[myoung84]

I finally sold the car yesterday. I had a few people interested in the car but it never seemed to work out. Either they couldn't get financing together or their damn wives wouldn't let them have it. I took it to a couple dealers and they low balled me with an embarrassing offers. What I found out when getting trade appraisals done was that the car had been wrecked, which shocked me a little. I bought it from Chris Nikel 2 years ago with 22k miles and it had been wrecked a year before that. It was listed on carfax as a front end collision with no other details. This was the big reason for the low offers. I remember asking them if it had ever been wrecked and they of course said no. I found out from a couple other dealers that they legally do not have to disclose the fact that it's been wrecked, even if you ask them. It's up to the buyer to run the carfax report, even if buying from a dealership. Shame on me for not doing so, lesson learned. I would have still bought the car, but not for the price I paid.

Just out of curiosity, I took it back to Chris Nikel and decided to see what would offer without me mentioning the wreck. I was really heading in there for a fight, but they were surprisingly friendly. The used car sales manager remembered the car being on the lot when I bought it and seemed to like it a lot. He drove it, came back and offered me way more than I was expecting. I negotiated a little and got them up another $500. He was the first dealer not to mention the wreck. I'm sure they ran the carfax and knew it was wrecked but I think they were keeping their mouths shut since they knew I bought it assuming it was a wreck free car.

In the end I'm happy with the deal. It's way more than Bob Moore was offering for trade but still less than I could have gotten on a private party sell, but I just don't have a lot of time to try and sell it. Also, I won't lie to someone who asks me if it was been wrecked or try to cover it up. It's not a big deal to me since it was fixed right and looks perfect, but I think the new owner should know this before purchasing. It also had a cracked windshield and only one key, which is going to cost about $4-500 to an individual. The dealer will take care of this for a fraction of that and sell it to someone else, without disclosing the wreck of course.

Moral of the story, always run a carfax if buying a vehicle, even when from a big dealership!