Used Cars: Unsafe used car, chassis rails, minor accident

Question
Mr. Paulsen,  I think I'm in a no-win spot, but figure I'll ask your advice anyway.  Bought a 99 Honda 2 months ago from a local used car dealer; As Is.  He gave me the form indicating the vehicle was not wrecked beyond a percentage (25?) of the car's value, not flooded, etc.  He did say that it had been in a minor accident and was repaired (right front 1/4 panel).  A month ago I ran into the back of a car in front the school where I teach... 5 MPH max and no damage to the other car.  My bumper cover; however, was broken.. Cracked into pieces but did not come off.  Seemed an odd way to break... I took it to the body shop and the gentleman there was amazed (I was something else!) that there was no bumper assembly inside the front of the car.  The bumper cover had been put on, but no absorber, retainer or reinforcement parts were put back on the vehicle.  When the body shop got into it to fix the car, they found that the parts were not replaced because the chassis rails where the bumper "guts" attach was damaged and the bumper could not be put in.  Essentially, the vehicle cannot be made safe to operate, short of removing the motor and doing about $4-5K worth of body work and welding.  Given your years of experience in the business, do you see any recourse for me in this situation or is this a bad case of caveat emptor?

Answer
Hi Jeff

Yes, sorry to agree your in a no win situation, buying AS IS means just that, whatever problems vehicle may have becomes your problems.

Seller said minor accident - did you expect him to say otherwise, we learn from our mistakes and I am happy to note it was a 1999 model and not one or two years old where your pocketbook would have taken a real beating.

Did you know there are over 2.4M accidents yearly with over 1M of these vehicles back on the road, it's a bad regulated industry.

You of all people being a teacher knows that true value comes with study, buying a car is a process of steps that takes some homework, when your ready to buy your next car study my website    http://www.usedcartips.org/  I don't expect you to become an expert overnight but you will pick up some valid pointers.

Ray