Do yourself a favor...get the Carfax Report!!!

[scolba]

So this seems like the right place to put this in. It may turn into a rant, but just bear with me.

The wife and I recently bought our first house. We both grew up out in the country, so that was our goal to return to when buying for ourselves. Well after searching for 3 months, we found the place to fit us!! It is indeed out in the country, and about a mile from the first plowed road in the winter. My wife was driving a Mazda 6s, w\ ground effects, and summer tires to be sure (I drive a ram 1500 4x4, so im all set. ) So the Mazda, coupled with the very country roads just near us, it was time for her to get something new. Enter the search for the MO.

Well, honestly, it didn't start out searching for a Murano. See we are just a young couple (26 and 25), so we can't buy new vehicles yet. Well, at least not comfortably...but we were looking at all maner of XO's and SUV's...even cars with AWD. But we (she) couldn't find anything that we (She) really liked. The Pacifica felt too minivanish....the Element too boxy....the Grand Cherokee and Equinox felt too small on the inside....same for the Calibur....and i couldn't bring myself to buy the Compass....ugh. Then one day I mentioned the Murano. It took me so long because she had mentioned her distaste for them in the past. SCOFF!

Well, turns out she changed her mind....she liked them a bit...then more...then more...then all of a sudden, there was no other vehicle out there except for the MO! Well, maybe an RX330, but yeah....we aren't that rich.

So our search began.

We searched the usual haunts...Autotrader, local publications, ebay, etc....eventually we found one that we were interested in. It was a copper 04 SL w\ 52K miles...no bose, no leather, no sunroof...pretty plain jane. It did have AWD which was pretty much the only MAJOR requirement we had. This was at a Suzuki dealer (pretty small lot) in a town near here, and was advertised as a One Owner, and the salesman told us it was a trade in. We drove it, and it was in overall pretty good shape. There were some unusual things that we noticed....first the shifter lock thing was sort of missing. Additionally there was only one key, and no remotes for it. There were also a few rock chips here and there...nothing overly problematic though.

Well, we decided that if we could get the price down enough, it would be worth it to us. So we started to negotiate down (from what i think is the insane price of $23,900), with the understanding that the price negotiated is contingent upon a clean carfax report. So we got to a point where they wanted to look at the trade. We hadn't brought it with us, mainly because we didn't think we were going to like the Copper color. So anyway, we went back the next day with the trade and continued on with the process. We confirmed again that it was indeed a single owner and a trade in, according to the sales manager. They took our car and appraised it. When they came back, we asked for the carfax report again. They said that we would get to that afterwards, and said that it was clear. So like a shlub, I started negotiating again. Eventually, the salesman brought the sales manager back in in (apparently i was beating on him pretty hard so he needed reinforcements), and he proceeded to tell us that this vehicle has been on his lot for quite a while and he wanted to sell it to us, but he wasn't going to just give it away. At that point, I was getting frustrated with the whole process, so I asked yet again for the carfax report. Finally he got it for us. Now, when looking it over it seemed that he tried to engage us in more conversations....i dunno, maybe thats hindsight talking, but eventually we were able to read the report.

Turns out, it had had 6 (SIX!) previous owners....4 of which were rental agencies, had been in an accident, and had been repossessed! Then it was sold in auction to the lot in question.

So....Lie 1...one owner. Lie 2...Trade in. Lie 3...clean carfax report.

At that point, I really kind of unloaded on them. I told them exactly how i felt about the whole thing. Its one thing thing to be asking what they were asking for a primo, one owner trade, but a COMPLETELY different story to be selling a previous rental, that had been in an accident! The sales manager was fond of saying things like "what will it take to earn your business?" hoo boy....

anyway, i responded with, look dude, this is a whole different ballgame now. Rental cars, in my oh so humbile opinion, are NOT equal to personal vehicles. So I explained to him that he is asking us to take on a much larger risk for the same price. I said the only way that they are going to move this vehicle is to come down enough in price to make the risk worth it. They wouldn't budge. I told him that i believe that rentals are driven much harder than a personal vehicle would be. At that point, the sales manager actually laughed at me and told me i was completely wrong. He then said something about something....im not really sure, as i was just seeing red. when he took a breath, i stood up, and said something along the lines of....I don't know how you have lasted as a sales manager this long. I don't care how wrong you think somebody is, you should NEVER laugh at a potential customer in response to their statement. Good luck selling anything in the future, because you will no longer receive our business or from anyone we know.

