Spa yellow lemon
11-20-2008, 11:06 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 293
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Spa yellow lemon
So I went to look at a MY03 s2000 today and I thought I'd share my experience with you guys. I won't name the dealership, but if you go on autotrader, it'll be obvious.
Yesterday I saw an ad posted on autotrader for a spa yellow 03 for $14,888. I thought that it was a great deal so I called the dealership up. I asked them whether it was a Canadian car or a US car and whether or not there had been any accidents on it. The salesman told me that it was a local car, not an out of province car and that there were no accidents on it. I said perfect, I'll be in tomorrow to look at it.
So I arrive at the dealership the next day and went to the s2000 with the salesman. He opens the door and said weird, it's not locked. (make a note of this, punchline coming up later) We get in and inspect the car from the inside, made sure that hot air was coming out, and the roof works with no tears. So far so good. We take off after the car's been warmed up and it drives okay. The second gear didn't seem to be a huge issue but it felt like it didn't want to go in. After the test drive I get out of the car and inspected the vehicle's exterior. I noticed that the rear right hand panel was a shade off from the rest of the car and I asked why that was. The salesman said that maybe someone keyed the car and assured me that there hadn't been any accidents on this car.
We go into his office and I asked for the car reports. He shows me a carfax, it's clean. I noticed that the vehicle was registered in CA back in 03. This also means that the car had 45,000miles and not km. Not a big deal as long as the car was clean, I can live with an 03 with roughly 70,000km on it. Then I noticed that the carfax only goes up to 06. I asked for an updated one and he goes to print one off. He comes back with a new one and it still only goes up to 06, but this one says that it's registered in BC. Next I asked for a ICBC car report. He looks at me like he just dropped a couple of bricks in his pants, but he goes and prints it off for me anyways. As I was waiting I noticed a piece of paper on his desk. It read a whole bunch of cars on it, along with the car highlighted, 2003 S2000. On one of the columns it said 21,000. I was trying to figure out what the number mean because that wasn't the vehicle listed price. He comes back with an ICBC report and he says to me bad news. At this point I wasn't even shocked at anything they were going to throw at me. He hands me the report, and sure enough, the car had a $21,000 claim on it. There's no way that the dealership didn't know about something as major as that, after all it was a vehicle that they leased out. The piece of paper that had the car highlighted was proof that they knew. I knew that they knew but I let the salesman save face anyways because I know car selling is a hard job. What was even more shocking is that ICBC didn't write it off. At that point I stood up, shook the man's hand and said thank you for your time.
I guess that's why the car wasn't locked, they were hoping that someone would steal it! (ta-da) I should have offered them $5000 to take it off their hands and see if they would take that deal.
Yesterday I saw an ad posted on autotrader for a spa yellow 03 for $14,888. I thought that it was a great deal so I called the dealership up. I asked them whether it was a Canadian car or a US car and whether or not there had been any accidents on it. The salesman told me that it was a local car, not an out of province car and that there were no accidents on it. I said perfect, I'll be in tomorrow to look at it.
So I arrive at the dealership the next day and went to the s2000 with the salesman. He opens the door and said weird, it's not locked. (make a note of this, punchline coming up later) We get in and inspect the car from the inside, made sure that hot air was coming out, and the roof works with no tears. So far so good. We take off after the car's been warmed up and it drives okay. The second gear didn't seem to be a huge issue but it felt like it didn't want to go in. After the test drive I get out of the car and inspected the vehicle's exterior. I noticed that the rear right hand panel was a shade off from the rest of the car and I asked why that was. The salesman said that maybe someone keyed the car and assured me that there hadn't been any accidents on this car.
We go into his office and I asked for the car reports. He shows me a carfax, it's clean. I noticed that the vehicle was registered in CA back in 03. This also means that the car had 45,000miles and not km. Not a big deal as long as the car was clean, I can live with an 03 with roughly 70,000km on it. Then I noticed that the carfax only goes up to 06. I asked for an updated one and he goes to print one off. He comes back with a new one and it still only goes up to 06, but this one says that it's registered in BC. Next I asked for a ICBC car report. He looks at me like he just dropped a couple of bricks in his pants, but he goes and prints it off for me anyways. As I was waiting I noticed a piece of paper on his desk. It read a whole bunch of cars on it, along with the car highlighted, 2003 S2000. On one of the columns it said 21,000. I was trying to figure out what the number mean because that wasn't the vehicle listed price. He comes back with an ICBC report and he says to me bad news. At this point I wasn't even shocked at anything they were going to throw at me. He hands me the report, and sure enough, the car had a $21,000 claim on it. There's no way that the dealership didn't know about something as major as that, after all it was a vehicle that they leased out. The piece of paper that had the car highlighted was proof that they knew. I knew that they knew but I let the salesman save face anyways because I know car selling is a hard job. What was even more shocking is that ICBC didn't write it off. At that point I stood up, shook the man's hand and said thank you for your time.
