CARMAX

I live in Virginia and went to Carmax to look for a vehicle. I noticed alot of rust on the underside of most vehicles they had. I did the carfax report and found most with rust came from the north. Has anyone else noticed this about this no haggle store. Looks like to me Carmax is buying up north where there is alot of salt on the roads and trying to unload rust buckets down south.

Reply to
Chevy Man
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How many cars did you do the carfax report on?

Up here, cars from the south or southwest often bring a premium due to the lack of rust. This has become less important in the past 1- years or so, thanks to better rustproofing of all cars.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

How old are the cars you're looking at? For at least 10 years now the auto industry has done a good job of rust proofing cars from the factory and even northern cars have to be pretty old before rust shows up and becomes a problem.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Mabye they came from New Orleans and were re-titled up north.

Reply to
« Paul »

Looked at several. Most less than 4 years old. I guess when they take southern cars north for a premium price they have to bring something back. Too bad most people do not suspect and do not inspect the undersides of the vehicles they will be buying. I am sure most northerners are more aware and more concious of rust on vehicles because of location. I would think Carmax should point it out to their customers. It must not be part of one of those

125 point inspections they do.
Reply to
Chevy Man

How bad were these cars? did they have holes? Body parts or chassis?

Having owned cars in the northeast and kept them for up to 16 years, I don't know what the problem is that you are looking at. Most every car has a little surface rust on a couple of underside components at times, but I've not had one rust through or cause a problem in many years. Last car that had a rust problem was a mid 70's Ford that was over 12 years old, and a rough treated '86 Ford F-150 that was our shop truck at work that had a lot of rust when it was sold in 1999. We just traded the '99 Chevy a few months ago and it was not showing any rust problems. My '91 Regal had some underside rust when I traded it in 2006 (still had the original exhaust system).

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Reply to
Chevy Man

Living in SC, I hate rust. But I have found there's a big difference in rust ON cars and rust IN cars. In at least the last 12-15 years, I've seen lots of cars that were bought locally with rust ON them--having come from salty-road areas, but had been there like just a couple of years--show no additional deterioration after being here several years later. Red, dusty rust ON frames and crystals of oxidation ON aluminum castings are both a far cry from scales of rust IN frames or fenders. I think you pointed this out in the statement "Rust on frame not fenders.". s

Reply to
sdlomi2

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