I have been de-mached

[MACHrophage]

It brings me great sorrow to say that I sold the Mach yesterday.

A painful experience for many reasons.

I sold it back to the dealer I purchased from. Long story greatly shortened...the carfax report on the car that I received when I purchased the car indicated that it was perfect...about one month after I purchased the car suddenly a report of frame damage popped up. The only reason I learned about this was b/c I took the car to CARMAX and they ran a check on the car. Fellow at CARMAX was nice enough to point out to me the physical indicators on the car that show it was likely on a frame machine.

I went back to the dealer I purchased from and explained the them that they sold the car to me as if it was perfect...they claimed ignorance due to the fact that carfax did not report the frame damage during the time that they had it. I said they are in the business of selling cars and if a mechanic at CARMAX can look at the car & see indications of frame damage then so can they. They bought it back off of me but for about 2K less than I would have sold it for. :Flame:

The car was bueatiful and it ran great, if I was going to keep it til the wheels fell off then the frame damage issue would not have mattered, but I had to sell it to get a more family friendly vehicle ( Volvo S60 R). Seeing/Hearing the dealer drive the car away one last time really sucked I am going to miss that car.

It has been fun guys, I will check in from time to time.

[mtm87tx]

sorry to see it go, those S60R's are pretty cool looking though!

[machowner]

Man, sorry to hear about, what signs of frame damage did the carmax mechanic see? I can't believe the dealership missed them. They probably saw it but somehow forgot to mention it.

[CobraBob]

I feel your pain. It was hard selling my '03 Cobra and move to an Infiniti QX4 but I have to say I really love the comfort and quiet. But.......I do miss the Terminator! :-)

[BlackMach]

It's stories like this that keep me buying new cars only, especially a muscle car.

Sorry to hear you had to sell your mach at a loss.

[TJ4Cam]

Wow...thats awful man..I cannot imagine being without a Mustang. 10 bucks says you have another one soon! :THUMBSUP:

[MACHrophage]

The guy at Carmax showed me 4 small ringlike holes underneath the car on the frame...he said that is where the machine that stretches the car grabs onto the frame in order to do its work. He also showed me some weld marks that were in the trunk of the car underneath the carpet ( he said that was a indication of work done on the rear end) I am by no means a car genius so this stuff was all news to me.

However, what I should have noticed but never did was that the labeling info on the inside of the door jams on the car was not there.

All indicators of work done to the car.

I saw a car that looked amazing, and ran extremely well...for a novice there really was not much to indicate that any problems existed, especially when I had a carfax at the time of purchase telling me everything was rosy.

-----------

The S 60 R is a very versatile car. It is a comfortable cruiser, with decent handling, and lots of power especially on the top end. Most importantly the baby seat will fit in the back without compromising all the passenger space in the vehicle. I can definitely see myself getting another Mach or similar vehicle once my family needs don't dictate the need for a four-door.

[jbrad88]

Sorry you had to let it go...

Frame damage on the unibody is something of a misnomer. There is no separate frame to a unibody. There are generally 8 critical unibody components that once welded together with the rest of the base vehicle, form the structure. Front lower and upper frame rails, rear frame rails, inner/outer rocker panels, inner rear quarter panels, core supports, etc. are some of primary load bearing members of the vehicle. Remember, the vehicle is designed to have the structure move around and take the impact energy away from the passengers. As such, a repaired frame is nothing to worry about given the following.

1.) The repairs were done by a qualified technician who has all necessary training and skill level to perform the work.
2.) That the part(s) in question were in fact repairable. No issues of kinked/bent metal being repaired when it should have been replaced.
3.) The shop in question has the proper frame straightening equiptment including a proper measuring system that will give the techncian a full 3 dimensional reading of the before and after conditions.

I have been around the collision repair industry a long time, and the shops that do it right restore cars all day long back to where they will function exactly the way they should if take an identical impact. I know technicians that are amazing. I have also seen ones that I would not allow to perform work on a little red wagon.

The problem is there is no database outside any given state that lets the consumer know what the damage was and where it was repaired. Thereby leaving the consumer without the information they need to make an informed decision.

It has been my experience that used car dealers are amazingly ignorant of prior loss damage when they are trying to sell you a car, but know everything about it when you are trying to trade one in...

wonder why :smack:

[MachRan]

What dealer did you buy it from? What color was it?

[MACHrophage]

The dealer was R Stempler Nissan in Edgewood, MD Torch Red 2003 MT.

Luckily, they were willing to do the right thing, sort of ( I did not get the $$$ I was looking for for the car) but they did buy it back from me.

[MSTWNTD]

When I was looking to buy a Terminator Cobra I was always kind of leaning towards getting one from carmax because of their refusal to sell previously damaged cars. Their appraisals suck but the salesman I talked to knew a lot about Mustangs and after hearing about and seeing the DSG on the lot I knew I wanted a MACH1.

[SVOkip]

Should have checked your state laws on the matter.....here in NC the dealership can be held responsible for up to 3x the purchase price if the damage is over 25% of the value of the car and they did not disclose it. I have two friends that have had this ahppen and went back and took a loss also. I wish they would have looked into it a little more first.

[old school]

I hear ya...i bought my Oxford white 03' from a Mitsubishi used car lot in Md. in oct. of 04' . I negotiated the deal through the internet,was given a car fax report that showed nothing unusual, went to the dealership & bought the car which had 12,500 miles on it & looked and runs great. I had an Oasis report from the kind person at this registry and found out it had a rap sheet as long as your arm with head problems, oil pump problems and finally a lemon law buyback ..none of which showed up on car fax !! the Oasis report revealed that Ford installed an 04' engine in it at 10,000 miles ...all in all I got a good deal on a low mile Mach with a fresh engine but it would be nice if dealers would just be honest with the product they are selling !!