Hi I’m looking at buying a 2018 ES 350 on Carvana and just noticed this in the pics I’m trying to figure out if it’s rust or what. Not getting good help from them about more or better pics. What does everyone think?
I don’t know how this could be rust..https://www.carvana.com/vehicle/1746762

 

Upscale is inconclusive, I'm leaning to it being melted adhesive or gasket material.

https://i.imgur.com/1XWcp7H.jpg

 

I don't think it's rust either but this is just one of the issues faced when buying a car online.I'd never buy a car without seeing it in person. Too many ways things could go wrong...

 

(LeX2K) Honestly that’s what I’m thinking too melted gasket.

 

(BC6152) Yeah it sucks but I have a spinal injury and can’t travel to find one and this was the best I could come up with.

 

Nearly impossible for a 3 year old car to have rust, paint would have to be scratched to metal shortly after the car was purchased then left that way.

 

Might have been hit and sloppily repaired is my best guess. I bought my 2014 Lexus ES350 with 50k miles from Carvana as well a few months ago. Condition wise it was about a 4.5 out of 5 for a "driver" of this vintage. No door dings/dents, 100% original paint, but you could tell their idiot detailers did a ****e job on the car, putting a bunch of swirls in the paint to remove minor scratch, saw 3 or 4 spots on the car like that. Delivered without the glass being cleaned, seats were not cleaned/conditioned(they're black so not a huge deal), they put on the cheapest/****tiest chinese tires they could find.

Had 3 reasons I went with Carvana.

#1 Main reason they gave me an INSANE amount of $$$$ for my trade in, a 2011 4wd Tundra, without even looking at it/driving it. If they had done that they would have noticed some faded/swirled paint and a bunch of clunking noises coming from the suspension. I mean $20,000 is stupid $$$ for a 10 year old truck needing work, I guess the lowish 85,000 miles helped. I paid $21,000 for it 3 years ago with 55k miles on it.

#2 Car prices in Nashville are HIGH. Just like everything else in a "hot" city, Carvana seemed about at market, thought their prices were FAIR and cheaper than Carmax. Buy here/pay here lots sell highly polished turds way marked up, Carvana had similar prices to what was "listed" by those *******s(but I'm sure could be bought for less)

#3 If I didn't like the car, I had 7 days to return it for a refund.

 

Below this pic it says (Imperfection dry rot) So maybe melted gasket material if so would be easy to clean up.

 

Maybe that is butyl tape, indicating the rear was hit and parts were replaced including tail lamp assembly.

 

It appears to be just dirt. That area is well painted and normally nothing rusts. Take the tail light out so you can see what it is. I bet you it is something minor, unless they was repair done on this. Good luck.

 

I would think any half way car dealership has a team that details cars and knows what they are doing. Would they really "not clean" this part of the car when they clearly see it? A quick wipe down with "bug and tar remover" product would clean that up in 5 seconds unless it was actual rust and they can't.

It looks like rust to me, but who knows. It's not "normal" for there to be rust on a car this age on that part of the body. If it is rust, something happened like a minor collision and the paint split.

 

I think it looks like rust from an old accident. Try to remove the tail light to confirm what ii is.

 

I think it's a vehicle you would like to skip and not buy. It's more likely an unreported accident that the body shop did a not so good job on.

 

I would just call and ask them, what is that?

 

It's Carvana. Good luck with that.