[dannysuen]

When I was browsing I found a 2011 335xi coupe from a dealer with an accident, airbag deployed, towed on carfax, premium and cold weather pkg, 23k mileage, no warranty. They're asking $24.5k, any thoughts how much I should take it??

[Delta0311]

Fuck no! Wouldn't even look at it..

Rather throw in a few more thousand and have the peace of mind of knowing that I'm buying a car didn't kiss the rear end of another.

Let me correct that; rape the rear end.

[Dark_Knight_335]

Hell and no?

[bimmette]

DO NOT BUY.

[Delta0311]

You straight trippin boo.

[neverdone]

I'm in Canada. I just bought a 2011 335 xDrive special edition(look it up lol) I carproofed it at 2 separate incidents totalling 12k(Canadian 9k ish USD) none of it was major and I saved 16k going with it over the dealer, I paid 25k canadian, 20k ish USD.

Now, I still have warranty until November 2017. With all that said. FUCK NO. Compare mine to yours and think about it.

[Douche]

I wasn't sure, but when you said the car has been towed I made up my mind.

[Navalarch]

Check out some insurance auctions. You could get a nightmare for 1/3 to 1/4 of that cost

[Chrisruf911]

I think too many people believe Carfax is the end all be all information source of a cars condition. Only accidents that have been claimed through insurance show up. That being said I have fixed cars that have been wasted and the customer paid out of pocket so guess what? Carfax buyback guarantee. If it is the car you want, have a good, reputable body shop do a thorough inspection. If a car is repaired properly it should function, fit and perform as it did prior to the accident. The quality of the repair is key here. If frame work or structural is not up to par its a big deal.

[CantCatchMe]

Don't be a fool. Probably the car was bought from a dealer auction on Copart.com. Stay away!

[CL721]

^^^ yeah that. everyone knows carfax now and owners will try their best to get it fixed out pocket to avoid any accident records so they can sell their cars later on. as for this particular car, at 24.5K..... seems not cheap enough tho. lol

[AceOnShake]

Originally Posted by Chrisruf911

I think too many people believe Carfax is the end all be all information source of a cars condition. Only accidents that have been claimed through insurance show up. That being said I have fixed cars that have been wasted and the customer paid out of pocket so guess what? Carfax buyback guarantee. If it is the car you want, have a good, reputable body shop do a thorough inspection. If a car is repaired properly it should function, fit and perform as it did prior to the accident. The quality of the repair is key here. If frame work or structural is not up to par its a big deal.

That's not true. Its the shop who has to claim it to carfax. On my dads BMW X5 he bought new which has 300k you can imagine hes been in a fair share of incidents. 3 rear accidents and 1 hit and run on the side. Ran a carfax and autocheck one showed up as minor collision in the rear. They all were minor the X5 can take the hit.

I bought a 95 M3 once with a clean title for stupid cheap. I can tell it was repaired before no vin tags color was too fresh in the front. I sold it but the guy tried to trade it in and it came back salvaged title in a different state. When it came to IL it got a clean title don't know how that happened but that's not the first car I've encountered!

I would never again buy a car thats been in an accident. I did sold the car or a lot more after I fixed it. Needed a lot of maintenance and TLC.

If your fishing that kind of money why buy an accident car.

[parabola]

Carfax sucks, Autocheck sucks and all similar sites...I have a Subaru that has had extensive hail damage, I was driving through a hail storm..fixed through insurance, through Subaru dealership, nothing ever showed up anywhere, I checked like a year after. There was damage on the hood, roof, trunk lid, even doors..it was ugly.
On the other hand my VW that I sold has accident on file, after a lady opened up a door of her car and hit my door leaving a dent in the door, big fucking deal - but to someone else, fuck this car, it was in an accident.
Accidents happen, not all of them are the same, ask for some kind of documentation for what was fixed, damage etc. Minor cosmetic work, who cares..

