adoorflet

My husband and I bought a certified 03 TLs nearly three years ago. We recently went to trade it in for the new TLs and found out that there was an accident on the Carfax record which did not post until AFTER we purchased it. Being that it was certified, I believe that it was the dealerships responsibility to disclose this information to me before I purchased it. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I can do?

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

That's messed up. I'm not sure what I'd do. Maybe talk to a lawyer.

eric06303

If it wasn't on the carfax report before you purchased the car, chances are the dealership didn't know about it either.

mrdeeno

I think you are being confused with what "Certified" really means, and that it really has no impact on whether the car was in an accident or not.

When they get the trade in or off-lease, they have a list of items concerning different components. They inspect the car and go down the list and either grade the condition or check off that it is above a certain standard. At the end of it, if it scores well they label it "Certified", add a bit to the price, and give it a warranty or extend the warranty or whatever because they feel chances are it will not come back for warranty work.

Now this has nothing to do with the carfax report. If the car was in an accident and it was a relatively major accident that it was on a carfax report, then maybe they should have disclosed this to you. Being that it is 3 years later, it will probalby be difficult to get anything from the original dealer (unless you are going to that same dealership for the new TL, and you can just say that you will not be buying a new TL from them because of this). But you can try legal means to get something back or at least try to have the original dealer reimburse you for the difference in what the trade-in would be had the car not been in an accident.

But again, that has nothing to do with the car being certified. For sure a car that was totaled or in a REALLY bad accident probably won't pass the checklist to be "certified", but being accident free isn't a requirement to be "certified."

jpadilla

unfortunatly, accidents dont matter much ... the body shop is suppose to fix the car to factory specs ... its just a matter of it messing with your mind and if its a shoty body work then you may see panels not aligned correctly.

If the car is certified then you still have coverage regardless if it was in an accident or not. In fact my 03 TLS is certified i've been in two accidents ... just last week my tranny died at 70,000 miles and the dealer replaced my tranny and 2 broken motor mounts all under warranty.

Where is the fraud? It sounds like the dealer did not even know so the body work must be top notch.

co1063

if you're gonna take action against anyone, it should be carfax because they didn't post the information soon enough. the dealer knows as much as you do.

jpadilla

doesnt car fax have something to buy your car back from you if the report is wrong?

http://www.carfax.com/manifest/bbg/r...cfx?source=CFX

Bob_F

Of course where accidents do matter is in the car's resale value. Even a perfectly repaired car will be worth less than one that was never in an accident, all other things being equal.

Type-Superman

has to run out eventually...probably 30 days or a year or something like that

Phrosttz0

yeah certified doesnt mean it wasnt in an accident..

acuratech311

In reality ALL certified pre-owned programs are just a marketing technique. Like Bob F said, they add a lil to price, throw in a nice warranty and you have yourself certified car. There are certain criteria the cars have to meet. The buyers that attend the auctions know that and only buy cars they feel will pass with no problems. No sense in them wasting time and money with junk cars. The cars come in the shop, they are inspected, most of the time get new brakes, tires, filters and fluids, and tah dah! Certified!

jpadilla

maybe so in the ghetto part of town ... but when i bought my used 03 TL-S in July of 2003 it had 12300 miles on it and David McDavid had it in their certified car lot. It was about $6000 cheaper that the same car new with zero miles on the other side of the lot ... the Acura certified status added 12000 miles/1 year warranty to what was left on the current warranty ... so that is like buying a new car with 300 miles on it and saving $6000. My car will hit 70,000 miles next week and just last week I've had to get a new transmission (well, rebuit it turns out) and new engine mounts ... all under warranty. Before that when it turned 54000 miles i got a new throttle body. Again, this was not some 3rd pary warranty ... this was a warranty from Acura.