Would you buy a used car that had an accident?

[no_joke]

I've found a decently priced '06 Acura TL online that was in an accident this winter. The seller was up front about it- apparently he couldn't avoid hitting another car that had pulled into an intersection. This resulted in the front bumper and one headlight being replaced.

Being a total noob at buying a used car, I have to ask: Should you not buy a used car that has any accidents on its record? Is it like a black hex of death that should be avoided? Does being in an accident make this particular car untouchable? Personally, I am OK with it as long as the repairs were properly done. How much can I bargain off the asking price because the car was in an accident and doesn't have a CLEAN record? Obviously I would get a good mechanical inspection to see if there is any frame damage, etc before committing to buy.

Thanks all, I ran a search on beyond and the rest of the interwebs but couldn't really find anything specific to this.

[rage2]

It really depends on how bad the accident is, and how it was repaired. If there was frame damage, I'd pass. If it's a small fender bender and all panels/bumpers etc. were replaced and not repaired, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

At the end of the day, it's personal preference.

[corsvette]

If the seller is honest and the car only needed a bumper and light its no big deal.Run a carproof on the car,it should give you the damage estimates it had.

[Wrinkly]

Good advice so far.

Also bear in mind that it "may" affect your resale value down the road, so try to get the price you're paying down a little to reflect that, unless of course, it's already been taken into account.

[r3ccOs]

Originally posted by Wrinkly
Good advice so far.

Also bear in mind that it "may" affect your resale value down the road, so try to get the price you're paying down a little to reflect that, unless of course, it's already been taken into account.

bingo

[no_joke]

It's just hard to gauge "fair value" for a used car. I've got a recent copy of the Gold Book but it seems like private sales and dealers all ask for a lot more than the supposed average selling price! Here are some links that might be useful to others in the same position:

http://ask.metafilter.com/142499/How-much-can-you-sell-a-repairable-car-for

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/okay-buy-car-accident-801972/

[boarderfatty]

I find that pretty well every used car has been in some sort of minor accident at least. Sub $1000 accidents are not reported shops that fix stuff for under $1000 will usually show in the quality of work and be more obvious than the same repair done properly for $1000+ with an accident report. There are also a lot of shops that will do repairs for cash and not report it. I have seen many cars while shopping that have mismatched headights, and spots or orange peel paint on bumpers, doors etc where and obviously shitty touchup has happened without an accident report.

When I bought my porsche it had 2 accident claims. 1 was a rear bumper touchup from a hit and run. it cost $1500 to repair, with no parts. but it was flawless and I have photo documentation of the original damage, prepping, painting, clearing, and polishing which made me feel well. It also had a comprehensive claim for $6000 to touch up some stone chips on the front end. again $2000 was for 2 new headlights, and the other $4000 was for labour and paint on the front bumper, hood, and fenders. Again there was alot of photo documentation showing the problem areas before hand, and a very thorough repair process, so I felt quite confident buying the car. When claiming through insurance repair shops are usually not afraid to charge an arm and a leg since it is not the cusomer paying and looking for a deal, and to get the maximum payout out of the ins company they have to provide proper documentation.

[HK2NR]

Originally posted by corsvette
If the seller is honest and the car only needed a bumper and light its no big deal.Run a carproof on the car,it should give you the damage estimates it had.

If you're set on the car do a quick carproof for sure.

Similar situation on an 03 TL-S a couple years back. Seller "honestly" said that there were some minor repairs done to the suspension and bumper had been resprayed. Looked underneath and everything was mint, drove and handled just fine. Ran the carproof and noticed it was written off, managed to find its way to two different auctions in quebec/ontario and went through $10 grand in repairs and finally coming to calgary. Needless to say that sure turned me away from it no matter how well the car performed, who knows what happened in its last days.

[93VR6]

If I can get a discount I don't see a reason not to, ya the resale value is worth less but you also paid less so it evens out.

Also depends on the car if I wanted to buy a car that I would drive at the track I would want it to be in excellent condition with perfect chassis alignment. If I was buying a daily driver to get from point a to b, say an accord for example, I don't give a fuck whats happened to it.

[Kloubek]

Use the accident as a price-negotiation tool. Show him how similar accident-free cars are no cheaper, so you should get a reduction.

Many (if not most) vehicles have been in a fender bender at one point in their lives. As long as it was repaired properly from a decent body shop, I would not worry at all about it.

As others have said, though, if it has been written off then there was generally much more substantial damage. It is much more difficult to fix a car properly in this case, and many more parts to fix which may (or may not) have had corners cut to do the job. Besides this, rebuilt cars will always have a lower resale value; sometimes fairly significantly.

At the end of the day, a small accident is really no biggie.

[Moe Man]

how do you know the seller was being honest? because he told you so.... Its probably bullshit, there are so many curbers out there its not even funny, ask for the registration of the vehicle and make sure it is in their name, then try to get something like recipts for the car. Not to see what kind of work was done but to read the date on the recipt to see how long they have owned the car for.

Oh and if they tell you it was only minor....it was probably in a major accident, so get the car checked out.

[dj_rice]

Since this pertains to my situation I'll post here.


I am interested in a 240sx in BC, guy selling for $2500, I offered $2000 and hes considering it but I pulled Carproof and found these.

http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r470/djrice1234/CARRR.jpg

http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r470/djrice1234/caRR.jpg


For the accident portion, he never owned the car during that time period but is there any way to find out the info on what type of collision happened during those claims?

[shutterbug_art8]

Originally posted by no_joke
I've found a decently priced '06 Acura TL online that was in an accident this winter. The seller was up front about it- apparently he couldn't avoid hitting another car that had pulled into an intersection. This resulted in the front bumper and one headlight being replaced.

Being a total noob at buying a used car, I have to ask: Should you not buy a used car that has any accidents on its record? Is it like a black hex of death that should be avoided? Does being in an accident make this particular car untouchable? Personally, I am OK with it as long as the repairs were properly done. How much can I bargain off the asking price because the car was in an accident and doesn't have a CLEAN record? Obviously I would get a good mechanical inspection to see if there is any frame damage, etc before committing to buy.

Thanks all, I ran a search on beyond and the rest of the interwebs but couldn't really find anything specific to this.

I brought used cars with rebuilt titles before. As long as you know what you are buying and getting yourself into. Typically they should be priced about 20-30% lower than the market.

One thing though, when you try to sell it, people thinks someone died in there because of the title (rebuilt=big accident)...lol. And yes I know...sometimes cars get written off due to things like seats got stolen.

[tom_9109]

Originally posted by dj_rice
Since this pertains to my situation I'll post here.


I am interested in a 240sx in BC, guy selling for $2500, I offered $2000 and hes considering it but I pulled Carproof and found these.

http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r470/djrice1234/CARRR.jpg

http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r470/djrice1234/caRR.jpg


For the accident portion, he never owned the car during that time period but is there any way to find out the info on what type of collision happened during those claims?

Since its under $2000 i wouldn't even worry about it. Anything serious would be more than that.

[911fever]

My Mom's 5 series (06) had a 2100 dollar claim for the replacement and repainting of a new bumper skin which was repaired by BMW's collision repair shop at $119 an hour for labor. The bumper skin was like $100 alone. I used it to negotiate around $1500 off the price of the car.