I found a Mitsubishi spyder gt 2012 4k miles(the GF wants one). Apparently the owner died and a dealership bought it and is selling it for $20k. KBB is $27K and im very suspicious. it has “transferrable powertrain” and “5year/50kmile bumper to bumper” The car is near spotless inside and out(duh, its brand new). Im gonna be getting carfax if available, but a few years ago, I heard of something similar but that sometimes showed stuff carfax didn’t. Anyone know what im thinking of, I want to look into it.
Im thinking of jumping on it but the whole “if its too good to be true” thing is making me hesitate. It seems foolproof with the warranty. Am I missing something? Why should she not do it? We’re going tomorrow to get a copy of warranty and all that stuff to look it over, just looking for advice.
Just don’t want to get raped by a dealership. Thanks guys.
it’s probably haunted by the previous owner - that won’t show up on carfax.
you’ll be with your GF and keep hearing the sounds of the doors opening and shutting. you’ll go to the garage to find a door open even though you swore you shut it.
she’ll say ‘why does the radio keep switching back to this channel?’
If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
I was duped in a similar situation a few years ago. The car was listed right at blue book. I got tired of dealing with the salesman so spoke to the dealership manager and told him I only had x dollars cash take it or leave it. This was about $2k less than blue book. He seemed to put up a little fight but finally said he’d take it since the car had been on the lot for a while. I’m wondering what’s the catch. Surely there will be a wreck on the Carfax.
He showed me a recent copy of an Autocheck which isn’t uncommon in place of a Carfax from what I’ve seen and it showed no wrecks. I declined the “warranty” sold with the report. I found out later that warranty would have only protected me if the title had been altered and didn’t guarantee the accuracy of the report.
A few months later a guy backed into my wife while she was parked at a gas station. The guy’s insurance company had an adjuster inspect my car and cut me a check. I went back to them and asked for more money due to diminished value of the car since it hadn’t been in any accidents and was a collector’s car. They ran a full history of the vehicle and turned up an accident the car was involved in a few years back so wouldn’t pay me diminished value. The only thing I could reason was the insurance companies have a broader database of all accident claims.
I was pretty pissed at this point so called Autocheck and they were of no help of course. The dealer denied any knowledge of it. I spoke to an attorney to see if there was any recourse I could take and he told me I could possibly go after the dealer but it would probably be a long, drawn out process and they could put up a fight with several well paid attorneys.
Not to leave well enough alone I did a little research with the report I got from the insurance company because I just couldn’t believe it and thought there could’ve been a mix up. I tracked down the wife of the owner of the vehicle when it had been wrecked. She said he had since passed away, not due to the wreck thankfully, but did say someone rear ended him when he owned it. She lived in the same city as the dealership and said her husband had the car repaired and traded it in some time after the wreck. She said she didn’t have any records from the trade in so I felt the trail was cold…but so close.
A dealer will usually sit on a car for an obscene amount of time until they get at least book for a car IMO. I’d ask them how long they’ve had the car on their lot and maybe see if your insurance will run the VIN.
On a different vehicle I bought that had been in a wreck that showed on the Carfax, even though it was still under warranty at the time, the dealer wouldn’t warranty anything repaired or replaced in the wreck. It isn’t major parts I can’t fix myself but still something to think about if you’re buying used.
Not really related to the Carfax question itself but to follow-on to SixEight’s statement of asking the dealership how long they’ve had a vehicle…take a look at the state inspection sticker, or similar, depending upon your state.
Most dealers ‘should’, at least in Virginia, insure the car passes the safety inspection before selling it or letting it out for a test drive.
The same applies to new vehicles in inventory, the date on the inspection sticker will tell you how long they’ve been sitting on the vehicle. If they let you test drive a new vehicle with no inspection sticker you’re taking a chance as it has yet to go through any prep (including safety inspection) after coming off the truck.
I wouldn’t buy one… im an Acura guy right now (176k on my 05 tsx… love this thing!)
She got it though. We found out it was a gs sport with some upgrades, all leather(maybe standard), hurst package(don’t know what that means - does anyone know? Google gives me nothing.) So I wasn’t worried, she paid right around KBB price. Not good, not bad.
So anyone know what a spyder eclipse with “Hurst Equipped” means? it doesn’t have the mitsu emblem in the front either - thinking its some kind of “upgrade”.
It could be anything from the previous owner may have installed an aftermarket shifter and the dealer talked it up as a bogus ‘Hurst Package’ or could have been a rare dealer option. My bet is the first since I searched and found nothing. FYI, nothing a salesman says means jack. Always make the dealer put it in writing. Ask me how I know.
So after you found out it was a higher model with upgrades how did the price compare to blue book?
The dealer didn’t say hurst, the car hast a “hurst equipped” emblem on the back. We walked Otd for just under suggested retail, not a good deal but not a ripoff either.
It means it most likely has a Hurst shifter, probably added aftermarket (for racing)… or the previous owner just liked them a ton and wanted the emblem on the car.
Oh, it’s not a sticker, it totally replaced the “eclipse” on the back and is an actual emblem like the make emblem usually is. Actually, instead of typing, ill post pics… A picture is worth 1k words. Ill also check out the stock shifters to compare.
Bro I hope things work out and the car is a winner but I must say when I think ‘let me get the latest and greatest on cars’ I don’t think ’ well hell let me just drop in and ask the regulars on the GD forum on M4C’
Just sayin - maybe try a sports car forum or something along those lines ? Just a suggestion
Lol! Thanks for the input, LAV. The Mitsubishi forums are outdated. I’m not lookin for greatest( its a Mitsubishi), just thought someone here might know. I’m not worried enough to get another account going. My job search already has me over 30iirc.
However, now that you put it like that, I look like a tool. It’s cool though.
Pics inbound…
