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Where Can I Find Information About Buying Or Selling Cars?NSX Classifieds Online
Newspaper Classifieds Online
Generic Online Classifieds
Auction SitesThe larger online auction sites usually have a few NSXs listed at any given time.
Buyers Guides and Reviews
Dealer Invoice/Pricing Information
Information On Dealer Holdbacks
Leasing Information
[BZA] I want to pass along some lessons I've learned about leasing. My wife and I lease all of our vehicles.
Before we move on here let me define the "leasing company" to be anybody that is leasing the car to you, be it American Honda Finance, the bank, credit union or a company like GE Capital. According to the leasing company, you have 3 choices at the end of the lease:
General points:
Leasing is just another way to finance a car. What Is Acura's "Pre-Owned Preferred" Program?[A/H] ACURA OFFERS YET ANOTHER way of enjoying a unique and satisfying driving experience. Acura Preferred Pre-Owned Vehicles. Acura Preferred Pre-Owned vehicles, available only at select Acura dealerships, are carefully screened and must undergo a rigorous mechanical and cosmetic inspection. Eligible vehicles must meet a strict factory-set standard that ensures unparalleled value, reliability and performance. In truth, not even every Acura is eligible to become a Preferred Pre-Owned Vehicle. Depending on the model year and mileage of your Acura at the time of Preferred delivery, the owner receives the balance of any existing Acura new vehicle Limited Warranties. Plus the owner receives the Preferred Limited Warranty for 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever occurs first, for 1993 or later Acuras with 50,000 miles or less. And the owner pays no deductible charges for repairs covered under the Preferred Limited Warranty. In addition, the owner has the opportunity to extend Acura-backed protection with a 12-month/12,000 mile or 24-month/24,000 mile Preferred Acura Care service contract. In addition to this, Acura Roadside Assistance and oncierge Service is provided at no additional cost for the entire period of the limited warranty. This special benefit includes 24-hour service through Acura's toll-free number, towing, flat-tire change and lockout service, trip interruption benefits for warranted repairs and Trip Routing maps. For complete details on the Acura Roadside Assistance Program click to Owner Services.
[RCH - 99/3/15] Since the dealers do their own certification, make sure that you go over the check list with them. I bought a certified 94 from an Acura dealer in the Northwest. The brakes and tires were almost completely worn out. And there were many more defects. Luckily most of these are covered by the extended warranty. It's very tricky because the car is sold "as is". Once you buy the car, you pretty much have no say on the condition of the car even if it's not up to " pre-owned preferred" standard.
What Are VIN Lookup / Title Check Services?VINguardVINguard is a service which provides prospective buyers with a history of the vehicle including potential odometer tampering, flood damage and salvage title. VINguard data goes back to 1980. The service costs $19.95 whether you call (1-800-332-4699 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday) or use its Web site (www.vehiclehistoryreport.com). CarFaxCarFax has reports for nine areas of potential concern. If there's a problem in any of those areas, it gives a detailed explanation of the problem, such as that a salvage certificate was issued. CarFax data goes back to 1981. You can call CarFax at 1-800-346-3846 from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. central time Monday through Friday. The charge is $20. Or you can reach CarFax via the Internet at www.carfaxreport.com 24 hours a day. The charge is $12.50.
[JR] I used Carfax when I bought my 94 NSX, although I didnt run the report until after I signed the papers! Smart, huh? Anyway - it also said potential odometer rollback - it showed registered inVA at 75K miles, and the odometer showed only 26K. After a panic filled 3 day investigation, I finally found out that Carfax was wrong. Someone had put a 7 into the computer instead of a 2. The VA Dept of Motor Vehicles had the correct 25K in their computers. One thing you can do is to call Acura customer service and ask them to look at the warranty service records - they have the mileage and the date that the dealer submitted the claim. This might give you some idea about the mileage and the time period. Good luck. How To Fix An Incorrect CarFax Report[JFE - 2000/7/24] In buying my car, I found that the carfax printout was incorrect and had to go through a correction process with them. I know that there are other people on the list as well that would like to get theirs corrected. So, I thought you might want to post the correction process on the FAQ's for any carfax errors. The process is: a) Contact Carfax through their website under "contact carfax" and send them an email telling them you would like to correct some data problems in your report b) You will receive back a couple of forms. One will be the guidelines showing what types of data can be fixed and the other will be a form to complete and mail in with any supporting documentation possible. c) After about a week, you should hear back from someone (I actually received a phone call) letting you know whether your data correction has been fixed or not. One final note...in my case, I had a problem with the mileage that was reported. They had recorded 49,000 miles instead of 4,900 miles (big difference!). I just had to submit a copy of some service receipts from around that same date (give or take 6 months or so) as proof. Well, to correct the problem, all they did was delete that particular entry off the report. I asked them why they couldn't just change the mileage to the correct number and they said that their process is to delete any invalid information completely out of their database. So now I know why some car reports seem to contain some time gaps in their history. Interesting. CarFax Warning[BZA - 99/8/18] Be advised that there is still a risk of getting a totalled vehicle even though Carfax shows a clean title. Case in Point: The '97 NSX was totalled on January 9, 1999 in Phoenix. I know this because the car below used to be mine. I've cut and pasted the carfax report verbatim below. When I read the lines,"RESULT: CLEAN TITLE HISTORY GUARANTEED FOR THIS VEHICLE " and "There could be other potential problems with this vehicle that have not been reported to Carfax.", I had to chuckle. At least they got the mileage on the odometer right. Caveat Emptor.
[MCS - 99/8/19] Yes, this particular '97 NSX that Bill Zachar asked me to run back in June came back exactly as he stated, with no title problems found. However, he and I knew (after he filled me in) that this car was his and had indeed been totalled. I immediately contacted Carfax directly regarding this and was informed that "totaled" and "salvaged" titles take a "while" for their database to update. I asked about how long is a "while" and was told it can be anywhere from 90 days to a year, with no guarantees! But I was assured that "eventually" it does get updated.
[rmorse@qds.com - 99/11/15] Just for laughs I ran my VIN against the CarFax database. The first screen told me: IMPORTANT!: While running this LemonCheck, CarFax identified 4 Vehicle History Records about this 1990 Ferrari Testarossa. Reading this, I figured that there was something interesting that I didn't know about the car. Wanna know what the "Important" history records were? The mileage for the last four emissions tests!! And this *only* cost $14.95. What a rip off! Granted, I realize that not every car is going to have an interesting history. My objection is how they bait you by saying that they have "Important" information. I guess I was expecting a lot more information. Thought I would post this just to set expectations for folk who have never used this "service".
CarfFax/VINguard Comparison[JR] I used Carfax to check the VIN of my 94 NSX (you probably have seen my story), and
they came back with a good report showing 6 or 7 entries, multiple states DMV's, and even
an entry for an auction sale.
What About Third Party Sales?[JT] Sold my NSX through its mention on the list. However, just a friendly word of
advice to those of you solicited by CAC, as I was. They very aggressively hounded me via
e-mail and phone with the promise to get me a buyer in very short order. I put them off
for several days but finally succumbed to their promises. Their first priority was to get
my credit card info and to hell with accuracy as they totally screwed up the copy and
initial viewers got a very unappealling description (a list of OEM equipment present on
all NSXs ie "loaded"). Net result: one inquiry in 5 weeks - a ridiculously low
one at that. Bottom line -- I threw out $188. To quote Ceaser,"race ipsa
loquitor", or is it "caveat emptor", or "habeas corpus", or
"semper fidelis"? Hey, it's your money guys. |
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