|
|
||
Date published: 12/4/2009
Dear Tom and Ray: Last week I bought a used 2007 Mazda 3 with 43,000 miles for $10,800 at a dealership. As I hung up the phone with my insurance company, the sales manager came over to me and said the guy cleaning my car caught the front bumper on a post, and pulled it almost all the way off the front of the car. This caused a lot of damage, including the front lights coming out of their housing, the insignia dangling off the front and a scratch down to the metal on the body. We all were shocked, even the car folks. They did offer a loaner car until this one could be fixed, which took a week. They also took $800 off the price. The car is now ready to be picked up. I have an opportunity to take the car or turn it down. Should I take the car? I feel this is TOM: Well, we have two answers, Rachel. One is our professional mechanical opinion. The other is our amateur psychological advice. And of course, they contradict each other. RAY: From a professional point of view, there's nothing wrong with this car. The guy who washed the car caught the edge of the plastic bumper cover on something, and yanked it off. As ugly as it looked, it was only cosmetic damage. When a car is in a real accident, you worry about the frame being bent. You worry about the wheels never aligning properly and your tires always wearing unevenly. You worry about unseen wiring getting pinched and causing electrical gremlins, which didn't happen here. TOM: Plus, you got a free rental while they fixed it, and $800 off the price. When my brother knocks off a customer's bumper, he tries to convince them it was like that when it came in! RAY: So if you liked the car a week ago, you should like it even more now that it's $800 cheaper. TOM: But I don't think you should buy it. RAY: Me neither. TOM: You think the accident was some kind of "bad omen." And if you really believe that, then every time anything goes wrong with this car, you're going to second-guess yourself. If you feel that this incident will forever loom over your ownership experience, then just tell the dealership that you'd like to buy something else.
E-mail Click and Clack by visiting the Car Talk Web site at cartalk.com.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
||||||||||||
