#$%@&*! finding flaws on a used car

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some have confused "buying new car goggles" with "beer goggles". you just get too excited about the car to see its flaws, like meeting a hot girl for the first time. :lol:
 
:mad: Ever buy a used car, and over the next week find stuff that is wrong....chips in paint, little stains and marks, and what I should have picked up on---serious f'ing curb rash. Damn. Now I need new wheels and tires. One of them is grated all the way around. How the hell do you do that?
That's why I NEVER buy a used car. Especially a used Mustang.
I always try to buy my cars 100% brand new. I like to special order them from the factory. I don't even trust the dealers with new cars that they already have on their lots. That's how fussy I am. The last 5 brand new cars which I purchased, I ordered. That's the only way to do it right if you don't want to get a car which has any miles on it or any scratches and flaws in it.
 
At least with a Mustang you can get a car from a person who just wanted it, and didn't beat on it, or an older person who bought it for the mustang 'heritage' and babied it...

That's nearly impossible for cars such as the SRT-4... I would NEVER buy a used SRT-4, that's for sure.. (yes, I do like them)

To answer the original question, my GTO's rear wheel has small bit of curb rash including a small chunk of rubber removed from the tire... d'oh.. but I may be able to get that fixed by the dealer..
 
mine was used. I did my homework, spent several days going over every detail until i'm satisfied, and take it out for test drive WITHOUT salesman(so that u can take the car to shop YOU trust to go over), pay $20+ for carfax. expect everything that can be wrong to be wrong as you check the car.
Spend weeks go over it. I know dealers they hate when you do that, but its not exactry a cheap shopping, and its my money I'm spending - not theirs. so if they don't like it, they can kiss my ass.


MOST IMPORTANT thing you have to keep in your mind tho is that the

THERE IS ALWAYS MORE MUSTANG OUT THERE!

There is always more mustang out threr. This is without the doubt most important simple fact that people would supress when they are car shopping IMO. they'll always tell u like there is someone else thats this close to drop deposit on it or something along that line.
You have to be able to back off and move to another one if something feels wrong(and ususly is when you get the feeling). Nothing good ever comeout of buying used car (mustang of all cars) in haste
 
It would have been quite impossible for me to buy my 95 Cobra brand new since I was 11...I've had my car 2 years and still find flaws.. I bought my last stang new and I still always noticed flaws, even factory ones...Unless I have about $250,000 into a mustang, I don't think you will ever stop finding flaws.
 
I bought mine with 6600 on it and met the owner. Some kid who ordered it as his "dream car" and "got into some trouble" with it. He was a detailer at the dealership, so the thing was immaculate. The only flaws on it are the ones I put into it. The only service before my purchase was 2 oil changes and someone tried to steal the rims, so they were loose.

I was lucky to find this car. :)
 
Bought mine last month...only to get home and a week later my clutch goes, drive shaft snaps, and find out that my brake pads are shot to S***, and its never had a tune up...talk about getting F*** in th a** with a square D***.....spent an extra 3000 grand and just bought a used kewbra engine and did all the other repairs myself with the help of some Sam Adams..lol
 
Bought mine last month...only to get home and a week later my clutch goes, drive shaft snaps, and find out that my brake pads are shot to S***, and its never had a tune up...talk about getting F*** in th a** with a square D***.....spent an extra 3000 grand and just bought a used kewbra engine and did all the other repairs myself with the help of some Sam Adams..lol

This is the EXACT reason why I would NEVER buy a used Mustang. If it's been abused, you're going to have to spend more money fixing it. Eventually, it becomes a money pit. I would rather have a monthly car payment and own a brand new car than continuing spending money on repairs because the previous owner abused the car.
 
Ya i bought her with 40,000 for 15,000 grand ..California kinda kicks the price up just a bit (hence the sarcasim)...so least to say I WAS PISSED, I even called the dealer , they said they could do nothing about it since the warranty on it ran out. And I bought it as is...but a week later, you think they would understand ...NO !!!.. With ever thing ..$$$$...I dropped into already, I caculated that Im making around a 488$$ monthly payment for the next two years.DAMN IT
 
Is $488 your current monthly payment? I am not sure about this, but you could have probably purchased a brand new 07 Mustang GT and had the same $488 monthly payment that you have now or even less.
Is the $488 monthly payment that you mentioned in your post include the all the cost of doing all the repairs each month to you Mustang because of the flaws that you are finding?
 