I guess that's why the car wasn't locked, they were hoping that someone would steal it! (ta-da) I should have offered them $5000 to take it off their hands and see if they would take that deal.
11-20-2008, 12:23 PM
#3
Community Organizer
You should do everyone a favor and name that P@#$#@$ dealer!
Glad you found out though!
Also, the mileage might be kms b/c the computer can be change from m to kms by pressing a button.
Glad you found out though!
Also, the mileage might be kms b/c the computer can be change from m to kms by pressing a button.
11-20-2008, 01:11 PM
#4
Registered User
Originally Posted by alSpeed2k,Nov 20 2008, 01:23 PM
You should do everyone a favor and name that P@#$#@$ dealer!
Glad you found out though!
Also, the mileage might be kms b/c the computer can be change from m to kms by pressing a button.
Glad you found out though!
Also, the mileage might be kms b/c the computer can be change from m to kms by pressing a button.
11-20-2008, 01:34 PM
#5
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 293
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ok ok, I'll post a news article instead. I wonder if the ICBC claim is $21,000 from bullet holes. For more hilarity, please refer to the link below:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...0b-0df0f07ba0e5
From my research though, I think that if it's an American car, only the speedometer change and not the odometer when you press the button. I could be wrong though.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...0b-0df0f07ba0e5
From my research though, I think that if it's an American car, only the speedometer change and not the odometer when you press the button. I could be wrong though.
11-20-2008, 01:42 PM
#6
Community Organizer
Originally Posted by ChineseDelivery,Nov 20 2008, 03:34 PM
From my research though, I think that if it's an American car, only the speedometer change and not the odometer when you press the button. I could be wrong though.
Both DDonovan and I have US spec cars.
Trending Topics
11-20-2008, 01:54 PM
#8
Community Organizer
Interesting article! Maybe the fender that was off-colour was made not of carbon fiber, but Kevlar and painted! 
11-20-2008, 01:56 PM
#9
Community Organizer
Too bad the C$ has taken a tumble lately, otherwise the '05 Silverstone that Brandon has in Oregon selling for $17,500 would be a good deal!
11-20-2008, 04:02 PM
#10
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 293
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yea maybe, hahaha. Maybe the whole car was made bullet proof so that's why the paint job is off!
I got a phone call just now from the salesman, I guess they know it's going to be hard car to unload. He tells me that he talked to his boss and said that he'd be willing to let it go for 15,000. I said that the list price was 14,888, why would I pay 15,000. I guess he meant OTD, I should hope anyways. He then asked me what would make it worth while for me, I told him that it'd have to be below 10 for sure because basically no one would buy it from me and I would have trouble getting rid of it. I would basically have to sell it off as a parts car. This is all assuming it doesn't give me any mechanical problems in the short two or so years I'd drive it. He said he'll think about it and let me know.
As for the exchange rate, it's really really unfortunate that it's at 77cents. On the day Obama was elected it was 87cents, I was holding out to be at 90. I have funds in HKD which is consistent 7.75 HKD to 1USD so it's not as big of an issue. But I would prefer to use CDN if possible because that's the currency of my income. I actually am kicking myself for not getting that 06 Rio Yellow Pearl on ebay for 16,000. It only had 10,000miles on it and a hardtop. But an 05 for 17.5k is a good deal for sure!
I got a phone call just now from the salesman, I guess they know it's going to be hard car to unload. He tells me that he talked to his boss and said that he'd be willing to let it go for 15,000. I said that the list price was 14,888, why would I pay 15,000. I guess he meant OTD, I should hope anyways. He then asked me what would make it worth while for me, I told him that it'd have to be below 10 for sure because basically no one would buy it from me and I would have trouble getting rid of it. I would basically have to sell it off as a parts car. This is all assuming it doesn't give me any mechanical problems in the short two or so years I'd drive it. He said he'll think about it and let me know.
As for the exchange rate, it's really really unfortunate that it's at 77cents. On the day Obama was elected it was 87cents, I was holding out to be at 90. I have funds in HKD which is consistent 7.75 HKD to 1USD so it's not as big of an issue. But I would prefer to use CDN if possible because that's the currency of my income. I actually am kicking myself for not getting that 06 Rio Yellow Pearl on ebay for 16,000. It only had 10,000miles on it and a hardtop. But an 05 for 17.5k is a good deal for sure!