Hey everyone, so I recently was poking through Facebook and found a 2019 Mazda 3 AWD for sale from a private party with roughly 26k miles for 15,900. I checked with the seller to see shat the deal was and it appears the vehicle was involved in an accident sometime a year or 2 are and this resulted in it being totaled, he bought it from auction and has replaced all parts with manufacturers parts and had it fixed at a dealer and had the car reinspected and it passed. Not this vehicle is sitting in pretty good shape as far as I can see aside from an issue with the BSM system on the drivers side. He says he checked and its fixable he just hasn't had the time to get it taken in as its his daily fdriver for the time being. IM wondering if im making a huge mistake by looking into a Prior salvage or if its a good by as I seem to have found someone who has taken great care of it and great attention to detail as far as having it fixed correctly to the point that he's been driving it for about a year now. thanks in advance !!!
original link to post.
photos while damaged.
https://www.facebook.com/sam.mpls/posts/3576456275747030
@mountainmanjoe @scottykilmer Facebook link broken
@inthrustwetrust {black}:idontknow:
Huge mistake.
I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, FB Marketplace is basically a salvage title/junk car auction house. Everything "runs like new" but has a salvage title.
I never advocate buying salvage title cars in any circumstance. Guys buy those cars from companies like Copart for $1000, slap junkyard parts on them, paint them in their backyard, then sell it to you for $8000. The sad part is, people buy them.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
yep and it's on Craigslist too. I saw someone buy a "for parts" SUV for a couple hundred bucks, then turn around and sell it for 20x the price. It was in very bad shape and would have never passed inspection. Of course there was some shady business like the crackhead woman wouldn't sign the title or something. I'm sure the car would have come with a sob story too. Luckily the person who sold the parts car saw this happening and made another ad warning everybody.
I'm not surprised. I still see ads time to time warning people of sellers trying to pass off salvage cars as clean title cars. Not everyone pays attention and knows a salvage title from a clean one. It's a shame really that those things happen. I've had to turn down buying a lot of private owner classics because they have title problems, everything from salvage to bonded. My favorite still is "I don't have the title, but it is my car." Well without the title, you can't prove that. And I can't resell it either.
I don’t have any personal experience with buying cars on FB Marketplace, but there are enough horror stories on this site alone that it I’d never consider it.
HUGE MISTAKE!
Look for something else; it’s not a good idea to buy a modern computer on wheels that’s been involved in accident - you don’t know the collateral effects that could pop up over time (from the initial accident). Also, all those ADAS and parking/safety sensors need to be properly calibrated, it’s just not worth the potential headaches down the line.
I don’t recommend buying salvage cars unless you really know what you are doing. I sure as hell don’t know what I am doing.
