Our minivan was stolen over the weekend

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: wag123
Originally Posted By: CKN
Don't take my word for it-do a search on CarMax (the biggest seller of used cars in the country) and see how many vehicles you can find with an accident on the Carfax-and see what they are asking for them.
Remember-they do not discount-from their asking price.

Nobody said that there weren't any vehicles on dealer lots with CarFax accident reports, there definitely are. People trade them in all the time (often times immediately after they get them out of the body shop, BEFORE they show an accident report on Carfax, which can take several months to show-up), and dealers retail them because they know that they will have a problem wholesaling them at the auction. If some people want to pay the full A++ retail price for one of them at a rip-off dealer like CarMax, THEY are the fools. Most people who buy vehicles from them do so because of their no-pressure no-haggle sales policy, NOT because they are getting a "good deal" from them. FYI, CarMax is one of the dealer groups that absolutely will not purchase any vehicles at the auctions if they have an accident report on CarFax or AutoCheck, but, they get do them traded-in all the time and they also purchase them off of the street (at a discount).
I repeat my question... if YOU were out looking at used vehicles to purchase and you found several fairly equivalent vehicles to consider, would YOU pay as much for a used vehicle that had an accident listed on the CarFax as you would for one that didn't? I wouldn't (and haven't, and won't), and neither would most other reasonably intelligent people.
I reiterate... it is a FACT that having an accident listed on a vehicle's Carfax and/or AutoCheck history report DEFINITELY DOES affect it's resale value.



WE can disagree here. I traded in a 4 Runner with a fender replacement and it had ZERO EFFECT on the trade in. Of course-I was a professional sales person at the time (30 years-industrial sales) so I was probably at a much better advantage than most as to negotiating tactics. AS far as buying a car with an accident listed-it would depend on if I could take it to my own mechanic for inspection-and I always buy a car with a FACTORY SPONSORED WARRANTY (Certified or other-but factory).

Carmax has one the best aftermarket warranties in the business-for a price.

Your calling a lot of people fools BTW-
http://investors.carmax.com/news-release...ts/default.aspx

 

[wag123]

Originally Posted By: CKN
AS far as buying a car with an accident listed-it would depend on if I could take it to my own mechanic for inspection

Since I thought that we were discussing resale value here, I asked if you would pay the SAME PRICE for a vehicle that HAS an accident report as you would for a like vehicle that doesn't have an accident report.

Originally Posted By: CKN
Your calling a lot of people fools BTW

Like P.T. Barnum said, "there's a sucker born every minute".
Personally, I wouldn't pay the exorbitantly high price for one of CarMax's used vehicles. I can easily find an equal quality used vehicle for 90% of CarMax's price, and I would NEVER pay more for a so-called "certified" used vehicle. I just buy reliable brands that still have factory new car warranty left on them.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: wag123
Originally Posted By: CKN
AS far as buying a car with an accident listed-it would depend on if I could take it to my own mechanic for inspection

Since I thought that we were discussing resale value here, I asked if you would pay the SAME PRICE for a vehicle that HAS an accident report as you would for a like vehicle that doesn't have an accident report.

Originally Posted By: CKN
Your calling a lot of people fools BTW

Like P.T. Barnum said, "there's a sucker born every minute".
Personally, I wouldn't pay the exorbitantly high price for one of CarMax's used vehicles. I can easily find an equal quality used vehicle for 90% of CarMax's price, and I would NEVER pay more for a so-called "certified" used vehicle. I just buy reliable brands that still have factory new car warranty left on them.


Well...with many brands a "certified vehicle" actually provides a warranty out to 100,000 miles-which is more than a new car warranty. So it depends on what the vehicle costs-factoring in a better warranty.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: CKN
WE can disagree here. I traded in a 4 Runner with a fender replacement and it had ZERO EFFECT on the trade in. Of course-I was a professional sales person at the time (30 years-industrial sales) so I was probably at a much better advantage than most as to negotiating tactics. AS far as buying a car with an accident listed-it would depend on if I could take it to my own mechanic for inspection-and I always buy a car with a FACTORY SPONSORED WARRANTY (Certified or other-but factory).


Same thing here with my dad's 07 Camry that was hit twice. Once by a deer on the hwy going 70 mph that crunched the front fender and some other pieces. Airbags didn't pop. The second hit a truck with an over-sized rear bumper backing out of a parking lot while dad was driving. Crunched the rear door jamb. And a new section had to be welded in. Each accident ran about $4k to fix. Both accidents fixed by a body shop that the dealer co-owns. They have a lifetime guarantee on their work. And not on any insurance companies "approved" list. Claims adjuster states that they do excellent work. My dad didn't want to pursue diminished value because of the excellent work they perform and didn't want to knock them. They even washed it twice because someone left it outside over night after one of the hits.

When trade in time came at the 5 year mark everyone forgot about those incidents as they never came up.

 

[wag123]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Same thing here with my dad's 07 Camry that was hit twice. Once by a deer on the hwy going 70 mph that crunched the front fender and some other pieces. Airbags didn't pop. The second hit a truck with an over-sized rear bumper backing out of a parking lot while dad was driving. Crunched the rear door jamb. And a new section had to be welded in. Each accident ran about $4k to fix. Both accidents fixed by a body shop that the dealer co-owns. They have a lifetime guarantee on their work. And not on any insurance companies "approved" list. Claims adjuster states that they do excellent work. My dad didn't want to pursue diminished value because of the excellent work they perform and didn't want to knock them. They even washed it twice because someone left it outside over night after one of the hits.

When trade in time came at the 5 year mark everyone forgot about those incidents as they never came up.


It has become "standard operating procedure" at MOST car dealers to pull CarFax and AutoCheck history reports on potential trade-ins, and if they did you can be sure that they factored-in any listed accidents before they made you an offer. Just because they never mentioned it doesn't mean that they didn't do this or that it didn't matter. The severity of the accident(s) and quality of repairs are also taken into consideration. If the accident was not severe, the quality of repair was high, and the trade-in is a desirable make/model, you may not be docked very much on a trade-in offer. Some undesirable makes/models with an accident report are virtually impossible to sell without offering a VERY LARGE discount below market value. Most Toyotas don't fall into this category.
Pursuing diminished value reimbursement is something that you would do with the insurance company to "make you whole" after an accident. It is not a reflection of the quality of repairs that were done, only something that counteracts the financial damage done to your vehicle's reputation by CarFax and AutoCheck. Most state's regulations require insurance companies to "make you whole" after an insurance claim.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: wag123
It has become "standard operating procedure" at MOST car dealers to pull CarFax and AutoCheck history reports on potential trade-ins, and if they did you can be sure that they factored-in any listed accidents before they made you an offer. Just because they never mentioned it doesn't mean that they didn't do this or that it didn't matter. The severity of the accident(s) and quality of repairs are also taken into consideration. If the accident was not severe, the quality of repair was high, and the trade-in is a desirable make/model, you may not be docked very much on a trade-in offer. Some undesirable makes/models with an accident report are virtually impossible to sell without offering a VERY LARGE discount below market value. Most Toyotas don't fall into this category.


Maybe because he was a long time customer and had purchased seven vehicles from them in the past with the same salesman helped.