2012 Acura: suspect car fax?
#1
Member
Thread Starter
2012 Acura: suspect car fax?
I just ran a Car Fax report on a vehicle I am considering test driving (2012 Acura TL Base) and I find the records for the 2nd owner to be a little suspect. The owner purchased and registered the vehicle in Georgia in November 2014, renewed the registration only four months later (also in GA), had it detailed at an Acura dealer five months later in Virginia, registered it in VA two weeks after, emissions inspection three weeks after that (don't you have to get an emissions prior to registering???), registration again a week later, took it to another Acura dealer in VA to have a maintenance inspection (whatever that entails), battery replaced, etc. Then two days later, back to Georgia to have it registered again, two months later back to Virginia to the previous Acura dealer for another maintenance inspection, one month later took it to another Acura dealer to have yet another maintenance inspection, then it was sold at auction less than a month later after another maintenance inspection.
I don't know about you, but to me this sounds kind of fishy, like something was wrong with the vehicle and the 2nd owner took it to a couple different dealers trying to get the issue resolved and couldn't, so ended up selling it. By the way, the dealer is asking on the low end of the fair market value ($18,600). What do you guys think?
I don't know about you, but to me this sounds kind of fishy, like something was wrong with the vehicle and the 2nd owner took it to a couple different dealers trying to get the issue resolved and couldn't, so ended up selling it. By the way, the dealer is asking on the low end of the fair market value ($18,600). What do you guys think?
#3
Group Moderator
Geez, after the trouble you had with the MDX I'm surprised you're thinking about doing this again....
#4
What he didn't realize all the official maintenance records performed on the car go into a central database, and will show up anytime the VIN is entered into the database at a dealership.
#5
The only explanation I can think of is the owner was active duty military. There are rules for living in one state but your car is registered in another. Usually this process is pretty smooth, but if you run into trouble, fixing it can turn into a mini nightmare.
#6
I'm with Stickshift...why are you hung up on Acuras? Esp when you've had so many issues in the past? They're a little fancier but still just gussied up Honda's for the most part.
Personally I think he's just trying to cloud the vehicles history. If he was military, you normally have one year to get all the paperwork complete and that's not always required. Standard this is you must have two things that match...registration and DL are the normal items. If you become a resident of the state then all must match.
BTW emissions are only required up in N VA. He could have registered it in Norfolk for instance and then moved North and had to go back to show it passed.
I'd walk...no, run...away from what sounds like a money pit.
Personally I think he's just trying to cloud the vehicles history. If he was military, you normally have one year to get all the paperwork complete and that's not always required. Standard this is you must have two things that match...registration and DL are the normal items. If you become a resident of the state then all must match.
BTW emissions are only required up in N VA. He could have registered it in Norfolk for instance and then moved North and had to go back to show it passed.
I'd walk...no, run...away from what sounds like a money pit.
#7
Member
VA also allows you to get a temporary registration if you haven't had the vehicle emissions done, if you're new to the state. So, you can go to DMV, get tags good for one month, be told "get your emissions done in the next month," get the emissions done, and then renew for a full year. That could be the "registration-emissions-registration" cycle you saw.
VA also requires annual safety inspections for all vehicles tagged in VA. No idea if that inspection could have been coded as or included with one of the VA dealer's "maintenance inspection," though it can usually be done by the place that does emissions as well.
That being said, all those inspections, and nothing listed as "fixed" concerns me.
My theory -- they were moving to VA and going to title it there, but had some issue that kept failing their inspection (either emissions or safety). So, since you need emissions to renew your tags, and a safety inspection sticker to keep from getting tickets, they went and registered it again with their old address and other info back in GA. They kept trying to get the issue fixed, but never could, and wound up trading in the car. Stay away.
VA also requires annual safety inspections for all vehicles tagged in VA. No idea if that inspection could have been coded as or included with one of the VA dealer's "maintenance inspection," though it can usually be done by the place that does emissions as well.
That being said, all those inspections, and nothing listed as "fixed" concerns me.
My theory -- they were moving to VA and going to title it there, but had some issue that kept failing their inspection (either emissions or safety). So, since you need emissions to renew your tags, and a safety inspection sticker to keep from getting tickets, they went and registered it again with their old address and other info back in GA. They kept trying to get the issue fixed, but never could, and wound up trading in the car. Stay away.
#10
From my experience Larry...most are sent across CA to Mexico border and then brought back to different states like AZ or TX. They re-title them and send them everywhere. Flood cars are a different story. I have seen that GA is really bad for that kind of thing.
#11
Never really knew that. I do remember many years ago, my dad bought a Chevy pickup. It drove great and served him well. Once I had to remove the kick plate on the driver's side to diagnose an electrical problem. Oh, the dried, caked on mud that was under it !! Obviously a flood car.
#12
Member
Thread Starter
Thanks fellas. I passed on that one. I found another much more to my liking with a clean Car Fax. I know I know, why would I get another Acura. Well this one is much newer, much less mileage, and was well taken care of, whereas the MDX was obviously neglected for years. I have to admit I threw way too much money at the MDX and replaced things I really didn't need to. All it really needed was an alternator and battery and the bluetooth module removed because of a short on the circuit board. All the other things I replaced was trying to get rid of the body roll, which I'm pretty sure has to be worn front struts. I don't drive that vehicle anymore and it doesn't seem to bother my wife, so I'm not worried about it. When I was researching vehicles to buy I couldn't believe the amount of issues with pretty much every car that sparked my interest. In comparison, the 2011 Acura TL had very few reported issues (source: nhtsa.gov). One recall (Takata airbag) and only two complaints about the airbags. I'd say that's pretty darn good for a 5 year old vehicle. The only other vehicles in my price range that I liked were Infiniti M35's and Honda Accords and they have hundreds of complaints. I'm happy with the TL and if anything pops up, well I can usually fix it myself and enjoy doing that kind of thing. Thanks again!