Then my wife and I walked out.

I had a hard time putting the key in the ignition because i was so angry....eventually i calmed down and we resumed the search. Whats even more crazy about this whole deal is that there was a tan LOADED MO in fantastic shape with less miles right next door at another dealer for 2k less than these guys were asking!

That night, when we got home we ordered the 30 day unlimited carfax report and ran it on every one that we were going to look at. That is something that i would recommend for EVERYONE to do when looking for a used car. I sure learned my lesson....

The silver lining here, though, is that we found another orange one with 20k miles, every option except for nav or dvd, and we had a very pleasant experience with the dealer. Best part, is the price negotiated was lower than what we were getting from the other place!

So yeah...thats my story/rant....i sure hope others don't have to experience. Below are the names and cities of the dealers. If admins object i will remove them, so just let me know!

Worthless liars:
John Bearce Suzuki
Pekin, IL

Relaxed, nice dealer:
Peoria Toyota
Peoria, IL

[njjoe]

scolba-

Way to go!!

The sales team at John Bearce Suzuki sound like a bunch of deceitful bozos. (My apologies to those of you out there who are Bozo The Clown fans. No offense intended). I am glad you walked out on the deal when you did. I am sure the salesmen thought he had you on the hook and was ready to reel you in. Hopefully it is your sale that prevents him from making his monthly quota.

How can the clown at John Bearce Suzuki seriously debate your point about the rental car's track record. The break-in period on a rental car is completely ignored. It never sees anything other than cheap gas. It never gets warmed up in cold weather. Preventive maintenance is virtually non-existent. I saw a quote somewhere in this forum that says something like: "The best four-wheel-drive vehicle is any car with a rental agreement in the glove box".

-njjoe

[mgthe3]

Good for you for tellin him like it is.

And yes, even my nissan stealer said some pretty outrageous things to me only because he knew I HAD to have the Mo.

I'm going to do something here that some of my fellow forum members might not like but....

If you are having issues with spending the funds on a new MO, how would you feel about $3-6k on a CVT or a xfer case replacement?

If I were you I would be SERIOUSLY considering a true 4x4 with a track record for snow worthiness/longevity considering you are out past the plow.

I do not consider the Mo a 4x4.
To wit:
I think the AWD is a kinda nice to have/marketing hook. Many of our Mo folks have had their xfer cases cracked, broken and some have had to have their CVT's replaced at the same time due to collateral damage. A few have had their rear difs explode.

I really hate to say it (I do love my Mo) but my money for a 4x4 that could handle the chore you expect it to do without costing you a mint to fix would be a Toyota 4Runner.

Mo is an in-town and hiway concrete warrior....if you want her to last.

[njjoe]

Originally posted by mgthe3
I'm going to do something here that some of my fellow forum members might not like but....

Mo is an in-town and hiway concrete warrior....if you want her to last.

MG-

You'll get no argument from me. The MO is not a 4x4; the MO is not a truck; the MO is not a true SUV. What the MO is is a passenger car with a mold-breaking crossover exterior and an automatically-activated part-time all-wheel-drive system. Just what I was looking for.

-njjoe

[Kris]

mgthe3

no argument from me either. I know what Murano is and what it is not. And definitely as Joe said it is not a truck, it is not an SUV, it is not 4x4....it is just a sedan, or rather a station wagon that dares to be different. And I love it!

[mgthe3]

Originally posted by njjoe

MG-

You'll get no argument from me. The MO is not a 4x4; the MO is not a truck; the MO is not a true SUV. What the MO is is a passenger car with a mold-breaking crossover exterior and an automatically-activated part-time all-wheel-drive system. Just what I was looking for.

-njjoe

You must not be out past the plow

[Stoker]

I to do not think my Mo is a 4x4 and I live close to the Rocky Mtns where I ski. I have used the AWD rarely and only at slow speeds when I do( deep snow) on my street. I have found that the FWD does an adequate job on snow covered streets ( read after winter storm approx. 20 cms of snow).

However on the bright side you have bought one of the better cars on the market ( my opinion) so get out there and enjoy the ride.

[scolba]

I appreciate the thoughts guys!

And I am deffinately familiar with the difference in the drives, hence why I will never EVER give up my pickup! Manual transfer case, to boot!