How bad is accident history?

Find a good, independent body shop and tell them to look crash damage. Those guys are pretty sharp and can tell you if it was cosmetic or structural. You'll probably get charged for it, but as in any PPI that money is well spent.

Sometimes a PPI by a body shop is also necessary (besides a mechanical PPI) when looking for a prospective purchase. This seems a great case for that.

 

Even if its not structural, its probably a 10% value hit... At least expect the delaer to offer 10% less if you intend to trade it in.

 

I disagree with bpu699, but that's just my opinion. I think its pretty reasonable to expect paint work on a car the age of the 360 - all about quality and documentation. I also think that folks that think their car hasn't had paint work due to a PPI or the carfax have cars that have had previous work done and they just don't know it (unless they've owned the car for a long period of time).

Either way - the value is the value of the car to you. Get comfortable with the condition, and the rest of the care the car has received, and maybe you have something that someone else would overlook based on paper... and you might end up with a gem.

 

Paintwork isn't the issue...

Its the fact that its on carfax.

We went to trade in a mundane toyota that had a minor accident. Dealers all said the same, 10% hit at least if there is a blemish...

Buyers expect the discount...

 

Yeah... I get it - and it may be true that the market expects it. I think I'm coming from the standpoint that value based on carfax information is totally ridiculous. You could have a bumper repaint show as an accident, while a $20k repair job is kept off the records. I guess I trust my eyeballs, those of experts, and thorough documentation. But, I also don't trade that often.

 

Wise way to do it.

Sorry but Carfax is a joke.

 

+1

 

I agree, selling a car is hard and selling a car with an accident in the carfax report is even harder.
The car could be perfect but obviously there are so many examples with clean records (even if they actually were in a crash) that the one with an accident has a lower market value.
I don't agree with it but that is how it is
Same thing with euro cars, they are in some ways better than the U.S. cars but the resale is harder.




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+1

 

+ 100000!

Been buying and selling cars and I know this as a fact. Some of them have clean carfax EVEN if they been through a major wreck.

 

Most Ferrari's aren't perfect anyhow if you start looking at the shims, screws, bolts, and imperfections around the bumper areas.

 

Unfortunately Carfax has done a hell of job in marketing. If you replace a bumper with an oem bumper, there really is not difference but Carfax makes it a huge problem.

 

To the OP, how long are you expecting to keep the car and how many miles are you going to put on it? If it is "a long time and I am going to put a lot of miles on the car" then the minor (if it is minor) accident is not that big of a concern. If you are going to resell the car in a year or two, I would probably continue to look for a car with a clean history.

 

The PPI will not reveal if the bumper has been repainted or replaced. However, it might reveal if the car has been involved in any kind of accident and parts or frame work has been touched by a body shop.

 

Fact is plenty of damage can be hidden under everything, Best and only way to see how damaged it was would be to take it apart.

Otherwise your going on Someone else's word.

Kinda like the Gas Monkey garage F40, when it went over the block the auctioneer stated minor accident damage.

That car only have one Corner of the car within spec. Should never really been fixed it cost to much to fix Vs its value, that's why car get totaled.



If you really want it you must take it to a body man.

I can find body work on cars pretty fast, Because usually some hack did the work. Sometimes it hard to see just how deep it goes.

Don't look at the shinny side body work will show its self underneath the paint on the dirty side.


The other side of this coin is this, A lot of people get in car accidents, and Being a Ferrari I am not supprised someone Possibly Hit them in the rear, If the repair was done right, it looks great and you can live with it.


There's nothing wrong with it. But it will always be cheaper than a Good one.

How much cheaper depends. I would expect to pay quite a bit less than a good car.