buy used car advice needed=

[jamesmetairie]

i,m looking at a 2003 matrix xr w/ 78,000 miles,automatic.private owner bought it 1 year ago at nissan dealer. it drives great with 16 inch alloys.tires are "fusion,hri" 205/55r 16 91h. it is dogged out.right front wheel scraped on curb heavy and ripped tire.little cracked across the windshield,missing the apron around the bottom of the rear bumper,drivers side. dirty interior scares me. i felt under dash and had alot of dirt on my fingers.some rust on springs under seats. i called dealer and they say "no flood car".i hate to gamble on this = but i can get it for about $6500. maybe we,ll get a "car-fax". i,m waiting for my kid to get home with our 2003 vibe to check under dash and seats. what do you guys think?

[nygiantzz1]

I wouldn't buy it. If it's as dirty and dinged up as you say, then odds are it wasn't properly maintained. Is there any documentation to verify regular maintenance? I would want to see proof of oil changes and filter changes first. The cosmetics can be fixed easily, but a beat up engine and tranny would be really expensive to repair.

[injun_josh]

sounds like a flood car to me. the part about there being rust on the seat springs means there WAS water in the cab, one way or another. next time you look at it lift up the spare tire cover and look for signs of standing water, i.e. evaporation rings, mineral deposits, or just plain ol' mud.

[Merzbow]

I agree, probably was in water. Maybe it wasn't in a flood, but maybe there was another form of water damage.Anyways, there is no way dirt could get under the dash board in any way unless it was lifted up into there by something like water.

[Kamikaze]

Don't buy it.

[NibCrom]

Yikes. Your description is scaring me. If you can get a Car Fax for free, that's fine, but personally I would run away.

[kunkstyle]

I'd stray away from it, but if you want a carfax completed, feel free to PM me the vin.

[ToolGuy]

Quote, originally posted by nygiantzz1 »I wouldn't buy it. If it's as dirty and dinged up as you say, then odds are it wasn't properly maintained. Is there any documentation to verify regular maintenance? I would want to see proof of oil changes and filter changes first. The cosmetics can be fixed easily, but a beat up engine and tranny would be really expensive to repair. +1Sounds like this car was just driven and that was it. Couldn't have cared less about it. Plus this owner bought it one year ago and is now selling it? Why? And did they do all this damage in one year?The dirty interior could simply mean the windows were down all the time and was never vacuumed out in its life. Spring rust is normal and any metal under the dash. Parts are not coated like they used to be and manf says why coat them when they are not seen... If it was a flood car and had amounts of water in it then this person would have spent bucks to replace all the computers, window motors, interior and other, so I doubt it was in a flood.

[Kamikaze]

My friend had bought a Prelude that didn't say anything about any flood damage in the carfax report. When we tore the car apart to get it ready for autocross we noticed some rusty interior pieces. at first we didn't think too much of it... figured maybe a window down in the rain, or went thru a huge puddle got some water into the interior, and over time the little orange rust we saw was just normal (as stated above about the parts not being coated to protect from rust)different story when we got to the trunk and started taking everything out... we figured the car had some kind of flood damage b/c there was mud/dirt in the spare tire area and a orange rust line where the water was. Now we don't know how bad it really was, but obviously the car saw some water.The car ran fine and worked fine. but it was clean except for the things stated above.The trix seems like it wasn't taken care of. and that alone bothers me. I wouldn't buy it based solely on that even if it wasn't in a flood.

[hextavo]

That car doesn't at all sound like its worth 6500! If your still considering it tell them you'll take it for 4500, that seems more like the right price if its in as bad of shape as you say it is! Good luck on the vibe shopping, I however wouldn't bother with it if it was in that bad of shape. However if you got it on the cheap, 1500-2000 can do a lot of nice repair work!

[melders]

I wouldn't probably Flood car like mentioned above. car-fax probably wont tell you much either.

[June]

Gotta agree, take a pass and keep looking.

[FLVibe]

I agree with the others. Don't buy it. A car fax is good but only has damage if it was repaired by an insurance company or a repair shop that reports to them. It is always a chance the vehicle was owned by a rental or self insured company that does the repairs on their vehicle and does not report to car fax.

[northvibe]

check craigslist.com in your area, there are some crazy good deals on vibes here in MN on there. I would pass on that car though.