jpm995

Hello guys,looking for some advice. Selling my old dd ['03 mistu lancer] and looking to buy a semi dd. I have a pickup for snow/bad winter driving am semi retired and work within 2 miles of home. I originally wanted an a used sl mercedes of sc430 Lexus but merc scares me with repair bills and the Lexus seems overpriced. Found a nice looking '06 base vette with 68k miles. Two issues. Yesterday i looked at it in dealers lot and front window was totally fogged up [rainy day]. All other cars on lot weren't. Is that an issue? There was also a hard to see but deep scratch going from fender to fender and across the hood. [vandalism i guess]. Is the dealer obligated to fix it before purchase? What it cost to fix something like this? Heres the link to car. Feedback appreciated.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...2864/overview/

Dave S

Let's take your second question first. Is the dealer obligated to repair the scratch? That's what negotiation is all about. You can insist that the scratch be repaired as part of the sale, but I suspect the dealer would then demand payment in advance of the repair work & you might then not be satisfied if the repair was done poorly. Other option is to insist on further price reduction & then once you own the vehicle, have it repaired yourself at a shop of your own choosing. Just be sure that the price reduction is enough to pay for the repair work.
Your second issue could be more of a problem. If the interior of the windshield is fogged, I would suspect interior moisture.....whether minor due to a window left open last time it rained.....or significant if the vehicle had been flooded. Either way, you need to carefully inspect the interior floors for signs of moisture & how much. The ad also states "free Carfax" so you should definitely get the report to make sure it's not a flood recovery., Good luck.

919cw313

^Or it could be foggy because, like lots of dealer prep shops, they're sloppy and used way too much water when they clean carpets.

demon340

jpm995

Appreciate the feedback guys, what worried me was there was 100 other cars in the used lot and none were fogged. I checked the CARFAX zero accidents, clean title but 4 owners. I'm in a good position, don't really need a car just would like a car to hop around in. I have an '02 z06 but its more of a garage queen, only 11k miles. Guessing the performance of a c6 base would be similar to my z06., except this is automatic. Will probably arrange a test drive, maybe even mech/body shop checkout if ok with dealer. 17.9k sound about right for this? Seems reasonable from dealer unless scratch repair is a big deal with fiberglass or paint match [black] is an issue.Again thanks for the info, i usually post in thr c5 section but figured this would be a better place for this.

jpm995

Wow that seems like a great buy. That is a good looking car. Know nothing about fiberglass repair but you got me worried. Its a very thin scratch, i didn't even notice the hood till i looked close at the fender. It's deep though when i slide finger across it stops at the scratch. Like somebody used a sharp knife on it. Car i'm looking at has wheels like yours but in chrome. Like yours better but might be too much on a black car.

demon340

jpm995

Yes i'm sure they have to 'fill' the scratch and i doubt they use paint. Probable a filler than sand and paint. Plus as much as i like black its a pain to clean. Everything shows. Not sure if its a hard color to match or not.

Bruze

From what you're saying, that scratch cannot be worked out. Any decent body man (I'm not, I only hang around with one) will rework the scratch area, filling and sanding as needed, and re-paint at least that one entire surface/panel.

And, as someone above mentioned, color matching can be tough with certain colors.

AORoads

No, I don't think they will "fill the paint"----it will either be panel-repainted or more likely the entire side and hood will be re-shot. jmo.

While the dealer "may know" a good body/paint shop, you're in the area and have a Z so I'd bet you know a good one or even better. If it were me, I'd make that a part of the deal: I choose the shop, dealer pays for whatever it's going to be to fix the paint issue.

As to the car itself, that other problem with condensation inside could be either of the two suggestions above OR worse case: it could be a leaking heater core---a much more expensive issue. I'd have that one checked for sure.

As to the dealer "allowing" you to have the car checked out offsite (with one of their people driving it to and from), I don't see that as anywhere close to unreasonable---I'd bet the car is being sold with that big sticker saying, "As-IS". Well, unless you want to be the stuck-ee, I'd get a 13 year old used car with 3 prior owners (but, in its favor, it was once called a CPO Chevrolet) checked out so that nothing major gets into your wallet.

In looking at the prior owners, none were less than a year and this car wasn't shipped all over the US (as some are, which makes me wonder...). Do yourself a favor, take out a subscription to Auto Check* and have the vin checked on this car. Also, for free, go to any GM dealer and bring the vin with you to the service dept. and ask for the VIS report---the proprietary, GM-available only report on any work done to the car by a dealer, recalls, tsb's, etc.

* Note: some people also don't trust dealer-supplied CarFax reports and also get their own subscription and do a vin check by that service as well as a dealer-supplied one.

Tell us what you find out about the car. Good luck.

PS Not sure how you can differentiate betw. New and Used, but here's the website called dealerrater.com, a very good site to check out dealers. Usually, it's about new cars only but there's got to be a way to find out how they treat customers who buy used cars from them.

Here's what it says: looks like 171 pages of reviews!

https://www.dealerrater.com/dealer/S...ws-12492/#link

brimee

LowRyter

hard to know w/o pictures

Batman75

It's about time someone asked that question. I have been thinking the same thing.

I guess everyone replying have forgotten the recent thread showing a Corvette with a clear bra and you could see it clearly, from fender to fender across the hood.

Bruze

Not everybody reads all the threads.

Batman75

I don't either. I read more than I post though.

You can see how many times I have posted since I joined. You've been a member a year and a month longer. You have almost 7000 posts to my 1009.

Bruze

Yes, but I've been online continuously since 1994, unless I was sleeping.

Is that good or bad? Haha, I have no clue and no opinion.

K-Spaz

What does the inside of the car smell like?

919cw313

jpm995

You have me questioning myself. It a curved line from the middle of the fender across the middle of the hood and with the same curve on the other fender. I assumed somebody cut it with a knife. I have to go back and look. The dealer was closed i couldn't get in the car. The line is so straight i think it might be a bra. Theres pics on the website but i cant see the line. Thanks guys this forum is great, always get good info. I'll post update tomorrow when i go back.

buckmeister2

What you found is a very common, reasonably priced vehicle. Since it has a couple issues you are concerned about, I would simply pass, and take my time finding one I felt was just what I wanted, in the condition I expected. If you can go up to $20k, you can find many nicer Vettes, even '08 with not many more miles. Take your time. I recommend buying from a private party, or chevy dealer. I am not partial to "Joe's premium cars". Lots and lots of Vettes out there, take your time, and get what you want.