Last week when I was shopping for a good used car, I found myself in a situation I had never been in before.  

Let me explain:

I had found what I thought was a good, solid used car at a dealership, took it for a test drive, put some money down to hold it and then went home to do some research on this particular vehicle.  The first place I went was Edmunds.com, where I pulled up the car review/road test written by the editors for this particular make, model and year.  Next, I pulled up the car reviews, which are written by real people who have – or who previously owned - the same kind of car I was interested in purchasing.  As I was reading these reviews, I learned this particular car had been recalled – and more than a few times.

Next, I plugged the car information into one of the many recall sites on the web, and learned that this particular make and model year had 8 recalls between 2001 and 2003, some of them quite dangerous, such as the engine suddenly stopping while the car was in motion or the wheels coming loose from the car while driving. 

Armed with this information, the following day I called the salesman and because the dealership did not offer to pull a Carfax report on the car, I walked out of the deal.  I was not told the vehicle had any recalls, nor was I told these recalls had been repaired.

This situation brought up a few questions for me:

1) How does a potential buyer know whether a vehicle has been recalled?
2) If a potential buyer discovers the vehicle has been recalled, how can that buyer be assured the recall(s) have been repaired?

I turned to Cars for Girls and FOS Auto owner Hilary Green for answers.

Hilary told me that every dealer in the United States has a list of vehicle recalls.  She also said a service advisor can pull up the VIN and can easily note any recalls, as well as learn if the repair work has been performed. She went on to say that the parts and service codes are listed on repair orders and the vehicle history is with the manufacturer. If the car is a much older make and model, she assures that the customer service department for the manufacturer will be able to provide information, as well.

Once again, research is key to the vehicle buying process; unless you do your homework, you may not know if the car you intend to purchase has been recalled.  While I suggest asking the salesman, it’s also a good idea to do your own investigative work, as well – just to be certain.

• If you have the VIN, speak to the service advisor in person or by telephone.
• You can also type the search term car recalls (or something similar) into your search engine, visiting any number of sites that are returned and key in your vehicle make, model and year.
• If you would like a full report on the vehicle and the dealership doesn’t offer one to you, you can purchase a Carfax report yourself; a single report is $24.99, while unlimited reports are $29.99.

Tags: Advice, Car Shopping, General // 2 Comments »