Previous owner's stupidity
 

I was just wondering, since alot of us here bought used cars, the previous owners probally did something stupid to the car.

On my first car, 1995 Chevy Camaro, I had a rough idle cause when the owner did a tune up he left one of the spark plug wires touching some pretty hot engine parts like the exhaust manifold and egr valve. And that melted it.

Nothing on my second car since it was pretty much brand new and no problems to now.

On my third car, 1995 240sx, The previous owner just sold it to right at the time it needed all maintanence and tune up done. And he had the stock fog lights unhooked and wired up some after market ones so that only 1 fog light works

Next car is a 1988 300zx. Paint job is really half assed had runs, some interior panels are missing clips and have some screws that arent supposed to be in there.

Hoping my next car doesnt have any problems due to previous owner's stupidity.

isn't it YOUR stupidity to buy an used car without inspection? or IF inspection was done and IF same shop was used, against it's YOUR problem cause they didn't inspect it properly?

some hidden problem might not be able to tell right the way, some might be even just happen because of its age, but don't you expect to do all the maintenance when you are buying a 15 years old+ used car?

this here is previous owner stupidity

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...r/IMG_0017.jpg

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...r/IMG_0019.jpg

and why bodywork should be done by professionals

^ holy crap, how thick was the body filler?

Not everything is obvious or can be inspected. I've had about half a dozen cars with such shitty DIY wiring jobs inside the dash that it's a miracle they didn't burn down.

that's why stock or close to stock cars are your best bet when looking for used.

of course, used car inspection won't inspect DIY wiring jobs inside the dash, but all the "problem" OP stated seems to be able to inspect except missing interior clips and wrong screw (that depends how obvious)? all the "problems" that he claimed sounds like they can be avoided? or it's probably he thought he got a wicked deal and turned out he gets screwed over?

I have seen lots of DIY work that is half ass, but I have also seen some nice DIY job being done. Some time when you pay someone to do it, it might not even worth to pay them?

my car rattles alot.

Probably doesn't have anything to do with the previous owner. I've had new cars that develop rattles almost right away.

i bought a used car awhile back. looked under the trunk floor to confirm that it still had a spare tire and jack. it did, but the spare was used but looked to be in good condition, and didn't think to pull it out to take a good hard look at it (who does, right?). i had a basic inspection done by a friend/mechanic and it was generally sound, until a few years later i broke a rim on a pothole and went to get the spare out... and it's completely flat. turns out it had a slow leak from a nail puncture and had gone flat over time. longest day of my life waiting for someone to help bail me out.

fail. :(

no like it rattles because its missing screws for like 4 parts in the interior

thing is with the type of car you buy, it can either be grannied its whole life or powershifted the whole time.

more affordable sporty type of cars like a 240sx tend to be beat down and modded more than say a LS460L. demographic and what the car is meant for.

but if you don't get the car inspected, you're an idiot either way.

I was just looking at a Z4 at Carter Honda and good thing I checked ICBC. The thing looks brand new but has a $7000 body damage, 100% owner fault. Good thing I checked

Err.. Hi, have you looked at the price of OEM headlight assys, and fenders?

filler in some spots was almost an inch :(

The stereo system in my current car was wired TERRIBLY in the dumbest setup. Basically had to re-wire everything properly to get it to sound decent.

I know, I drive a BMW myself and I know how expensive parts are. But such a big claim entails significant risk. Rather play it safe than sorry

But one of them did?

What kind of part is it? I would be paranoid and just take the damn thing out.

Of course if its like the dash or something then you cant take it out.

haha, stop buying shitboxes Fel