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Avoid
Buying a Lemon
Get used car okayed by mechanic
There's one phrase a consumer affairs reporter hears again and again: ``Buyer
beware.''
Virtually everyone the reporter talked to
on the potential pitfalls of buying a used car said it.
And there's good reason for used
car shoppers to be wary.
Shortcomings in
one state's current vehicle registration system mean there may be no paper trail to
reveal problems in a vehicle's past.
When you buy used there's
a risk the vehicle has been in an accident or was stolen in another
province.
I've heard the stories of several
people who bought used only to discover later that the car had serious
problems because of an accident.
A woman who purchased such a car
through a newspaper ad phoned me this week to ask what she could
do.
I had bad news for her. Probably
nothing.
She was thinking about suing and
had talked to a lawyer who wanted $2,500. Small claims court is also an
option, but even under the best scenario, it wouldn't cover all her
losses - the maximum judgment is $6,000.
And there's absolutely no
guarantee of being able to collect anything.
Her experience is not uncommon.
The people I've talked to about
getting stuck with these lemons all had one
thing in common: They didn't ask a mechanic to look under
the hood before they bought.
This is the critical rule of used
car buying.
One of our Mechanic's
said about one-quarter of the cars he puts up on the hoist for such
checks look like they've been written off and put back together.
Sometimes, he says, the rebuilt
wrecks are dangerous.
``The car is still out of whack mechanically
in terms of suspension and alignment so that the car will pull
badly.
``And because they've been fixed
so poorly, I know that very shortly down the road they're going to have
major mechanical failures.''
Sometimes he'll find a car's air
bags have exploded in a crash and were simply jammed back up under the
dashboard. They don't work, of course.
Unethical repair shops don't
bother putting in new air bags because it's so expensive - $2,000 or
$3,000.
``There are poor slobs out there
driving cars, and they're going, `I've got a nice safe car, I've got two
airbags,' and sure enough the stuff is not even working.
One of our past
mechanic's has known someone personal who
had experience with the problem.
His wife's car was written off in
an accident just six weeks after she bought it.
A week following the crash, a
wrecking yard called looking for the warranty cards on the vehicle.
``I wouldn't play along with
him,'' our mechanic said.
Two weeks later, the manager of
the dealership where they bought the car phoned.
A woman shopping around for a car
- and doing her homework - had called the dealership to ask about
the person's car.
She had answered an ad and gone
to see it at a house in Hamilton.
``The buyers had said,
`How come someone's selling a car that's brand new?' And they were told,
`As a matter of fact, my wife just got a new job. They're giving her a
car so she doesn't need this.
Another way to protect yourself
is choosing a car from a reputable dealer's lot.
You'll likely pay more than you
would through the classifieds, but you're buying some protection
from groups such as Used Car Dealers Association of your area.
It's still smart to do everything
in your power to avoid a hassle - ask a mechanic to
check over any car you're thinking about buying - even from a
dealership.
Take this step even if the seller
tells you the car has been certified.
A pre-purchase check is more
thorough and you get to pick the mechanic.
An average inspection at most
Auto Repair Shops will probably cost you $75.
The province will start
``branding'' registrations with insurance data so there's a record of
the fact a vehicle has been written off.
Cars rebuilt after a serious
accident will have to be inspected before they return to the road.
Crooks will likely find ways of
getting around those too.
Shop cautiously. Protect
yourself.
At Bay Auto
Care...
We offer Used Car
Inspection
(We're
Here to Help... to Avoid Buying a Lemon)
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