yup to question 2... my monthly payment on the car is 198..and change..i factored in the cost of the repairs and new engine into the equation and volla 488..i hate math when it involves me loosing money
 
yup to question 2... my monthly payment on the car is 198..and change..i factored in the cost of the repairs and new engine into the equation and volla 488..i hate math when it involves me loosing money
For how many years are you going to have to pay $198 per month for your auto loan for? Do you also owe the $3,000 grand that you just spent on the used Cobra Engine?
I feel for you man. It's expensive nowadays to replace or to repair and fix major things that break down on any automobile engine or transmission. Everything is so expensive that a small repair can run an average of $500 to $700 or more. I know this because my wife's SUV needed 2 front rotors, front brake pads and 1 ball joint and I had to pay $700 for parts and labor to fix it. My friend fixed it for me and I saved myself over $500. I would have payed over $1,200 to have it done elsewhere by the dealer or by any other mechanic. And her car has over 116,000 miles on it right now. I hate it when I have to spend money to fix major things on a car. A car is nothing but a money pit.
 
That's why I NEVER buy a used car. Especially a used Mustang.
I always try to buy my cars 100% brand new. I like to special order them from the factory. I don't even trust the dealers with new cars that they already have on their lots. That's how fussy I am. The last 5 brand new cars which I purchased, I ordered. That's the only way to do it right if you don't want to get a car which has any miles on it or any scratches and flaws in it.

Then you get to deal with 100% of the depreciation of the car, buying new is dumb financially unless there are tons of rebates and deals going on where you can get it for cheap.
 
i bought mine for 15 grand with jsut under 40k on it, blower, springs, rims, tires, brakes, hood, bumper, exhasut, shifter from a corrall member. had no curb rash, no tears, no scratches (he had it detialed before i got it, 2 days before i picked it up actually) and the only thing i have found that i wasnt aware of (even the previous owner wsnt aware of it) was that it has an aftermarket metal bumper (RDOT, not ford). he brought it to a ford dealer for somethign and they said they ripped the bumper off. which we are both thinking was actually them slamming it into something.

i wish i could afford a brand new car. sure it depreciates liek mad, but you have a BRAND new car!


buying a used car is sometimes a crapshoot. the owner coudl be moving on to better things, or bigger things, or jstu wants to get away from a POS. i've been lucky. my stang and jeep have both been great to me.
 
I don't feel so bad now. whyask sounds like he got the stinky end of the stick. My '02 was a girls car. Her dad bought it for her. It has 37,000 miles on it, and is originally from Texas. (so 3500 of those miles were highway driving to here) The selection of used Mustangs in my area is not that great. I bargained so hard the dealer wouldn't even detail it or take the stickers off of it. They wouldn't even throw in a $6 set of wiper blades to replace the ripped ones on the car. I know they made money on it, I think they just didn't like me because I was a bit of an azzhole. I bought it at a Honda dealership, where it had been sitting for three months. I guess Honda buyers don't want American cars. The tires are crap, but I don't have to put too much money in to make it like new again. I can probably find a wheel on ebay. My car was taken care of, but damn. Curb rash is the one thing that annoys the hell out of me. How do you hit a curb? :nonono: You know its there, it's not moving, you know the car is so wide....
 
its not their fault you bought a ****ty car and didnt look it over completely.

i bought my 02 GT with 75k on it and knew EXACTLY what i was getting into, i looked over every inch of the car and i still bought it for 17k out the door. had your usual wear from 75k freeway miles but nothing that turned me off of the purchase.
 
It was my fault though. I didn't look much at the wheels. For 13,500 sale price I can't complain. Just that one wheel though. You shouldn't have to pay more than 15k for a used 99-04 GT. That is sale price, not tax included. Real life trade/wholesale is 10,000+/- . I don't feel guilty about this----I used to sell used cars at a dealership, and I always felt good making people pay more than what the car was worth. It made me rich$$$$. We used to get the later GT's all the time and never paid more than 11,000 for them. Some were really nice, others okay. We sold them from 15k to 19k. It was a good profit maker. I asked the guys who bought the cars at auction to find me a Bullitt, and they did. A nice blue one. They bought it for 12,500. Then the used car manager bought it out from under me. That bastard.
 
When I bought my Mustang, I got in contact with the previous owner. I called him and talked to him for a couple hours about the car. I asked about 2.5 million questions and he informed me about every little knick and scratch on the car, since its not his anymore and its no weight on his back if I don't like what I hear. I have been very fortunate since I haven't had any trouble with the car, other than damage done by a mechanic :bang: