Originally posted by LegacySHO:
Should I get it checked out by a dealer before I buy, in addition to having it certified? (Although after having been a member of this board for a while I don't know if I'd trust the dealer's diagnosis for much anyways.)




I'm sorry to hear about your car. From your photos, it looks like you kept it in really good shape. We haven't been having much luck lately with accidents, but fortunately nobody's been hurt.

I would definitely get a car checked out by a trusted mechanic before you decide to buy it. I personally go as far as taking the car in for a safety inspection and e-test before completing the deal. An e-test is only around $30 and the safety inspection should cost an hour's labour (~$70). You'll need to get these things done anyways in order to register the car, and the additional benefit of doing an e-test is that it can warn you of some serious (and expensive) problems with the engine and emissions systems. The cost to do all of this represents only 1-1.5% of the cost of the car. To me this is a small price to pay for your peace of mind. In addition, if problems are discovered by the inspections, you can use them to your bargaining advantage.

If you decide to do this, make sure you take the car to a reputable garage. You don't want to take it to a "lenient" garage as that would defeat the purpose of doing these pre-purchase checks.

'98 GL V6/MTX (Plenty of mods... in my basement) '88 ST165 (mild mods, stock 8psi)