I just bought a used 2002 Honda S2000 from a BMW dealership (It was a trade-in). I purchased it for $23,500, excluding tax. It came with every single option: front lip, side strakes, rear spoiler, Honda disc changer in the trunk, Honda S2000 dust cover, those black Honda Badges in the front and back instead of the standard chrome (it says its on option on the Honda Website), and I think thats about all it came with. And the milage was only 600 mile so that was pretty low. The thing I am worried about it the car got into an accident before it was traded in. The original owner purchased the car in 2002 and i guess didnt drive it too much because as you can see he fcked it up in less then 600 miles. The damage is all fixed and it looks great to the untrained eye but when I brought it to my buddy who owns a body shop and fixes cars for the Honda and Acura delaerships, he said he could tell it was in an accident in the front end and they replaced the front bumper and one front side fendor. But he said whoever fixed it did a pretty nice job.

So my question is whether this accident makes my purchase a poor one? I think I did alright with the price condsidering it had all the available accessories (except hardtop) and only 600 miles.

 

Honestly, it seems like a pretty good deal, but in my opinion, when buying a car for that much money, id want it to be in tip top shape, meaning no accidents, no dings, no dents and etc. Im sure you cant notice it to the untrained eye, but there are body men out there that can notice it, even if you dont, now that your friend has told you, you'll always wonder, how bad of an accident was it in, did it mess up the frame, and etc.

just my .02

 

how did the owner buy a 2002 in 2000, did i read that wrong?

 

I think he means the owner got the car in 2000, it was wrecked after only 600 miles and was repaired and resold recently. Have your body shop buddy take a better look over the car. If the drivetrain and frame is undamaged then I think you got a good deal in the sense you have a brand new S2000 drivetrain on your hands. At least you know no one has been abusing the differential.

If the car ends up having problems related to the incident then you may want to question your deal, but if it holds up well for you then consider you got a brand new S2000 drivetrain with the 9000 RPM redline! Probably arn't to many of the pre-04's arond anymore with that low of a mileage, or even in that ballpark.

 

That still wouldn't make sense that the original owner bought a MY2002 in the year 2000. If he bought it in the fall of 2001, that would make sense ...

Did you run a CarFax on the car? If the accident appears in Carfax then the resale value of the car is probably going to be diminished. If you don't care about resale value then its probably a pretty good deal ... Car isn't even broken in yet with only 600 miles.

 

sorry i didnt mean to type 2000....i meant to say he bought it in 2002!

the name of the car being S2000 got me all confused

 

haha, im all over the place man, you gotta keep up

 

Did you at least pull a Carfax before buying?

 

yes i always make sure to do that and it was clear.

go figure

 

That being said, the main thing is if you are happy with the car. By sounds of things the repairs were done right. Many owners have had to have minor repairs done to thier cars, some minor and others major.