unowned

Hi folks,

I was about to pull the trigger on an S this friday, seller supposedly has an S in 'excellent' condition all around. I pulled up the carfax last night and it indicated that there was a 'minor' accident with front end damage on the car. Perhaps it was indeed minor, but the carfax also indicated it was towed to a shop - which leaves me worrying about just how 'minor' the damage was. The seller had no idea that the car was ever in an accident (carfax indicates the accident was under the PREVIOUS owner)

I have a 150 pt inspection with a compression test booked for Friday. I like the car but i have yet to see it since I am 6 hours away (I will be driving down on friday).

Opinions on what to do? Walk away?

roel03

Soon to be another Albanian S2000 owner!

unowned

i got lazy with my user registration...i am from toronto ontario lol

03 9g

Carfax is a joke my bro had 18k worth of damage to his S and the carfax was clean... 2yrs later ...worthless if u ask me

unowned

i understand that a clean carfax may not imply a perfectly clean car, but a dirty carfax certainly implies a dirty car, you know what i mean? I just dont know if its worth pursuing anymore because it does degrade the resale value of it later on...im not sure whether to hit the negotiation table again or to walk away. The seller doesnt even know the extent of the damage the accident caused, because he wasnt aware until I told him.

Syn

Have the car inspected and if all is well, use the Carfax as leverage. My car was also in a "minor front end collision" according to Carfax but there was no damage whatsoever (obviously was fixed properly) so I just used it to get the car at a lower price. It's true you may be affected when it's time to re-sell, but not everyone checks Carfax/consider that the next person might check when THEY go to sell, so it could end up being a wash at resale time.

Lazyrider69

There are ACCIDENTS and there are INCIDENTS. Carax doesn't seem to diffentiate but as long as the Carfax doesn't show "structural Damage", I would not consider the car "dirty" if it were cosmetic. Previous owner of my 1 owner S, side swiped a deer in 2003 a few months after buying car and quarter panel was replaced but they kept car for 10 years after that. No structural issues. That wouldn't deter me. Use it as leverage, but don't expect too much.

When I see some of these S2ks in prisitine condition with roll bars and modded out the wazoo, I would rather take the unmodded S with a new fender or bumper cover cuz you know the other ones were probably abused on track or around town.

ConanO'Brien

hard to say why the car had to be towed but it could be from something completely non-serious like a.) the owner just did not want to drive the car after the accident, b.) the bumper or something minor bent towards the ground and would have dragged if the car was driven.

USAF_S2K

i had an accident in my car but drove it to the body shop. it sucks and makes me sad to think about it but as long as the car is repaired at a good shop i wouldnt sweat it. If i were to sell mine i would take money off because of the wreck for sure. All depends on the price you get. A vast majority of cars on the road today have been in some sort of fender bender. Talk with the guy and see if he is willing to reduce the price before you spend the money on the inspection.

steven975

agree with that. Mine had the hood, bumper, and right fender damaged (trailer ball on the other car). Repair was expensive due to it being 3 panels, but there's no structural damage and it was fixed well. Yes, I'd take some off for that if I were to sell it, but if some joker comes saying that requires a 20% reduction in price I'd have a different opinion.