Used vehicle pre purchase inspection, at dealer or repair shop?

[cidley69]

Might buy a 2010 Acura MDX, it's USA origin vehicle with 40k miles, it's been registered in AB since 2011 and 10k miles.

Owner has service records from local Honda dealer.

Want to do due diligence on purchase, wondering if there's real advantage to getting ppi done at Acura dealer (likely significantly more expensive) vs independent auto shop?

Vehicles been registered and insured here for years, so shouldn't be any more concern re USA origin?

Thanks for any thoughts on this!

[BMDUBS]

US vehicles are usually worth less as the owner most likely paid less than local market value for the car including importation to get it here.

I would personally not buy a US vehicle as I would be worried about flood and insurance claims.

Make sure you get Car Fax done on it

[cidley69]

I have the carproof , it was in Phoenix for first 10k miles, pretty good areas for vehicles.

[Skyline_Addict]

Originally posted by cidley69
I have the carproof , it was in Phoenix for first 10k miles, pretty good areas for vehicles.

I wouldn't be overly worried about it being a US car. If the carproof is clean and price is good, it should be all well. I would be comfortable taking it to a non-dealer inspection, as long as the shop is good. It's not a rare vehicle, so dealership / speciality shop is not necessary for the inspection.

[dropdat]

Originally posted by BMDUBS
US vehicles are usually worth less as the owner most likely paid less than local market value for the car including importation to get it here.

I would personally not buy a US vehicle as I would be worried about flood and insurance claims.

Make sure you get Car Fax done on it

Seriously?
Depending on where the vehicle came from I would much rather have a US car. Have you seen the condition of vehicles from Texas, Arizona or Nevada? They never see salt, hardly any rain, no rock chips and no winters. Most year old cars from Alberta have more wear then 5 year old vehicles from Arizona.

Don't listen to this bullshit advice.

[cidley69]

So when test driving mdx couple nights ago, owner mentioned he got wheel alignment done recently around June.

Car had ppi today and only deficiencies were parking break and wheel alignment came back m instead of g.

What would cause wheels to come out of alignment again in such short amount of time?

Is this just a minor issue? He says this car is wife's daily driver. Could she be so bad at driving she needs new alignment every few months?

Of would this be symptom of more serious problem?

Any thoughts appreciated!

[dropdat]

Initial alignment not being done correctly?

[cidley69]

This vehicles only been to Honda/Acura dealer for services.

How could legit shop not be able to do alignment correctly?

[relyt92]

Originally posted by cidley69
This vehicles only been to Honda/Acura dealer for services.

How could legit shop not be able to do alignment correctly? Did they say how far out the alignment was? Some shitty driving could be enough to bring it just out of spec if it wasn't perfect to begin with.

[roopi]

Doesnt car proof only show Canadian history and Carfax shows the US history?

[roll_over]

Erased

[cidley69]

Carproof has a section that searches US database "Experian"

[cidley69]

So it seems slightly crazy to kybosh a $20k+ purchase over a $125 service issue, but I'm Leary that needing 2 alignment jobs in 7 months is symptom of more serious front end problem.

It was tnt Honda that did initial alignment in April and its them that identified this tues that alignment is out again.

Am I just paranoid or does this car have something wrong with it?

[G-ZUS]

Originally posted by cidley69
So it seems slightly crazy to kybosh a $20k+ purchase over a $125 service issue, but I'm Leary that needing 2 alignment jobs in 7 months is symptom of more serious front end problem.

It was tnt Honda that did initial alignment in April and its them that identified this tues that alignment is out again.

Am I just paranoid or does this car have something wrong with it?

Could just be a shitty driver, hitting pot holes, curbs etc will do that. How far out was it? Any suspension work mentioned?

[redblack]

There's lots of mdx's out there, if this deal irks you the wrong way spend your 20k elsewhere.

[ExtraSlow]

Exactly, If this is making you feel weird, just move on. There are at least a handful of similar ones on kijiji.

[Neil4Speed]

Originally posted by dropdat


Seriously?
Depending on where the vehicle came from I would much rather have a US car. Have you seen the condition of vehicles from Texas, Arizona or Nevada? They never see salt, hardly any rain, no rock chips and no winters. Most year old cars from Alberta have more wear then 5 year old vehicles from Arizona.

