[icenight]

BIMMERPOST / Classifieds

Asking Price:

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Item Interest

i found this car online and it has everything I want options wise, the price is a decent price, but it says it was in an accident in 2007. Is it a bad idea to buy a car which the car fax has an accident reported on it? The carfax will be shown for any car that sustains a damage of above $500 in the officers opinion.

I really like the car but what do you think about the situation? The cars out of state and I would go see it sometime soon. Obviously I can't take it to my mechanic because its a few hours away and I can't trust the dealer b/c they'll say anything to sell a car.

According to the dealer it was minor damage and you can't tell any difference in the paint or anything wrong with the car once put on a lift.

The official carfax is that "It hit another motor vehicle, left side primarily damaged"

[ase2dais]

I wouldnt buy it.. there are alot of cars out there

[E90330iS]

no way

[krote345]

There is a pretty good chance that the frame was slightly 'jarred' in a side collision. If so, you'll never be able to get it perfectly aligned. Unless it's an unbelievable deal and you're willing to take that chance, I'd keep looking.

[TofuTurkey]

Originally Posted by icenight

The official carfax is that "It hit another motor vehicle, left side primarily damaged"

I think car fax has a section specifically for frame damage, does it say anything there?

There's also the issue of selling in the future: less people would be interested in taking it off your hands.

[icenight]

i havent found a 3 series that has nav, prem, sport, cold weather, and comfort access with sub 40k miles and under 23k to buy.

any ideas how i can find out what was fixed on the car? i called bmw they dont have any record of it.

the guy at the dealer said if it had frame damage, or anything major it would say something more then left side damage. and that he hit someone going 5 mph and b/c the cops came the accident showed up on carfax.

[icenight]

Originally Posted by TofuTurkey

I think car fax has a section specifically for frame damage, does it say anything there?

There's also the issue of selling in the future: less people would be interested in taking it off your hands.

nothing on the carfax for frame damage, ideally i want to keep the car til it reaches 100k miles anyway so im not to worried bout selling it later.

[e90fanatic]

lol u can have accidents and repairs without showing on car fax as well.

what i'd do is use it as a negotiation weapon

[TomBMW]

Not necessarily a bad idea to buy an accident car, it just depends on the damage. Many times the owner will have pictures of the damage.

One thing is for sure, bad damage or not, the car is WORTH a lot LESS and you maybe able to get a much lower price because of the CarFax "mark".

[icenight]

what price would be acceptable?
06 xi, nav, sport, prem, cold weather, comfort access?? 34k miles?

[TofuTurkey]

(How in the world did I forget to mention this?)

Can you get the dealer to CPO the car? The price will go up a bit, but there's additional warranty.

[icenight]

Originally Posted by TofuTurkey

(How in the world did I forget to mention this?)

Can you get the dealer to CPO the car? The price will go up a bit, but there's additional warranty.

in order to get it cpo'd the dealer has to buy it from you, then you buy it back i thought

[IDreamofBimmers]

Did you try the auctions??

[Andrew@ET]

if it has frame damage no matter how slight it is still frame damage and the car is worth far less..

If u can take the car to car max to get them to appraise it.


Btw i still would not buy it there are tons of cars that do not show up on carfax ,auto check so do not trust this either.

[icenight]

i havnet checked the auctions,
but i havnet found a car like this,

2006, 330, with nav, prem, sport, cold weather, and comfort access for 21k with 33k miles on it. is it a good deal???

[IDreamofBimmers]

is this the car that's been in accidents?

[icenight]

yeah, is it a good deal? is it worth it?

[TofuTurkey]

Originally Posted by icenight

in order to get it cpo'd the dealer has to buy it from you, then you buy it back i thought

I know that for cars sitting at the Audi dealership they may agree to CPO it just before selling them, they just raise a price a little and the car goes somewhere to get further processed. Especially in this case where it's not 100% clear whether there's frame damage, I would definitely want it to be CPOed... If the dealer agrees to CPO it, that also means they have some faith in it not having frame damage that will come bite them in the ass later. And since they are the ones doing the inspection (or whatever it is they do during the CPO process), it's the right kind of people, who have the know-how, making the judgement.

[icenight]

so i should ask the people im buyin the car from to take it to bmw and have them cpo the car? or what shoudl i tell the people im buyin the car from?

[grn.eyed.bandit]

i'm not sure how it works down south, but where i'm at, we have "state" insurance that everyone has to go through, and we can check there if they paid any money to have the car fixed from anything (collision, theft, vandalism).

also, i just bought my car used last month and it had 3 claims on it, but it showed the amount paid to fix these claims, which were all under $1000, very insignificant if you think about how much it costs to repair a bimmer.

Does a carfax show how much it cost to fix the damage? If it does, anything under a couple thousand really isnt much. My last car had a small SCRATCH in the front fender that i got repainted (front fender and blend paint to driver door), and that alone cost $1100 to fix.

but like it was said above, definately use it as a bargaining tool. oh yeah...good luck on the purchase!

[blue2fire]

Avoid it like the plague