Advice on buying a used car if the price seems low

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I am looking at buying a 2015 Subaru Forester I found on Cars.com It has 66K on it and it's a premium with the all weather package and auto. KBB is like 20k on it but they're only asking 16,500. I asked them for a carfax and they sent an Experian Autocheck which says it's been in no accidents and used to be some kind of fleet/rental/lease vehicle. It also indicates 'Corrected Title Records' & 'Duplicate Title Records'

The car is a couple hours away from me so I haven't checked it out yet, but what does BITOG think? What could the Corrected or Duplicate Title Records indicate? I've never heard of that. Is it too good to be true?
 
If its a Kansas car and titled that way, a corrected title can be issued to correct the odometer reading, to correct the purchase date, or to fix a spelling error or typo in the owners name.

Other states may be different, but that's what Kansas has to say on the matter...
 
I would call the DMV and ask what Corrected Title means, different states may have different meanings. Call me over cautious but I don't like the sound of this car, something isn't right.
Here in MA if the car was sold and the back of the title filled out but the deal fell though before it was registered a corrected title will be needed as its illegal to cross things out on a title.
 
Originally Posted By: MNgopher
If its a Kansas car and titled that way, a corrected title can be issued to correct the odometer reading, to correct the purchase date, or to fix a spelling error or typo in the owners name.

Other states may be different, but that's what Kansas has to say on the matter...


It's an Ohio car actually
 
Maybe it's an oil burner and that's why it's priced so low? Not sure if they still had that problem in 2015
 
Originally Posted By: FirstNissan
That's impressively high miles for a 1 year old car


It's an over 2 year old car. 2015 model years were sold in 2014
 
Originally Posted By: FirstNissan
That's impressively high miles for a 1 year old car

i saw some vw tdi jetta wagons locally at 190k and 200k miles.
they did between 8k and 11k per month in a sales position.
 
Uh no, that is still a red flag. have it inspected by a local shop and I wouldnt be surprised that the radiator support is buckled a little bit, or doors do not align.
 
It might just be a motivated seller because I noticed they have another Forester that is just slightly older for only $15,500, that or they have two rip off vehicles that there trying to pass as legitimate.
 
Originally Posted By: 7055
It might just be a motivated seller because I noticed they have another Forester that is just slightly older for only $15,500, that or they have two rip off vehicles that there trying to pass as legitimate.


throw caution to the wind, dont bother questioning it then and hurry up and buy it.
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If you are seriously considering the purchase, pay for and get other car history reports. CarFax is only one such service, and other sources may have additional information. AutoCheck has shown items that CarFax has missed, and vice versa.

If any damage had been done and it was repaired without insurance paying, the report may not show that. A mechanical and body inspection is needed.

http://blog.drivetime.com/carfax-vs-autocheck-3-differences-must-know/
 
Its got relatively high milage for the model year, probably out of warranty and was not a privately owned vehicle, so it's marked low. That or it has been on their lot a while and they want it to sell. The plus side is that fleets are likely more dilligent about regular maintenence than your average first owner or lessee. Ask if they have maintenence records.

If you're worried, ask a nearby subaru dealership if you can schedule a thorough inspection and make the sale contingent on the results. Worst case, youre out a day and whatever an hour of labor costs.
 
What bugs me is the couple hour drive to look at it and that winter's coming so people expect $$$ from subarus.

What does a new forester cost, $22k? This car has 1/3 of its life worn off and 1/3 of the price.
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Originally Posted By: eljefino
What bugs me is the couple hour drive to look at it and that winter's coming so people expect $$$ from subarus.

What does a new forester cost, $22k? This car has 1/3 of its life worn off and 1/3 of the price.
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What is it you are actually trying to convey?
 
All kinds of weird things can happen to nearly new cars that won't show up as an accident or as anything else on a history report. I'd definitely be suspicious.

Rental car companies self-insure their own vehicles, so plenty of things probably wouldn't show up on a history report. We had a Tahoe from a rental company in the shop at work that hadn't even had its first oil change before getting hit by lightning and suffering major damage throughout the electrical system. Might show up on a history report, might not, but the rental car company paid the bill. It was not done through an insurance company, and had it been a lower value vehicle it may have just gone straight to auction.

There are all kinds of little used car lots that buy all kinds of messed up newer cars at auction and do the bare minimum to get them driving/first glance presentable again. I get calls daily from used car lots wanting major mechanical parts for one or two year old cars. There is one used car lot around here that bought just the rod and main bearings for a 2016 Kia Sedona, nothing else. Their "shop" is nasty too. Anyone want a one year old van with a clean history report?
 
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