" and people who sold the car seemed very nice too. I think even they were not aware when the originally purchased the car that it has a damage. They had originally purchased it from a dealer.

I think the lesson from all this is buy a new car if you have money. If you dont then dont expect that you will get a good car always inspite of all the precautions that one can exercise.

Reply to
learnfpga

Well, that basically says that unless the title of the car is listed with the DMV and actually has "salvage" or "junk" on it, they aren't liable.

But if the title has "salvage" wrottem right on it, why would you want to pay Carfax to tell you that? Just look at the title!

I think I'm missing something here....

Is Carfax as bogus as it sounds? Why would someone pay for that???

--Mystified

Reply to
Big Kahuna

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.