what would a TL owner do?
too many hobbies...
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 188
Likes: 4
From: Herndon, VA
No need to tear anything down. The VIN stickers for all 4 doors, hood, trunk, and both bumpers are outwardly visible if you know where to look and quick to find even if you don't; take a look on your car tomorrow. If these stickers are present but no VIN, the panel has been replaced, and mismatched VIN means junkyard takeoff. Likewise, even if a panel was completely removed for repaint (meaning no telltale paint lines that normally would indicate a repaint), the VIN sticker will either be painted over or show some indications of a repaint.
This may be closing the door after the horse is out, but a good tip for any shopper. Went through this several times when I was shopping; saw several CPOs with repainted or replaced rear bumpers (probably to fix mismatched bumpers due to paint fade) and a few with repainted door panels. I was told by a sales person that they can still CPO as long as 3 or fewer body panels had been repainted.
This may be closing the door after the horse is out, but a good tip for any shopper. Went through this several times when I was shopping; saw several CPOs with repainted or replaced rear bumpers (probably to fix mismatched bumpers due to paint fade) and a few with repainted door panels. I was told by a sales person that they can still CPO as long as 3 or fewer body panels had been repainted.
Note on carfax: I had the same experience as a lot of the others here. I got into an accident (with my last car) in the summer of 2006 and sold the car in Feb 2008. I did everything through insurance, and my carfax was still 100% clean! This was well over a year after the accident, so they can't blame the lack of data on time lag. I think it's worth buying the month-long subscription for like $40, since it might tell you something you want to know, but it certainly is full of holes. Logically speaking, it can only tell if something is wrong, not that NOTHING is wrong (i.e. no accidents).
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2,434
Likes: 906
From: Clearwater Fl
Btw, when I sold my 01CL-S, I told the, I have many rock chips on the bumper because I did a lot of highway traveling and they told me to not worry about it, and that they repaint the bumpers on most of the used acuras they sell. They gave me $1,500 more for it than any other dealer in the area would.
too many hobbies...
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 188
Likes: 4
From: Herndon, VA
This is some great advice. When I bought my CPO TL-S in Dec 2007, I used a really good pre-purchase inspection checklist from this forum, found here. As comprehensive as that list is, it didn't mention this (although that is probably because it was originally intended for new car deliveries). Mods, can we somehow have this info added to this checklist? It should probably be added to Section 2 in the list.
Advanced
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 70
Likes: 8
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Glad to hear it worked out... I don't know if there's a way to find out the previous owner of the vehicle (probably not due to privacy laws but you never know), but if you can find out which shop made the repairs to your car, a lot of bodyshops offer lifetime guarantees on their work (although, some are only for the original owner). Kind of a shot in the dark really, and something you'd probably never need... but if you did have an issue with the paint down the line and you had the info for the shop that did the work, it could save you a few bucks. (Then again I've never really seen issues with paint jobs from quality bodyshops, which it seems your car had visited.)
Cheers
Cheers
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