Fishy M3 sale in Tucson WBSBL93492JR16846

So I went to go look at a 2002 M3 coupe for sale in Tucson Arizona.
It only has 19000 miles on it. Right before I drove over there I ran a carfax. Sure enough, it had been in an accident in Texas and it even reported frame damage ! Also said it had been sold at a salvage auction.
I still went over to see it. It looked very clean inside and out. I drove it too and didn't notice anything wrong. I asked to see the title and it did not say salvaged. (how is that possible? Does that get lost when it is tranferred between states ?)

I asked a few times if he knew about the history which he said he did not. I then told him my findings. He was shocked, showed me an autocheck report from about a year ago that did not report any of my findings and it made the car look clean. I tended to believe him at that point. Later on I emailed him back stating the car wasn't worth what he was asking or even close to it. (he was on the high side)
He started dissing me and said a car that had some bodywork done to it was probable fine. This is not bodywork.
Anyways, you are all warned. In my last email to him I told him he had to disclose these findings to a buyer.
The vin nr is WBSBL93492JR16846

damn, brother frontin out here, giving us all a bad name.

What was he asking for the car?

Originally Posted by LmtdSlip

What was he asking for the car?

38900, now 36000

Originally Posted by Cowboy Bebop

damn, brother frontin out here, giving us all a bad name.

What do you mean ? I'm posting to protect you guys.

Originally Posted by rruiter

What do you mean ? I'm posting to protect you guys.

Pretty sure Cowboy was referring to the seller.

Alex

thanks alex... werd!

I was at my local MBz dealer and they had a 2004 M3 conv on their lot. I took a peak at it and it was very obvious it had been repaired....and by a poor excuse for a body shop. I pointed out all the flaws to the sales guy and his response was "we ran a carfax and it's clean" even though you could see the horrible repair job.

I bought a 1 year old car from this dealer 5 years ago and always had my suspicions that it had been in an accident. I contacted the dealer and they said it was clean. Four weeks ago the car was being inspected for the lease return and the inspector pointed out that the car had been in an accident. For as long as I owned the car it was not in an accident so I was a little pissed (because his findings supported my original suspicions) and I asked him how he could tell it was in an accident.

He said you simply open the hood or trunk and look at the bolts that hold the fenders on. These bolts will be painted from the factory. It's part of the manufacturing process, it happens on almost every car. If the car has been in an accident that would cause need to remove/repair the fenders the paint on these bolts will be missing, or chipped. You can then dig a little deeper in to the engine or trunk to see how many bolts have been removed. He also said that if there has been frame work the body shops use some kind of a clamp to clamp the frame at the door jams. The clamps wil leave a mark under the weather stripping on the door frames. He said there are other tell tale signs, overspray, and masking tape that gets left behind. He said even the best body shops leave some trace that work was done on the car.

He also said Carfax is a joke. If someone takes the car to a body shop, the shop may not report the repairs, therefore the data on a CF report may not accuratly reflect the history of the car.

You can bet I'll be looking for these clues on any CPO car I buy.

thats the bottom line... no reporting agency is any better than the info they receive and Carfax has no info but that which is reported to them.
If it is not reported then it is not in the system.

Originally Posted by Cowboy Bebop

thanks alex... werd!

Sorry cowboy. Wasn't sure.

I second the notion about CARFAX--it is a good starting point when weeding out the thousands of Autotrader cars, but a complex, expensive car should ALWAYS get a Pre-purchase inspection from a knowledgeable mechanic/body shop that knows whatever marque you are looking at.

If you buy a paint gauge, that will help you easily sort out repainted cars quickly for a few hundred dollars, which you can then forward on to a knowledgeable expert or stop looking at the car. The cost is worth it if it saves you the horrors of later finding out that your car was involved in an accident and you have to sell it and disclose that to the prospective owners.