Hi this is my first thread on s2ki, but I've been on s2ki for a while.
I am looking at an s2000, the dealer has it listed at a very nice price. I had a auto check of the car, and the car came up with 7 owners, and failed emissions when it was 2 years old(150000 miles), but passed everything after. The car had 2 liens,and reported as lease vehicle. The car has no reported accidents when I asked if i could speak with the previous owner, they denied it. They are willing to let me get it inspected...
My questions are:
Is it normal for dealers to refuse to speak with previous owner?
Can I find the previous owner's info, will insurance companies have this information?
The dealer was honest and told me that the car is not perfect physically(scratches...), but said it is fine mechanically and are fine with getting it inspected.

If you suspect you have had this car can you please pm me!
2003 honda s2000
silverstone, all red interior
first location on autocheck is OH
It has been in MI,NC,AL,OH,MD,VA,IL (not in order)
in Illinois now...

This is not a what is it worth thread...

edit:
13000 miles is when it failed emissions, but it passed on the same day.
This car will be my daily driver, so a perfect car isn't what I'm after

 

It had 150k miles after 2 years or is that a typo? Just from your description I would forget it and look for a lower miles, fewer owners car. Also what you hope to gain from speaking to one of the last 7 owners? This thing sounds like it has had a rough life and you are better off finding a cleaner car.

 

no 13000 miles, i don't know how i didn't notice that. The reason i am still interested in this car is the price:$9000. I hope if i can speak with the previous owners, I can find out how it was treated...

...I forgot to add that the car also passed emissions on the same day, it is weird so i thought it might have been some typo.

 

7 owners?!? This is an easy decision - pass ...

 

Ok that's not bad then. Is there any visual issues you can see from the pictures? Honestly I would forget about the past owners and have it inspected by a good shop. I still say pass because this thing has been passed around like the millage bike and I doubt it has been cared for. A clean AP1 can be had for under $15k all day long and you won''t have to spend all the money you saved fixing issues with this one.

 

MY PO (personal opinion):
Yes, it's normal for dealers to refuse to speak with previous owners.

Your request for previous owner's information is unusual and it's highly improbable that anyone is going to release to you that information for privacy reasons. I know the insurance company won't release it. If it isn't illegal for them to do so, it's definitely against policy.

Dealerships, even the shady ones, want you to believe they are honest. Perhaps this one *is* honest, but never assume that any dealership is actually being honest for genuinely altruistic reasons. If it's in their best interest to be honest on one point, then they might choose to be so in order to gain your trust.

If you like the car, then take them up on the offer to go get it inspected. Even if you don't care about external imperfections, you still want your daily driver to be mechanically reliable so it will get you where you need to go reliably on a daily basis.

 

As long as it checks out mechanically, and you are ok with the physical issues, then go for it. Who knows why it had so many owners and why it was all over the place, but ultimately, that doesn't matter.

However, make sure you have it checked out by someone who knows how the S2000 works. It isn't just another Honda and there are few things that need to be looked over:

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/775...-a-used-s2000/

 

+1 to getting it inspected. No different than buying any other used car.

 

This is one of the problems with S2000 ownership, where owners only keep the car for 6 months to a year and there is a ton of owners. I seen a few threads with owners selling their S2k after a month or 2....Not good.

 

In regards to the failed smog check and then passing the same day. It could be as simple as the gas cap failing. That happened to me and I just needed to replace the cap to pass (which it did).