clintbw

So I registered on the Lexus Owner site so I could enter my VIN and see the service history. It shows that body work has been done... the dealer I bought it from told me that it had never been wrecked at all and reassured me such. They even gave me a Carfax that showed no damage and it has no salvage title. I'm very upset right now. I've had the car for about a month and have worked very hard on getting it up to speed.

The notes from Lexus say "BODY WORK 70%" and "BODY TRIM-OUT 30%" as well as BUFF, PAINT AND MATERIAL, USAA STARS... The repairs were reported on 11/09/2004... I saw no signs while working on the car that it had been damaged. Does anybody have experience with situations like these?

LeX2K

I would contact both Carfax and the dealer you bought the car from and tell them of the missing info.

dapimpee

I have seen many times cars had been in some kind of accidents with a clean Carfax and Autocheck.

LeX2K

Carfax does have a buyback guarantee but it has many conditions, honestly it's basically worthless. Some info here if you are interested in perusing such a thing.

brucelee1

iTrader: (2)

I wouldn't panic. Do you know (or can you find out) the extent of the damage? It may have been minor?

brucelee1

iTrader: (2)

To wit: I had the front end of my ES330 re-sprayed because it has tons of paint chips from highway driving. No structure damage, nothing to worry about.

PFB

Those repairs were done 10 years ago, you yourself are saying that the car is fine, and that you can't even tell what was repaired.

So why worry? 10 years have passed, with no I'll effects.

mitmaks

Sometimes even brand new cars get damaged while being transported to the dealer from manufacturers.
What they do is roll the car in body shop (at the dealer lot) and fix it right then and there. You wouldn't even know about it. Are you planning on selling this car in future, is title clear? I wouldn't worry about it too much, afterall you drive the car, not the title.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

If you accident isn't showing ill affects now, I don't think you should be worried. And paint work doesn't always mean accidents. My dads cars hood has been painted twice due to rock chips and my car the rear quarter panel and trnk has been repainted because someone keyed it when it was a year old.

clintbw

You guys are right. I was being irrational.

The work was done at Sewell Dallas, so I know it was done correctly. I was mainly freaking out because it said "BODY WORK 70%" and I assumed that meant 70% of the car was damaged/repainted. I'm still not sure what it means... however, the car is prettier than most 2001s and still has the beautiful white diamond pearl shine. I'm accepting the fact that this car has had a rough past. Tranny is going out, but engine is perfect... no sludge or leaks whatsoever.

LeX2K

The issue I would have is the dealer sold the car on the pretense that it was accident free, which is not true. Accident free means the car is worth more, so you probably paid more as a result.

clintbw

True, and I'm pretty upset with the dealership for that... But when I first saw the car, I knew it had some minor issues and we negotiated on $3,000 for the car that ended up needing knock sensors and harness, a new ignition coil, and various other repairs, which were mainly cosmetic (map light had glue, needed new floor mats, and headlight bulbs...etc.)

I could attempt to seek recourse as it I purchased it a month ago and the transmission is having minor hiccups, which it will probably eventually fail... but I paid cash and the deal was done. I was screwed. I do wish I knew that it was wrecked, however... but if it didn't have a salvage title or history on the Carfax, I'm not entirely sure they even knew either...

jayclapp

Isn't this something like marrying a beautiful woman,later discovering she had plastic surgery, and then deciding that you don't love her any more?

If no one could tell it was damaged and then repaired and it looks nice, why worry about it a lot?

LeX2K

Well when you have kids and find out your wife's gene pool is not what you thought....

For me it would depend on the extent of the repair. If it's a panel repaint due to a minor accident no problem. But if it's major structure repaired/replaced then I would not be happy at all. Either way I would confront the dealer.

hypervish

Call your dealership, they can provide you with a more detailed service history that we can't access ourselves. I had my dealer print one out when I bought my ES. It has more details than what we can see online.