I am going to buy the following car. So Requestong for price recommendation:
Nissan Altima 2.5s 2012 model
title Clean
Mileage 50K
1 moderate accident
Auto auction as frame damage
Don’t buy it unless you know exactly what you are doing. If you are asking us, you aren’t knowledeable enough to buy this car. The price is the least of your worries. How badly is the frame bent? Was it repaired? Can it be repaired? Does it drive straight or does it crab down the road? If you can’t answer any of these questions, you should find another car to buy.
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Someone is trying to sell this car to me. He has been driving this car from last 3 years and frame damage was happened before he bought this car. Now car runs good.
Someone is trying to sell this car to me. He has been driving this car from last 3 years and frame damage was happened before he bought this car. Now car runs good.
There are so many used vehicles on the market I think you should pass on this one. It may have a salvage title and that may nor allow full coverage insurance.
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title is clean
Since we don’t know where you live or the condition of the car, you need to search the web for what the car might be worth. Find a car-buying site for where you live and check the value. Also look at cars for sale similar to this one.
If he’s not selling this car for at least 20% less than a comparable car, I’d pass on this car.
The 2012 Altima doesn’t have a frame. It’s uni-body construction.
It’s harder to straighten a uni-body vehicle that’s been in an accident, than to straighten a vehicle with a frame.
Tester
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Doesn’t that mean the body is a frame component? Is it really accurate to say it doesn’t have a frame?
What I’m saying is the vehicle doesn’t have one of these.
Tester
I’m hearing all sorts of warning bells going off
WHY would the title be clean . . . after a massive accident, insurance is typically notified, and it probably should have been totaled, is my guess
WHY is he trying to sell you the car . . . might be trying to hand his troubles off to the next guy
If it was at the auto auction, that does NOT bode well, especially if the car’s damaged. That means it probably wasn’t deemed worthy of a proper repair. If it was worthy of a proper repair, it would already have happened. Somebody probably already decided they couldn’t perform a proper repair and resell it for a fair profit. That’s why it wound up at the auction
Don’t get me wrong . . . good cars do wind up at auctions, but it’s also a dumping ground
This person that’s trying to sell you the car . . . a friend, relative, colleague?
Tell that person you’re not interested
Keep looking for a clean car that does NOT have frame damage
By the way . . . it would have been a good idea to post some pictures of the car, lots of pictures, actually
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It’s not a salvage title? You said it was an auction car, and auction cars are as is without an opportunity to do much more than hear the engine run. If the price is excellent, do as @Whitey suggests and have the frame checked at a good body shop. If it checks out, maybe you should buy it.
You do realize that you can’t take a vehicle being sold at auction to be inspected?
Either you buy it, or you don’t.
Tester
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You don’t have to have a major accident to have a bent frame these days. With crumple zones, even a minor accident will likely lead to a bent frame.
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I think the OP is saying the current owner bought it at auction. Now the current owner is trying to sell the OP the car that the current owner bought at auction.
If it’s cheap enough; maybe. How’s that for being definitive…
It probably has a clean title as the accident happened 3 years ago with damage described as moderate on a near new car.
One third of retail at best. Maybe, depending upon an inspection.
This is a good way to lose a friend. Pass on it.
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Yes it’s accurate to say the body doesn’t have a frame. That’s why they’re called unibody cars.
There are way too many unknowns here, and the only way to determine if the unibody is straight again is to put it on a frame alignment machine… a costly process unlikely to be available for an auction car.
I’d have two concerns that would definitely turn me away from this risk. One is that unibody cars that have been salvaged after a damaged “frame” (the unibody IS the frame) are unlike to be to the tolerance manufactured ever again. The second is that once a body’s crush zone is deformed in an accident, even if it gets straightened out again it’s lost strength and cannot absorb another accident as well as it would were it still accident-free.
I wouldn’t do it.
OP said that his friend has had the car for 3 years, and that it somehow still has a clean title
I’m supposing his friend bought it at the auction . . . ?
Yeah, I wouldn’t buy it, either