I am almost embarrassed to post this unfortunate detour, but I must. 2010 went like this: Accord-SC300-IS250 AWD-Camry-328i. Of these, this bland white former rental car haunted my garage for maybe two months toward the end of summer.
This was the random, ostensibly reliable car that I first saw on the Lexus dealer's website a few days before I fatefully returned the '09 IS 250. It had about 38,000 miles of what I can only imagine was wanton full-throttle abuse. The interior initially reeked of cigarette smoke and the floormats were gone (maybe because of the Toyota recall for unintended acceleration?). This one was about $15K and I sold it to a chap for just under $13K about two months later. The Carfax that I pulled initially did not include information about a crash the car had been involved in somewhere in Arizona. My buyer, being far more astute than I, pulled a more recent Carfax and discovered the incident. This immediately brought the value of the car way down from the $16.5 I had been asking.
Rules for future purchases: No dealers whenever possible; Under $10K, always cash; Pay for a current Carfax, and; have anything at least glanced at by a trusted mechanic.
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