Totally agree. I'm in the latter price range you mentioned and I got a car that people keep asking me is brand new. It's basically flawless, has records, etc. The stuff I saw in that first range was not even CLOSE. Always some combo of one or more: stories, dents, dings, scratches, questionable gaps in the CarFax, lots of owners, weirdly modded, crappy color combos, no options, etc. To me it was easily worth the premium to get a car I'm confident in and proud to own.

A good thing about this car is that you know the owner and he is upfront with the accidents. You may pay more for a car which has been accidents but owner never disclosed it. I would be concerned if you could not fix the boost problem and oil leaks after you upgrade the power on the car. Then you will be stuck with a problem car and not know what to do with it.

I think you have some solid advice here. But based on your replys, I believe you will buy this car and be very unhappy in the end.

There's a BUNCH of cleaner, no drama examples out there for not a lot more.

But good luck with that purchase!

Mike

I would say that people get too worked up over a small accident...but a major one can cause big problems, the biggest concern is frame damage.

My car was in an accident, straifed a chain link fence but frame is 100% ok

I have sold cars to friends before... they make every problem your problem. Then it creates this wierd tension and you usually offer to help fix it/pay for it, but you never do and they always say no, therefore its very strange.

I'm on the prowl myself for a 996tt 02-05 and if I were in this position, I would say no.

Thank you all for the advice.... I'm thinking I may just actually buy a used $10k S2000 for the summer, and by the end of the summer I would have no problem laying out 50+ on a nice one. Plus then maybe they will come down even more.

its horrible to see these cars fetching 35k-50k

sorry guys for being all over the place...but thinking about it more...I am in general abusive to car's and haven't taken good care in the past...so why not pay 35k for one thats already taken some abuse. Plus although 15k is not a ton of money...I know every little bit of extra cash in the bank makes my wife oh so much happier.:) -


on a side note...thank you everyone for your replies....I did a double check on ebay prices and I can't believe how low they've gotten in the past month. I've been researching for 6month now and the cars dropped a good 5-10k in the past month. So mabye it's worth waiting to pursue another on ebay.

Also as mentioned in my previous post I'm thinking of buying a cheap s2000 maybe for a couple months as loans are a nightmare now and I'm going to buy this outright.

You're nuts. Look hard enough, there are some nice, no issue cars out there in the $40k range. Spend the extra $5k and have piece of mind.

auctions
 

not that I would necessarily buy one off auction but thought some of you might want to see the prices
These are all 2002's

12/11/08 MANHEIM Regular $43,000 25,011 Above BLACK 6G 6 Yes
12/18/08 RIVRSIDE Lease $28,000 53,628 Avg GREY 6G A Yes
01/14/09 W PALM Regular $35,400 45,768 Avg BLACK 6G A Yes
01/20/09 DFW Lease $43,000 30,155 Above BLACK 6G 6 Yes
01/23/09 NEVADA Lease $25,000 52,206 Avg GRAY 6GT 6 Yes
03/04/09 CADE Lease $34,600 42,330 Avg SILVER 6G 6 Yes

lol yea oh I'm past nuts at this point :)

You cant make gold out of crap. Not to sound like a dick, but everyone seems to be giving non-confrontational advice. If it has problems right now, it will have more. If the accidents were minor, do it. Remember, you can get that car for $40k clean everything. thats $5K more for a piece of mind. So you'll be at $55k. Remember, risk vs return. If it was $15k, I would say go for it, but at $5k less... its pointless to try

ok got it guys...not going to buy the car....going to buy s2000 to carry me through the summer then in august/sept I will buy one.

Good decision. Wait for the right one.