Seriously considering purchasing a 2012 Veloster, manual, 78k miles, $6k.
The dealer said she bought the car from an auction and doesn’t know its history. I got a CARFAX report for it showing pretty decent upkeep – regular maintenance, no accidents – but only up until 43k miles. The car’s history from 43k to its current 78k is a mystery to both myself and the dealer.
I’m just confused. What situations could lead to this gap? Should I still consider this car? If so, what advice would you send my way for checking it out? Thanks, everyone!
If the car was maintained by a facility that doesn’t report their data to Carfax, then that would leave an informational void. Or, if the second (or third, or fourth… ) owner chose to not maintain it at all, that would–obviously–leave an informational void.
Tell the dealer that you want to have the car examined by a mechanic of your choice. If the dealer balks at that request, simply move on, and try to find a vehicle with a complete maintenance history.
I guess you have passed on the Spark . And as always have a trusted independent shop look at a used vehicle before you buy it.
The Carfax web site says they only report what is submitted to them . Not all shops do that. People who do their own maintenance don’t report either .
Not necessarily the case. I use CarFax app to track my maintenance, and find it more convenient than keeping it in a spreadsheet, it has reminders and lets me set my own intervals.
I use a chart that I construct on 8.5 x 14 inch paper, turned sideways. It is updated each time I have the vehicle serviced, and it allows me to see–at a glance, on one page–what was done and when it was done. This chart goes into the file folder containing all of my maintenance receipts.
My advice when buying a car is to go for one of the following strategies:
Buy something that is new enough to have a warranty (either the original factory warranty, or the manufacturer’s Certified Pre-Owned warranty) and has low enough miles that no maintenance was needed other than oil changes. This, of course, specifically excludes any third-party “extended warranty” or “service plan” or similar pseudo-insurance backed by any entity other than the manufacturer itself. Anything this recent, and with such low miles is going to be expensive, and will necessitate a monthly loan payment for most people.
or
Buy an inexpensive older car, which obviously won’t have a warranty, but it also won’t have a monthly loan payment either.
Personally, I prefer strategy #2. I live in southern Arizona, so cars don’t rust. Therefore, a 15-20 year old car for $1500-2500 is a good buy, and even with maintenance and repairs is a bargain compared to a monthly payment and full-coverage insurance on a financed vehicle.
However, buying this 8 year old Hyundai with 78,000 miles doesn’t conform to either of these strategies. It’s too old to have any manufacturer’s warranty (remember that the 10-year 100,000 powertrain warranty is available only to the original owner) and it’s way to expensive to be considered a disposable car if major repairs are needed. If you’re comfortable spending $6k, then I’d spend 2-3k more and get a newer car with much less miles. Conversely, if you’re comfortable buying something with 78,000 miles, I’d get a much older and cheaper car.
Actually, I’m going to test drive a 2013 Veloster RE:MIX on Tuesday. This one has a very consistent CARFAX history, clear meticulous maintenance, 80k miles, $6,500. As far as I can tell, zero major issues. The shop mechanic + dealer is local and has shockingly positive reviews on both Facebook and google (4.9 star out of 500+ reviews)
That’s fair. Honestly, I don’t love the look, but for the features and overall reliability I do know of it, it’s my top choice.
Bonus: my engineer boyfriend drives a 2012 Veloster. He knows the car inside and out, loves to do his own maintenance and repairs on it… and is drooling over this new 2013 RE:MIX I’m looking at
This different 2013 Veloster I’m looking at has had extremely consistent oil changes, as it’s CARFAX report shows, so I’m already more confident in it than the original post’s 2012
Hundreds of thousands of cars have been totaled by insurance companies with water damage from floods and hurricanes. Hard to say if they would be a bad buy, but some buyers have complained of concealed corrosion damage to all of those electronic modules scattered around inside cars these days.
