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When we need a car, we always buy used. We always buy Subarus, and always within a certain age/mileage range, and have gotten a very good feel for the best values within that certain "sweet spot."
Sometimes it works out better than other times, but it has never worked out in a way that we would have considered "badly," and it usually works out very well. Latest example is a 2001 that we paid $1000 for almost 3 years ago; I did some tweak work and basic maintenance, and we had a shop do the brakes and a CV joint, but other than that it's been a tank - it still runs like a swiss watch. Granted, I spend a fair number of hours under the hood, but I love doing that, and I would have to say the car is worth more now than it was when we stole... er, pardon me, bought it.
We're looking at another Subaru right now, and I'll be driving up to see it on Wednesday. Thing is, though - we ran the Carfax, and it has an odd history. Here are the details and the data points...
Quote:
1/30/2013 it was an at auction (apparently only 1 owner before this)
3/6/2013 still at auction, had only 4 miles put on it in those many weeks
4/1/2013 had nearly 200 miles put on it, but still at auction
8/8/2013 had 550 miles put on, but still at auction
9/23/2013 had 120 miles put on, but still at auction
10/9/2013 looks like a dealer finally bought it
11/18/2013 dealer sold it but while it was at the dealership, 750 miles put on since 10/9/2013
I don't understand exactly what they mean by "at auction," but this just seemed weird and hard to decipher. It says it was "at auction" for almost a full year, but that can't be literally true - they'd have scrapped the thing before auctioning it every weekend for a year. My guess is that it means the car was owned by some sort of dealer, and available for sale, but not actively being "auctioned".
Thing is, the price on this car is way below blue book and way below what we would expect the price point to be for a 2002 with only 150k on it, so I'm wondering if there's some red flag here. We know all the basic things to check for with Subarus (head gaskets, differentials, timing belt, etc.), and I'll certainly run down my list tomorrow when I'm inspecting it, but it almost seems as though a lot of people test drove it without buying it.
If it's any standard Subaru issue, I'll spot it, but can anyone tell me if there is any sort of hidden message buried within this "at auction" business? Am I right in interpreting that as meaning that a lot of dealers (ergo, experienced car buyers) checked it out and passed on it? If I guess right, we'll save about $1500; if I guess wrong, we'll... well... lose a little money, I guess. All part of the game. But it would be nice to know what we may be looking at here.
Thank you all so much in advance. Have a great day!
Best regards,
Mr. and Mrs. In-Between, and all of the family cats who will ride this car to the vet twice a year!
Me, I'd skip any car that has been hanging around any dealership for a long time. Or multiple dealerships.
I have been a driver for a used car dealership. We drive the cars to the auction and if not sold - drive back. But under normal circumstances - the cars sell - as that is why they went to auction. Not all auctions are absolute. There may be few buyers or a reserve price - so car does not sell.
I flew to Florida to look at an excellent one owner used car. When I viewed the car I found 3 empty quart cans (plastic) hidden in a compartment in back. So what does that tell you?
Having owned cars in years past that burned or leaked oil - I always carried quarts of oil in trunk.
On another note. At one dealer only auction I viewed on really nice looking car being pushed through the auction. Really nice looking car. It sold for $1,500.00. A car that would at that time retailed for at least $5,000.00. So I asked the dealer. He took me outside where the sold car was parked. He lifted the hood. No engine.
So the dealer that bought this car at a bargain price - is going to "find" an engine. Probably a used engine. And who knows how many miles that used engine had. So the odometer might read 42,000 miles (or whatever) and the engine might have 120,000 (or whatever).
The new owner of that used car may think that they are buying a car with 42,000 miles. But the engine may have 120,000 miles on it.
There are a lot of reasons cars don't sell at auction, if it's an unpopular color or model most dealers just don't want them. In my area Subarus just aren't popular, so I suspect most dealers would pass them up.
It wasn't AT auction, it kept going back TO auction. The same dealer kept running it through the auction until it finally sold. Plus whatever miles it was driven to/from the auction or around town with dealer plates while on a retail lot trying to sell it there. The reasons why it didn't sell are anyone's guess, but you might get some clues if you look at it.
I used to see all sorts of stuff at the auctions. Some decent cars go through and no buyers are on them, then some old POS Ford Windstar goes through with 250,000 miles and engine noise and the buy here/pay here dealers from "that side of town" practically fight over the thing.
There are a lot of reasons cars don't sell at auction, if it's an unpopular color or model most dealers just don't want them. In my area Subarus just aren't popular, so I suspect most dealers would pass them up.
Yep. The OP's location is "Heart of the Bluegrass" so I presume Kentucky, not the snow belt. Subaru is the #1 selling manufacturer in Vermont. The Forester is #1 in Connecticut. The Outback is #1 in Maine, Colorado, and Washington. New England has 63 Subaru dealerships. Unless the reserve is too high for the condition of the car, any Subaru in an auction in New England, NY/North Jersey, Colorado, or the PacNW will sell.
In January 2017, the Outback cracked the top-20 top selling list for the first time and the Forester is #22. The CR-V was the top selling non-pickup truck at #4. Rogue #5. Rav4 #7. Escape #9. Only the Civic and Corolla make the top 9. As crossovers continue to gain market share over sedans in the non-full size pickup market, Subaru is going to continue to do better outside the snow belt.
I'm not too far from snl, and have had dealers practically beg for our late model Outback as a trade when we pull up in the parking lot. It's Subaru's flagship vehicle and the second and third generation models seem to have a bit of a cult following now. Other models probably not so much with the buzz.
We are all going to tell you not to touch this car. You are going to buy it anyway. You will either get a good deal or get stuck with a mess. If it is a mess, you will not come back and tell us because we will all say "Told you so" If it is not a mess, you will not know that for a few years.
Nah, never even got the chance to look at it. There are two others that were at the top of the list, but they were each several hours away. Since this one was priced about 40% below what we would have expected for that year, model, and mileage, I was going to at least drive up and have a look. I didn't have very high expectations, but was open to the possibility of being surprised. What was there to lose?
But as I was getting ready to leave, the guy texted me and told me to hold off on the drive - he'd found a small puddle of coolant under the car. Said it was only the size of a quarter, but it was fresh, so it came from that car. He said it was too small a leak to trace, but he was going to find out what it was and get back to me. He didn't want me to drive all the way there until he knew what it was.
I appreciated him doing that, but haven't heard back. It's been a few days, and in that time we've become even more focused on the other two. I plan on taking a day to drive up and see at least one of them tomorrow. They're both about 4 hours away, so it's not likely I'll see them both the same day. I think we'll probably make a deal on one or the other of these two, and while we may pay a few hundred more, they both have much better histories. On one of them I even used the Carfax to track down the shop in California where the previous owner used to have it serviced, and talked to a mechanic who changed the timing belt and water pump last year. I have a pretty good feeling about that one, and am looking forward to seeing it.
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