OT: Buying a car from dealership

Was thinking along those lines as well. A friend of mine who frequents the ND area says it's beautiful.

That's where I saw the car I'm interested in. In fact, I search CG, Cars.com and autotrader daily for the specific car I'm seeking.

If you (as a car buyer) had the resources to obtain the information of the previous owner of a vehicle you are considering, would you consider that unethical to use that info and contact the ex-owner with questions about the vehicle?

I have done that before - the previous owner wasn't miffed at all - she was friendly & forthright, as I would be in that circumstance. John T.

When I traded my old Corvette, the new owner found one of my business cards and called me. We quickly figured out the speedometer had been tampered with and I also told him it had already been around once. I never heard what happened but he was not a happy camper. It was showing 69,000 when I traded it and really looked more like the true 169,000. They must have really shined it up pretty to get away with the 40,000 it was showing.

Where would there be an ethics problem in that? That the seller has the info and wouldn't share it is far more egregious. Most local vehicles here thru the dealership with which I regularly trade offer the privilege when they know the seller; it's something they bought off auction or a program car such as this then it's not something I'd expect them to dig up...but don't see why the prospective purchaser should have any qualms to do so if wish.

Of course not. It's like checking references of a job applicant or the sales/tax/lien/title history of a potential real estate purchase. Ever hear of caveat emptor?

I buy new, cash, and it was never part of the negotiation.

It must be a very unique vehicle if it's so hard to find.

One thing I realized about 20 years ago was that new cars tend to be a lot less expensive than used cars out in California, especially for brands that hold their value well.

Private parties, selling recent vintage vehicles tend to have an inflated idea of what the vehicles are worth because anyone selling a car only two or three years old is also probably someone that overpaid for the vehicle to begin with. Meanwhile, the dealers are receiving an essentially limitless supply of new vehicles from the manufacturer and will sell them at a very wide variety of prices, with incentives from the manufacturer to keep the supply chain and manufacturing plants operating at full capacity. Toyota and Honda hate limiting production during slower periods and put in large incentives to not have to slow production.

It's especially ridiculous when you compare 1 year old Toyotas and Hondas to new ones. The new ones tend to have a lower price plus you get more of a warranty and lower rate financing.

The unique part is my prerequisite for a specific interior and exterior color, body style and trim package.

I agree, but my method of obtaining the info is linked to my job and the Mrs seems to think that's wrong.

I've got the factory manuals for both vehicles. So far my experience with Ford electrics is the connectors are the main problem. On the Mystique, ALL electrical problems were connectors failing.

When I asked my younger brother who is still a working mechanic about what to buy he said "stay away from the cammer - they are more expensive to fix", so I asked him how many cammer problems he's run into compared to Vulcans. He said not very many, particularly under

The 2.5 Mystique went about 175000km with no engine problems before the body got too soft to bother with.

Grand prize is a weekend in Cleveland. Second prize is 2 weeks.

Definitely not unethical, and not a bad idea if you can do it.

As long as you are not a cop or whatever using information that is not for public consumption, no problem. If you use your professional position to access DOT records - that's putting yourself in legal jeopardy.

Have you tried carguru.com?

No one hates cash that much that they'll cancel the deal.

Are you doing this through some web site or commercial intermediary? Or is this just beteen you and the dealer.

If the first, you probably have a contract that they're not going to deny. If they've sent you anything in writing that says you have a deal, bring it with you. If you only have a phone call, put the deal in writing, email it to them and have them sign it and mail it back.

My car broke down in N. Carolina a few years ago, and I found a car in S. Carolina. I too didn't really want to buy from a dealer but it was hard to find any convertible at all where I was. I had to drive 100 miles and two dealers had one each.

After the deal was made, I asked where the nearest Bank of America was, and one was just a mile away (one advantage of using a bank with branches all over the place) and I went and withdrew 9000 dollars. It turns out I could have just written him a check, even though he just met me. He had some check guarantee service. Though I'd stopped carrying checks with me. Maybe I should start again.

In my case, dealing with a dealer had some advantages. He got me temporary plates, he supposedly cleaned up the car some more after I bought it, though it looked plenty clean at the time, they had supposedly checked it mechanically when they got it in (and indeed I didn't have any repairs for at least two years), and they may not have charged me extra to deliver it from S. Car. south of Charlotte to Asheville, 100 miles away. Maybe they did charge but they knew who to call and I didn't have to arrange it. (I'd rented a car locally and I don't think I could have returned it in S. Car, so I would have had to drive both cars back at the same time.)

It ended up that two days later, I drove to the airport and met the delivery guy to pick up the new car, then went around to the front of the hotel and returned the rental, then returned to the motel and moved all my stuff from the old car to the new car, and sold the old car. All within 90 minutes.

No.

I've done that twice, with girls. In both cases, I called their ex-husband to see what he thought of her.

One guy told me all the things he didn't like, and they were the same things I didn't like. I was afraid I'd was being overly sensitive. He told me that her *first* husband said the greatest day of his life was when their divorce became final.

The second guy was afraid to talk to me. Afraid she'd retaliate. I promised it would never get back to her but I understand why he was afraid I accidentally let something slip that only he knew. And they had two kids. (But things she told me were enough to realize she would be a problem.)

Both of these guys I called after the girl and I had broken up. One of them I was considering marrying. I wonder if I would have had sense enough to call her ex first.

You don't face any of these problems with a car.

I remember more. I thought maybe I brought out the worst in her, but the other guy brought out the same bad things. So it was *her*, not me. One time, he got so mad at her that he kicked a 50 pound bag of cement and injured his foot. A few days later they were at some hobby convention with a biggggg parking lot, and walking to the building, he couldnt' keep up with her because of his foot. She was way ahead of him so he yelled, "Slow down." Then she slowed down so much that she fell way behind him. Boy did that one event describe her.