[Chrisruf911]

Not true. Shops do not contact and claim it on Carfax. I've been doing this a long time. It's insurance claims most of the time and sometimes police reports. Basically you are gambling buying a used car in spite of a clean Autocheck or Carfax

[jt335i]

No way I'd be crazy to buy that. Being in an accident, the external parts can be repaired, but who knows what internal parts and components were damaged. In addition, the chassis could be bent and permanently out of alignment due to the impact of the crash. The car is better off for parts. Just my 2 cents.

[dannysuen]

Thx dude I'll just give up

[B3M3W5iXM]

Help me out here guys, what's the big turn off? Accident, airbag deployment, needing towed...?

Just trying to figure out if mine is worthless now because of some asshole deer. No airbags deployed and it didn't need towed so mechanically it was still fine. It just needed $6000 of body work... new hood, headlight, fender, and bumper (which I believe were all OEM).

[Douche]

Originally Posted by B3M3W5iXM

Help me out here guys, what's the big turn off? Accident, airbag deployment, needing towed...?

Just trying to figure out if mine is worthless now because of some asshole deer. No airbags deployed and it didn't need towed so mechanically it was still fine. It just needed $6000 of body work... new hood, headlight, fender, and bumper (which I believe were all OEM).

You're fine.
It's to worry when you have structural damage. An airbag deployment will usually tell you something larger happened.
6000 in cosmetic parts is nothing. It will affect your evaluation when you sell the car, but you'll still sell it easily to anyone, any dealer.

The towing part is a joke. It's like saying the car had a flat tire or ran out of gas.

[Aashenfox]

In the US you are too used to living in a throwaway society. Its crazy to see an airbag deployed and assume the car was written off. Maybe the craftsmen no longer exist over there to properly repair a crashed car, but in many parts of europe, you will find that cars can have pretty serious accidents and when fixed properly are no worse off for it. Have it inspected by an expert for chassis tweak or any other detrimental effect, and if it seems ok, pull the trigger and be glad you got a bargain. You guys have lemon law over there, right? So if it turns out down the line that the car is not safe, you're covered.

[All4bigAl]

I think people forget how many cars have some damage, either minor or severe, and how hard it can be to find one without. Be smart, have it inspected, and most importantly do not overpay for it. The current price seems high to me. You should be buying near wholesale price (give or take). If you gotta have it, then pay a bit more, but just know it might come to bite you.

Mine is an 08' with 30k had hail damage and was completely repainted. Should I have run from the car I wanted because of it? No way... By the way, even though it was $6000 in paintwork it did not show on the Carfax.

[Wolf 335]

Originally Posted by dannysuen

When I was browsing I found a 2011 335xi coupe from a dealer with an accident, airbag deployed, towed on carfax, premium and cold weather pkg, 23k mileage, no warranty. They're asking $24.5k, any thoughts how much I should take it??

Dannysuen, many times shops will report an airbag deployment, airbag light or seatbelt tensioner faults after an accident in order to help out the guy with the deductible. Insurance companies know this, but its hush hush.

What you should focus on is the repair cost. A small bump that could simply crack your bumper could be a $2000 repair reported to carfax when going through insurance, when in reality its all bull. Shop could report activated airbag light and that can be another $800. So now you got almost a $3000 claim on that car.

Overall, have the car looked over and see if there was any frame damage. Was the rad support changed, etc. Frame damage, now that I would walk away from.

Car was towed so what, doesn't mean anything. Lots of cars get towed after the accident simply because those tow truck snakes try to scare people into believing their car is not safe to drive.

If you find the damage was minor around $3000, use it to your advantage to get an even better deal from the dealer. All it means that the bumper was replaced painted and bag was "replaced".

Cheers

[mike5809]

Originally Posted by dannysuen

When I was browsing I found a 2011 335xi coupe from a dealer with an accident, airbag deployed, towed on carfax, premium and cold weather pkg, 23k mileage, no warranty. They're asking $24.5k, any thoughts how much I should take it??

No - buy mine instead

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1035665