QuestionI am trying to come up with a logical answer for this, or atleast one that makes me think we did not get hosed...
Last week we bought a 2005 Ford Focus with a little over 29K miles (after a few rounds of negotiating, the 2nd salesperson "Closer" telling us that they are making absolutely no money on this but they will sell it to us at this price so they can make their quota, yadayadayada) for $9500. Was that a good deal on a fully loaded Focus? We thought so, so we bought it.
The car did not have a price sticker on it. They gave us printed ad for the car and it had the VIN# printed on it, all of the features/benefits, but the main reason they showed us that paper was to show us the price was at $10,993. (I don't think they even realized I kept the paper.)
After looking at it again, I noticed that the car has 25,258 miles in the ad. So how did the car go from that to when we drove it at 29,148?! My husband went on Autotrader and it is in the archives, so that ad did run like that. Was it possible they put the wrong mileage on the ad?
There was also a letter in the glovebox that they didn't find but we did. It is to a lady apologizing telling her that they cannot extend credit to her. It is dated about 10 days earlier.
We did run a Car Fax report and it shows just one owner. But what I am loosing sleep over is maybe they let this lady drive it and then she found out she's not financed, she damages the car somehow, and 4000 miles later returns it. If she only had it a little while, she wouldn't show up on the Car Fax report, right?
Sorry, normally I am not this paranoid about things but buying a used car is one of my least, scratch that, IS my least favorite thing to do. The car seems fine, no great, except it had a broken cd player that will be fixed or replaced (by them) this weekend. I really would appreciate your advice here.
Thank you, Dee
AnswerThere are several possibilities regarding its mileage difference... It is possible they put down the wrong mileage on the ad (i'm sure they were typing off a list that probably had more than one mileage on it, and that makes it possible to type the wrong one). The idea of someone buying the car and driving for 4000 miles is POSSIBLE but not probable.. for that to happen the driver would have had to not register the car, so they'd be driving illegally, because if they had registered it - the carfax would have shown it. Its also unlikely any dealership would allow someone to drive off that wasn't able to get financed... that is all taken care of before the purchase, and if she had kept it and fell behind on the payments.. that still puts her never getting a title or registering the car... unlikely... but its possible... its also possible she did wreck it, get it fixed, but that puts her trading it in or letting the dealer repossess it (why fix it and let it get repossessed?)... and trading it in without a registered title = not allowed by the dealer... can you check the date on the ad? it could just be a really old posting... meaning when it was up for sale it had that many.. but over the span of a yr or however long, the car had been test driven, maintained, moved to other dealerships... I mean its unlikely to get that many miles, but possible... You can always call the dealer and ask them about the discrepancy... or go there and show them... they should have records of everything since they got it... and that is probably the best way for your to put your mind at rest. Also as to the price... I probably wouldn't have paid more than 9,000.. but 9,500 isn't terrible... focus' aren't exactly high demand models and the dealership probably gave the trader (or bought it from auction) for ~4-6 thousand... anything they say about what they paid for it is always a lie... never trust the dealership... Anyways, go talk to the dealership... see what you can find out, they should be more than willing to help. If they refuse, which they shouldn't, you can complain to the better business bureau or the like, and they can make the dealership give you the records. Good luck!
