djrobsd

In July of last year I purchased a used 2006 IS350 w/ 46k miles, Premium, Luxury, Nav, Levinson & spoiler for $24,900 from a used car lot (not certified Lexus, doah!) in El Cajon, CA. At the time I purchased the car, my brother in law who owns a body shop in CO inspected the vehicle and everything looked good on the surface. He checked under the hood, the door seals, etc, but he didn't look under the vehicle and that turns out where the problem lies.

A couple days ago, I tried to trade my IS350 in, and the dealer pulled the AutoCheck history report (similar to Carfax). The Autocheck history reports an accident on 6/27/2007 with no details. It also reports that the auction house that sold it to the dealer I bought it from reported Unibody Damage at the time of sale on 6/19/2009.

The guy at the new dealership I was trading it in at took my car and put it up on a lift and inspected under the car. The manager showed me where parts had been replaced. There are a lot of markings on the bolts (can someone confirm whether or not lexus does this at the factory??). And some of the parts have brand new stickers on them that would have normally worn off quite a bit after 4 years. In addition, the inside of the front tires is worn down to metal in some spots, even though on the outside they appear fine, and have plenty of tread left on them. Here are the photos I was able to take:

http://picasaweb.google.com/djrobsd/Unibody#

So... I'm just curious. Was the dealer I bought my car from required to disclose the previous unibody damage to me? It's been almost a year since I bought the car, do I have any recourse at this point? Looking at the photos, it seems like the repairs are legit, but the way the tires are wearing doesn't seem normal to me. Aside from buying new tires, what else should I do at this point? I mean, it seems to me like I've got a car which is now worth a lot less because it won't show clean on an Autocheck or Carfax report... And in addition, I have to disclose this to whoever buys it from me, so that will in turn require me to sell the car for less money...

Not sure what to do at this point... Just curious what others thoughts are!

projectdna

iTrader: (56)

you didn't ask the used car dealership to show you the carfax report?

hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it was your responsibility to make sure that the car had a clean title. unless the used car dealer outright lied to you about the title history (and had the lie in writing), there's really nothing you can get them on. a "your word vs. their word" without specific evidence usually doesn't hold up well in a lawsuit.

long story short, this is "all you" now.

i would take the car to a body shop to see if the frame is straight. if it is, the next logical step is to get a four-wheel alignment to get all four corners within factory specs (sounds like the front corners aren't). and obviously, you'll also need to replace the new front tires.

consider this an expensive lesson learned. best of luck, and keep us updated.

greg0723

sorry to hear this. you should of got a CPO lexus. you could of got one for the same price you paid at a lexus dealership. at least around my area alot go for that price. it is well worth it.

bnizzle87

damn, that sucks! i dont think there's much that you can do at this point. its pretty much sold as is back then, so not being able to check the vehicle history report then has no bearing on the seller after the fact. its definitely necessary to check these things prior to purchasing because it will affect resale value a majority of the time. best of luck my friend!

shadowman

iTrader: (2)

I think there is a law in California that dealer must provide a one-year warranty on used cars. You may want to look into this and have them correct the problems that you missed.

busdepot

iTrader: (1)

That sucks man, buying used is such a gamble sometimes. Sell it private if you're trying to dump it. People are probably going to ask for a carfax though. A lot of dealers are probably supposed to disclose that stuff, but don't. Caveat Emptor my friend...

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

No truth in this at all. Ever seen the sticker "AS IS, NO WARRANTY"? It means you buy it and it's yours good, bad, indifferent.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

There's no requirement to disclose anything. Ever. See post above.

BTW, many factory fresh 2IS burn up the inside edges of their tires, so there's no reason to believe your problem is a result of shoddy workmanship on the repair. It might very well be within factory specs, but just not right for this car. Most 2IS come with too much toe out straight off the boat from Japan.

dslxicisnf

In California, dealerships must disclose "material known facts" about a used vehicle, including if it was:
involved in a prior accident causing "substantial damage"
a prior rental vehicle
a lemon law buy back
odometer readings not accurate, etc.

They are prohibited from misrepresenting facts, like "its never been in an accident."

See a lawyer.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

So he can confirm if the sticker said "AS IS, NO WARRANTY" you bought yourself a car and it's yours without recourse.

I've had a number of friends in the new and used car business in California. The lawyer would be a fool to take this case.

Lawr

This does not guarantee an accident free car. I've had a body shop who does all the work for a local lexus dealership tell me this, that they will certify cars that had been in accidents. My serivce agent also told me the same thing, they will certify a car even if it had been in an accident.

greg0723

yes of course but the reason i said go CPO is because of the warranty. he doesnt have one. CPO warranty seems better than the factory warranty. and you can get a cpo car with no accidents so it can be 2 thumbs up

Fizzboy7

Sucks what happened. But kinda surprised you didn't know you were driving on wear bars until he lifted it.

sw2oboi

iTrader: (12)

is the car title clean?

rog1206

iTrader: (4)

Same thing happened to me. I purchased my 06' used back in early 09' from a used car lot after my first 06' was totalled. I ran a carfax and the title was clean with no known issues. I did notice that the front tires were also worn like yours but I caught this when I was inspecting the car prior to the purchase (told the seller to knock a few hundred down). It wasn't until waxing the car for the first time (about 6 months after I bought it) that I noticed some paint drip marks on the rear bumper underneath the red reflectors. The color was a bit off in sunlight too, which means the bumper was resprayed at some point. The front bumper's color was bit off from the fender and hood too. It doesn't really bother me now since the car drives fine (put about 10k miles and the tires on the front show no signs of uneven wear) and the vehicle history is clean.

I'm guessing the car was in slight fender bender or something. Oh wells........