I bought a 2005 Vibe Base 1.8 last week with 110,000 miles. Drove it in the rain yesterday, and discovered both the left and right inner rear quarter panels, just below the two side storage compartments in the rear hatch area, were filled with water. Tested with a garden hose today and discovered water was entering the interior quarter panels down by the bumper. I could not figure out why, and asked a body shop to take a look. The tech said the car has repaired damage on the right rear, and that the bumper had not been properly reinstalled. Screws were used on both sides of the bumper that breached the interior quarter panels giving the water someplace to collect as it drained from the upper portion of the car.
The rear hatch sill plate was cracked when I took a look at the car. I will now flog myself for the next week or two, for not being more curious about the crack, and lifting and removing the sill plate. If I had, I would have discovered mangled metal where the right rear floor panel knob is supposed to lock into position, and immediately walked away from the car. Instead I just wrote it off the sill plate damage to someone dropping some heavy cargo and cracking the plastic.
I already knew this, but for those of you that do not, a clean Carfax means that no accidents were reported, not that the vehicle does not have any repaired accident or collision damage. This car had an accident-free Carfax. It also (according to maintenance entries on Carfax) had been well maintained. I hope the maintenance information is accurate. For what is worth, the body shop thought even with the hack job on the bumper, the rest of the body work was done OK. They said overall the car is in good shape, and that once the openings were sealed and the bumper attached correctly, the car would be fine. It does drive straight, no rattles, no shaking. If they are correct about the car being road worthy, I will just file this episode in the "you can't win them all" folder. And be more curious when I see something that is not right.