2008 S2000 on Ebay by power seller with 100% positive feedback and 789 transactions. Toward the bottom of Ebay ad is the following paragraph -

"The quarter panel has been repainted so anytime you have something like this at the auction previous paintwork will be called unibody and Ebay has us put exact sentence following this so nothing negative at all to report. Autocheck reports that this vehicle was previously sold at a wholesale auction with a disclosure that the vehicle has frame/unibody damage or had frame/unibody damage"

The CARFAX is clean. What do you all make of this? Does anyone know auto auction rules about repaint? It doesn't make sense that a power seller with 100% feedback and 789 transactions would risk selling a frame damaged car.

 

If the quarter panel was just repainted or had a small amount of body damage that was repairable, they would not be required to put that on the auction. Sounds like it may have had a quarter panel replaced, which is a structural issue. The quarter panel is an integral part of the frame on a unibody vehicle like the S2000. If the quarter was replaced by a good repairman who knows what he's doing, the car can still be structurally sound, but will be worth much much less.

Carfax only includes problems that are reported to insurance companies. If someone wrecked the car and paid for the quarter replacement themselves, it wouldn't necessarily show up on carfax. But since the seller is a dealer, they're still required to state it has had frame/unibody damage in their auction.

Having worked in a body shop, I know that the car can be structurally sound and have years of good life in it, so I personally wouldn't walk away from this if it were a very very very good deal, but I'd make sure to have the body looked at by a qualified bodyman, not a general purpose mechanic. And the price would have to be much much lower than a comparable car with no quarter replacement.

 

Thanks for the info. It's appreciated.

 

Had it checked out - bought it.

 

Pics?

 

Was it this car?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks...A1%7C240%3A1308


If you don't mind could you tell us what you ended up paying for it and what your paint/body guy said about how much it had been damaged?

 

Congrats on your purchase!

 

Any questions please PM me, i own a car dealership

 

Wrong

Auto auctions do inspections and if there is or has been paint work, they automatically assume there has been body damage.
Ive bought and sold cars like this, it really hurts a dealer trying to sell a car like this with it showing up on carfax.
9 times out of 10 its a minor fender bend that had no frame damage or unibody damage.

If it is auto auction announced it usually isnt anything wrong, if it insurace or auto body announced then you have an issue

 

So they just repainted the quarter panel for the heck of it, of course you should take the dealer's word for it and not have it looked at by a qualified technician. What could I have been thinking?