Buying a Used Car in Arizona; what to watch for??

[bshorey]

I was told that vehicles sent to southern regions are not undercoated most of the time. Best to take it in once you get it home and have a good undercoating applied preferably in the warmer months so it has a good time to cure before the salt hits it.

I think that used to be true, but not anymore. Undercoating was something done at the dealership, not the factory. Hence it was something done int he rust belt, but not in the south or west. Now manufacturers have gotten much smarter about building cars that don't rust, so it's not common for dealers even in the rust belt to undercoat cars.

I brought my truck from Mass to Cali when I moved. What small amount of rust it had pretty much stopped in its tracks once I got out here.

I think the only real concern with a car from the south/west would be the rubber bits and possible faded paint. Back east I always wore out tires before worrying about cracking, out here if you leave something outside the UV will cause the rubber to start cracking after a few years.

If the car was parked inside, or under a roof, then there should be very little to worry about. Otherwise, assume all the exposed rubber parts will need to be replaced at some point, and look for faded paint on the roof, hood, trunk lid, etc. And of course do the usual mechanical inspection, accident damage, etc.

I'd much rather deal with replacing rubber bits on a southern car than dealing with rust on a rust belt car..

bs

 

[Wildcat]

I think that used to be true, but not anymore. Undercoating was something done at the dealership, not the factory. Hence it was something done int he rust belt, but not in the south or west. Now manufacturers have gotten much smarter about building cars that don't rust, so it's not common for dealers even in the rust belt to undercoat cars.

The last time I bought a car and had it undercoated was 1985, and it was debatable if it was really worth it. The undercoating can get into sensors (don't ask how I know this), and it can also plug drainage holes in things such as doors, which was a major way in which rust-through started since the water just sat there and couldn't drain.

My poor '97 is a lost cause (my ex unintentionally took it off-roading through a patch of trees and tore it up, so about half the body was fixed and/or repainted) with rust, but the '04 with almost 240k on it has no rust spots. My daughter's '02 Accord (which she's had for a year and apparently, from what I'm seeing, has lived a rough life) has a bubble or two near the rear fender lip, but again, no rust. Both of our '09s are rust-free, even the undercarriage, and we have the nation's worst roads and heavy winter road salting. That's nine years old. My dad was lucky to keep his Buicks for eight years before they'd be dilapidated piles of rusting junk back in the 60s and 70s. By about 75,000 miles, they were done. That gawdawful '71 LeSabre even had the floor rust through; I felt like Fred effin' Flinstone sitting in the passenger's seat. Today, a car with 75k on it is barely broken in. And it's rare to see any of them rust unless they are very poorly cared for, or have had an accident repair. (Or in Michigan, with our insurance rates being the highest in the country, people carry very high deductibles or don't even have collision coverage, and they drive around with battered cars rather than getting them fixed.)

We had Ziebart here--it was considered the "Cadillac" of rustproofing. I honestly don't know a single person who uses undercoating anymore; 30-40 years ago, it was so common.

I'd much rather deal with replacing rubber bits on a southern car than dealing with rust on a rust belt car..

True dat. Short of replacing body panels, there is no getting rid of rust. Even if the clearcoat fails, a paint job is still less work than fixing rust damage.

 

[TPettenati]

Be aware that people have gotten pretty good at hiding damage/repair data from Carfax. I've bought 2 used cars that were 2-3 years old, and had clean Carfax reports. Both turned out to have been rear ended at some point prior to my ownership. The repairs were very well done and didn't really show up until years later when the paint started to fade unevenly between body panels.

Just saying - can't always trust Carfax. If you are really concerned about it, consider having a pre-purchase inspection done. The local AAA auto care center use to do a 100 point inspection for $100.

Get a Carfax report, go here.

https://www.carfax.com/vehicle-hist...em&gclid=CJjmsqnZu9wCFUPUDQody_QAgA&gclsrc=ds

 

[usedto]

Just saying - can't always trust Carfax.

My daughter got run off the road in her 2007 Chevy Silverado pickup that had less than 2000 miles on it. The repair estimate came in $500 under totaling it. I took the check from the insurance company and decided to fix it myself.

She spun around and slid backwards into a cement ditch. Bent one leaf spring, rear end housing, and effed up the bed. One slight dent where the bed flexed up and touched the cab, but hardly noticeable. But, since there were no citations, and no air bag deployment since it hit back end first, and I fixed it myself, there was no record of it. When I sold it 9 years later, we ran a carfax just for the heck of it - nothing. The neighboring electrical contracting company bought it, and I told them the whole story so there were no surprises.