Still looking
 

Hello everyone,

I joined up last month with a few questions about the platform. The car I mentioned is still available, along with several others that I would consider "worth buying."

However, I have stumbled upon a too-good-to-be-true situation.

2008 GT with 15K miles, asking $14K. Apparently the only downside to the car is that it is void of the factory warranty. I called the guy, and the story is the car was bought back somehow by the dealership. Somewhere it was reported the vehicle had flood damage, but upon inspection there is no evidence of any water damage. But because of this, the warranty is voided.

So, the dealer offered it up for auction and the current owner purchased it for $7400 with around 9500 miles on it in Jan 2011.

I had a carfax ran on it, and it doesn't say there are any title or service issues with it at all. The only things that stood out was that the car was driven 6500 miles in its first month of ownership, and that there are alot of entries in there about it being sold at auction.

There are 4 reports of the car being sold at auction, and 6 entries for "vehicle offered for sale."

Thoughts on this?

Worse case scenario for me is I don't buy this car, and I buy one of the two 06 shinka's available.

From what you said, the warranty is already voided on the car. Any future problems with the car will be your responsibility. If i were you, there are plenty of used rx8's around with warranty on them. When you buy used rx8's, make sure to ask for a compression test before signing the dotted line. Anyway, whichever you decide to do, good luck and keep us updated with the outcome.

Does the car have a salvaged title? If so, you are going to have a rough time getting financing.

Oh, and dealerships do NOT buy back cars for flood damgage. Add in the multiple auctions, and it sounds like it was repossessed.

I would never, ever buy a car that has possible flood issues. While you may not see any damage now, it'll most likely rear its ugly head in bad, bad ways later.

I am planning on going down to see it next weekend, and take it to the dealer that sold it at auction to get an inspection done with a compression check.


I am planning on cash only (or a small loan from a family member). Banks still consider me high risk (because I have no credit history besides my CC that is paid off each month), and offered me an APR of 16.5%. No thanks.

This car isn't really sitting right with me, and I think I should wash my hands of it. But I think there is more investigating to be done. If I can work him down to a lower price, it might be worth it if the inspection checks out.

I also sent the VIN to mazda usa to see if they can tell me anything about it.

Thanks guys.

^ dude if its too good to be true run away.. theres plenty of 8s for sale even in this forum .. good luck

Owner took the car off the market for undisclosed reasons. I called mazda and they confirmed that the car has been "branded" and not eligible for any warranties, or work performed by a dealership (including any TSB's). Only thing that can be done to it is warranty work.

So, looks like it is a blessing in disguise.

Now to focus my attention to the shinka I originally had some questions about.

What would be a reasonable offer on a 2006 shinka with 17K miles on it. Private party seller with complete to near complete service history.

He originally listed it at $16500, around the middle to end of June. He hasn't lowered the price yet. I was thinking offering $15000, settle on $15500?

I am going to go look at the 2006 Shinka tomorrow. What would you expect to pay for it? From my post above: 17K miles, private party seller with complete to near complete service history. They have it listed at $16500.

if it checks out, go for it.

Checked out the car today, drives great (minus my ability to drive it haha), looks great, sounds great.

Everything seems to check out, and the owner is definitely going above and beyond the responsibilities of the normal car seller. So he makes me feel very comfortable about the car.

We settled on a price of $15500, like I anticipated. I will take delivery in a couple of weeks or so, after I get all my finances sorted.

Also, to clear up a question that cropped up in my original thread about the color. The car is a 2006 shinka, but the paint is definitely brilliant black. Not black cherry.

be sure to check the paint code on the driver side door panel to verify the paint color

Only 2005 Shinkas were Black Cherry.

2006 Shinkas came in Copper Red (unique to Shinkas only), Galaxy Grey, Brilliant Black, and Whitewater Pearl.