Undisclosed Body Damaged

[thechill_mix]

So I visit my friend today at her pop's body shop to get a broken bumper clipped fixed. I just got this car three weeks ago and didn't feel like driving 40 minutes to the dealer when she said she'd do it for free. And she had a guy do it for free. But I got much more than I had come for. I got a major revelation.

As soon as I pull up she tells me it was in an accident. She pointed out things I felt were maybe just part of the Sonic's design cues. And things I didn't even notice. Uneven, AFTERMARKET hood, panel gaps, front door uneven with rear doors, shoddy paint job, unconnected air hose, GLUED air filter system that was loose, and dried coumpund around frame and panels. To say I was pissed would be missing the mark. By a mile.

Now I bought this '13 Sonic 2LT three weeks ago and aside from one cigg burn hole in driver's seat they took care of I saw nor felt nothing was wrong with this vehicle. It only had 5k and the "Carfax" I saw online came back "clean" on this vehicle. Salesman said it was clean with no accidents, etc. Well hell it only had 5k on it. Now 5600. Not exactly an old car. My friend called them up and she's coming with me Saturday. I am really disappointed. I love the car but to have missed all that and to have the dealer (who has an auto body shop on premises) not disclose anything really ticks me off.

End rant.

 

[Stew]

I know what you're feeling. Back in late 1992 I bought a brand-new 1993 Mustang 5.0 LX 5-speed and discovered later that the driver door had some damage repaired. It looked like it was probably from careless loading/unloading from the transport truck, I was livid. Yes I gave the car the once over before taking possession but didn't notice it, I brought it to the dealers attention and called Ford and they were willing to try and make it right but you can't make right 'undisclosed body damage to the buyer on their new car'.

The fact was they are under no obligation to disclose stuff like that to you. Sucks.

 

[thechill_mix]

I don't know what to do.

 

[ahtoxa]

Dealer probably didn't even pay attention to the car and didn't bother looking past CarFax's history. CarFax alone is definitely not a reliable source.

I'm sorry you have to go through this, OP. This sucks quite a bit.

 

[Blue hedgehog]

Car fax only lists "reported" repairs. Who says the previous owner didn't get a little tipsy, bounce it off a parked car and run. Or some other reason to not report a accident on a car with insurance. Then the next day go to a friends body shop, have a quick unreported repair done and trade the car in because they knew it wasn't done right.

 

[getthebiscuit]

Ill tell you what you should do, go in there yelling. Someone tried pulling a fast one on you and you deserve a brand new car. I dont get angry enough to do that and get what i want though, im too nice. Id have to bring my dad or do something to piss me off before hand like taxes lol. My car had only 5 miles on it when i drove it off the lot.

 

[Swordsmith]

My Sonic was rear ended at a stoplight a couple weeks ago. A couple tabs popped out where the bumper meets the right fender, that's all the damage I could see. However, the front end of the car that hit mine was wrecked, fog lamps stove in, crumpled fenders and hood. Since the owner of the other car wanted to file a claim, I did so as well. Took it over to the body shop where they pointed out some "distressed" marks on the bumper itself, but no, really nothing much wrong.

Then they crawled underneath and took a look. Hidden behind the nearly pristine bumper was a world of crumpled metal. Upshot is, four days of work at the body shop, I'm driving around in a rental now. But I could very easily have ignored the whole thing, thinking nothing was wrong other than popping the tabs back into place.

 

[ahtoxa]

My Sonic was rear ended at a stoplight a couple weeks ago. A couple tabs popped out where the bumper meets the right fender, that's all the damage I could see. However, the front end of the car that hit mine was wrecked, fog lamps stove in, crumpled fenders and hood. Since the owner of the other car wanted to file a claim, I did so as well. Took it over to the body shop where they pointed out some "distressed" marks on the bumper itself, but no, really nothing much wrong.

Then they crawled underneath and took a look. Hidden behind the nearly pristine bumper was a world of crumpled metal. Upshot is, four days of work at the body shop, I'm driving around in a rental now. But I could very easily have ignored the whole thing, thinking nothing was wrong other than popping the tabs back into place.

This is very common in rear-end collision. People seem to ignore the fact that pastics will spring back into shape and metals won't.

 

[christion]

I've had this happen with 2 cars. Mine were much better concealed than yours. One car had the rear window broken from hail and I discovered tons of glass under everything after searching for a rattling noise. It also always kinda smelled on humid mornings. That car was bought when it was six months old at a huge, reputable dealer. The other car was my wife's 09 civic. It had a very well hidden wreck that I discovered when taking it in to get a body part replaced. Neither of these problems were on Carfax. I'll never buy used again, if I had to, I'd pay a body shop technician and a mechanic to look at it first. I bought my sonic and my wife's current civic new. I don't know about sonics, but because of how well civics keep their value, you're usually better off spending slightly more to buy new, unless you're buying an older model.

 

[thechill_mix]

I agree. Now I love this car and it's for the most part damage that didn't affect the drivetrain but I'm taking it to dealer and going to have them fix it up. It is a solid little car and I feel safe in it... just would rather have known. I do now and I'm going to have it checked out. I'm confident it's not a big, big deal. Thanks guys.

 

[LTZNYC]

sorry your in this mess man, every situation like this should be looked at as a learning experience, there are ways to tell if the paint has been redone or body panels are out of line. there is a device you can hold to the cars surface that tells you if the paint is original. I took a nasty hit when I got rear ended on the highway in a 3 car pile up, luckily I was the last car in the chain and these little cars are built tough and I only got some marks on my bumper.

 

[mowcowbell]

While you're at it, check the air bags. Was the 'hidden collision' big enough to set off the bags?

 

[rodslinger]

Dealer probably didn't even pay attention to the car and didn't bother looking past CarFax's history. CarFax alone is definitely not a reliable source.

Big reason why I hate CarFax and similar services so much. Too much value placed on them. Nothing replaces a good old fashion inspection by a qualified body shop/mechanic.

I've seen far too many wrecked out piles of **** on dealer lots with "clean" histories.

On the other hand I've also seen plenty of excellent, reliable and safe vehicles that people won't buy because it has a reported accident. The incidents were minor, repairs are top quality and/or the information provided just wasn't accurate. Our Sonic will fall in the later category.

My wife was rear ended at about 3mph in a parking lot. Scuffed the bumper cover and tweaked the bumper reinforcement. Both replaced by other person's insurance. It was repaired.... Correction. It was perfectly restored to as new or better condition than when we bought it. Now our Sonic has a CarFax history that shows rear end collision and will end up freaking some people out needlessly.

 

[thechill_mix]

Yes Carfax is worthless. My friend was being overly critical btw.. the panels and hood are fine. Maybe a millimeter or two off factory specification it's really nothing. Just gonna have air cleaner system reattached to hose and outdoor thermometer reset as it's not showing temp on MyLink. Thanks guys.