Don't listen to this bullshit advice.

This. (although, Texas, not Houston or near the coast though).

I bought my car from San Jose because it was truly the mintest one I could find in North America and didn't really get a 'deal' even though it was in 2009.

I would recommend a Carfax as well though, I have both on my car and the Carfax has more detail on it.

Although, I will say, that for some people the US car is a turn off due to the MPH and Fahrenheit, so may be less value in the used market in Canada.

[dropdat]

Originally posted by cidley69
This vehicles only been to Honda/Acura dealer for services.

How could legit shop not be able to do alignment correctly?

If there was another issue that's messing up the alignment then the "legit" shop should be able to find it.

Also, there's a good chance that the person who did the alignment was a newbie that was doing the job because the more experienced guys were doing other jobs that paid more book hours and were easier to do. That's how the alignment could be done wrong.

My friend brought his car over to Jackie at Zero Limit (which I think is an excellent shop) for an alignment and it was done wrong twice before the issue finally got resolved.

I think if you're so worried about trivial shit like this then you should just buy new or accept that damn near every used vehicle will have some sort of minor issue.

[cidley69]

Carproof showed 3 accidents, that were described as fender benders bodywork only type incidents.

Talked to service supervisor at tnt, he said it's the rear camber out, which is not adjustable, and this is throwing off front suspension and makes car pull to the right, and it can't be adjusted out.

I didn't put it together before, but the alignment is likely buggered as result of accident throwing rear camber out.

Guess I just refined my search to vehicle that's accident free so no hidden/accident related issues are lingering.

Thanks for the thoughts on this.


As a crappy aside, the vehicle needed power steering and diff fluid changed and owner got these done at same time as the ppi. He also had tired swapped for winters.

He now wants me to cover costs for these in addition to inspection bc I'm declining to purchase vehicle.

[ExtraSlow]

If you ordered the work, you pay. If he did, he pays.

[cancer man]

well now his car is maintained and ready for winter. also he had to have known that the frame
had to be pulled. T & T Honda are pretty straight up. They always print out the alignment sheets.

[cidley69]

It's his vehicle, he brought it to shop.

[relyt92]

Originally posted by cidley69
It's his vehicle, he brought it to shop. Did you ask for the services to be done before buying?

[acedia]

I don't think you owe him anything. If I was selling a car and the buyer asked me to do anything to it, I would look at it one of two ways:

It's something the car needs anyway and it'll help me sell it (or hinder a sale if I don't do it). If buyer walks, no worries, work is now done and it's easier to sell to buyer #2, or:

It's something I don't think is necessary, and I wouldn't do it if it weren't for this demanding buyer... in which case the buyer pays for it and I take it off the sale price, or he puts a deposit down, etc. No one is going to make me do something to my car that I don't agree with 100% without some kind of assurance.

Besides, this is basic maintenance stuff the car needs anyway. Taking it to the shop revealed that the vehicle needed power steering and diff fluid changed. He's saying he would have left it and sold the car with shyte fluids? He doesn't think selling a car in the winter with winter tires is something he should be doing anyway?

I would nicely decline his insistence that you help him get his car into proper condition to sell it.

[Kloubek]

I KNOW you don't owe him anything. That's a bunch of bullshit. If you had asked him to get that work done and then you'd buy the vehicle, that's one thing. But to just go ahead and get it done, then expect you to pay for it? That's ridiculous!

As for the frame/alignment issue - good on you for doing your due diligence. Just saved yourself some headaches.

[sabad66]

Originally posted by cidley69

As a crappy aside, the vehicle needed power steering and diff fluid changed and owner got these done at same time as the ppi. He also had tired swapped for winters.

He now wants me to cover costs for these in addition to inspection bc I'm declining to purchase vehicle.
pay for the ppi, not the other work

[cidley69]

Seller works as a financial planner, investment manager, I mentioned to him knowingly selling a damaged vehicle and not disclosing it's damaged (ie downplaying severity of accident or just pretending it's all good when he knows it isn't) might not abide by ethics rules of his professional body.

All of a sudden he fully agreed he should pay for the services, and he refunded my money.

Guess he must have agreed that was shady ethically.

Thanks again Beyond!