Thinking about pulling the trigger on an '05 RX8
 

I'm thinking about making an offer on a 2005 RX8. Car has 66k miles on it (original engine), appears to be a Grand Touring Edition (heated leather seats, sunroof, but no Nav), and the owner is asking $10,500. Car is Pearl White, black leather, and is cosmetically in pretty good shape. Car has some minor hail damage on the hood and roof. I haven't seen it in person (I live in NYC, car is in KS), but a very good friend of mine went and drove it and looked it over. Says he thinks it might be slightly slow to start, may need a clutch in 10-15k miles, and the lowest part of the front lip is cracked (appears to be from a curb). I haven't run a Carfax just yet (planning to today), but assuming it comes back clean, I'm thinking of the following course of action; let me know what you think.

1. Offer $9500 for the car, contingent on a pre-purchase inspection from a Mazda dealer . I'd pay $10k, maybe the full $10.5k.
2. Have inspection/compression test done.
3. Have repair of hail damage estimated. I already spoke to a paintless dent removal place and the guy said, very roughly, $800-1k to remove minor damage.
4. Assuming pre-purchase inspection is clean, and hail damage estimate is reasonable, I'll buy. Hoping to come out at 11-11.5k total, including the hail repair.

Thoughts?

I would have the owner perform the compression and inspection. His pocket, not yours.

From my point of view:
He wants me to buy the car with 66 thousand miles, that i've never seen before, never test drove. I don't know the owner. I don't know how he takes care of the car daily.

Prove to me it's worth my time. Give me a compression test and a inspection results to know that I can drive it. You can find other RX-8s, other cars, other (whatever) you are looking for :)

Its your car. Not your good friend's, he doesn't need to drive the car :)

I had my choice of RX-8s in the past, I picked this one because of low milage. Less worries, generally.

Slow start on rotary can definitely mean compression issues, but yet have the seller get the compression test. If you're feeling generous, offer to reimburse after the final sale price if the results and inspection come out clean.

If the dealer does the compression test and it's poor, would the engine warranty mean I would get a new engine? Seems like that could work out well for me. Buy the car for $10k and get a brand new engine for a small cost. Am I off base?

There's a lot to prove that negligence wasn't the reason for the bad engine. You have to prove maintenance and non abuse. But yes, if all that checks out the engine would be replaced. Just know that you can prove the maintenance history of the vehicle and if this scenario happens. you're probably fine.

I guess I'll have to find out to what extent the owner has service records. If she doesn't have documented service history, should I treat that as a deal killer?

Yes. It would be a definite deal killer, at least for me.

Because you said 'She', totally. If you were buying from a grease monkey who did all their own maintenance. As long as they logged it, it would probably be okay. Just get them to come up with "receipts" of oil and filter purchases, etc.

And yes this was a female stereotype!! Stereotypes are what they are for a reason. I like playing with the odds.

I've also come across a 2007 Sport Package with 45k, asking $14.8 at a dealer. I almost wonder if I'd be better off stretching my payment a bit further than I had hoped and going that route. Maybe pick it up for $14k. 2 years newer, from a dealer, etc. I'll see how the records issue works out with this lady and go from there.