krisl

I'm seriously considering this car:

http://www.carfax.com/cfm/ccc_DisplayHisto...MAP11412T008020


It's being sold by a used car dealer. As far as the accident and mileage are concerned (see the carfax!), the dealer told me this:


---
I looked at the carfax and confirmed the
history report. It appears there was an accident sometime in 2003 and the
repair facility that reported it did not report the correct mileage. This is
just a hunch, but given that the mileage reported is an even 15,000 and that
its almost impossible to tamper with digital odometers, I would fault the
repair shop.

I spent a couple of hours this morning looking the car over to see if I
could identify where it had been damaged (even used our paint meter) and
could not see any damaged parts. However I did notice the VIN tag missing on
the front left fender and signs that the bumper had been removed. I would
suggest looking at the car.
---



The mileage discrepancy sounds reasonable. I'm concerned about the accident. Does anyone know a shop in the south bay area (Campbell, CA) that knows S2000s and could take a look at this car to look for any possible suspension/frame damage?


It's a 2002 w/ 15,500 miles... $20,000 even sounds like a pretty damn good deal.

TR-S2K

You should post these type of questions in local forum such as: California - Bay Area S2000 Owners. Scroll down near the end of the forums page, Bay Area S2000 Owners is there.

They know local bodyshops better than anyone outside Bay Area.

HiPER

02 with 15k for 20k even is not a good deal. If you have 20k to spend, I'd suggest looking in the s2k classifieds on here. Enthusiasts usually take care of their cars better and I'm sure you can find another 02+ for a better price.

Eluded

20k isn't a bad price considering its the bay area..... do you the name of the repair facility that performed the original work? I'd walk because the deelor is admiting the car has potential problems and that is not a good sign. There are lots of them for sale there. Check out craigslist.org

Honda 367

I advise you to pull back on this one and do more research on available S2K out there.

dead-bird

Try not to be in a hurry.

krisl

Thanks for the replies everyone. $20k for an 02 w/ 15k miles seems to be decent in the Bay Area, and the financee wants black. She won't even look at silver or yellow. Given this car seems to be what she wants with very low mileage, I'm going to have a Honda dealer go over it with a fine toothed comb prior to considering it further.

Unfortunately time is not something that we have on our side. We essentially need to find a car within 3 weeks.

...and our credit union which is offering a super low APR loan with a kung-fu grip requires that the seller come in to a local branch. Totally weaksauce....

JEFFOS69

You can mess with a digital odometer - not the average person can but if you have the programmer too and know what youre doing you can reset it if you want. Id stay away - also think of this: if this may seter you when its time to sell it these things showing up will deter other buyers.

s4play

If the car is in the bay area I can take a peek at it for you if you want.

I'm no car expert but we work on about 20 cars per week doing high end stereo work so I'm pretty well versed in looking in certain areas for damage and hidden signs of tampering.

$20k for a 2002 is not high or low. I sold my 01 for 21,700 I think about 6 months ago and it had barely 30k miles on it.

This area the market is higher than the rest of the country so if it's in a good shape it may be a decent deal. But if you suspect the mileage is not real then you may want to re-consider. Also look in classified ads on here - they are not a great place for sellers but a great place for buyers usually. I ended up buying my new s2000 on Autotrader but had to ship the car to CA.


let me know if you need more advice or a good body shop to inspect the paint.


Rick

kntrider

I wouldn't pay full price for a wrecked s2k

u can get a pampered one for around the same price and peace of mind.