Hey all!
I'm going to be purchasing my first Max in about 3-4 weeks. I want a 97 5spd Silver SE all opts. less than 50k. I have a friend who has a dealer license and offered to take me with him to Manheim or York (PA) Auto auctions so I can get one at dealer cost. (Sweet!) What should I look out for? What typically goes wrong around this mileage or any problems and so forth.
Thanks for the help,
Jason
Hburg, Pa

 

not much, you won't run into problems for a while. There are some maxima owners that have hit 200K+ miles ... and one member had 349,000 on the odometer .... good luck

 

Look out for the obvious things - salvage title, registered fleet cars, anything that would make you question the cars history and hence reliability.
Also the less obvious - paint mismatch, wrong bumpers for model year etc. that may point to a rebuilt car.
do you get a VIN number list prior to auction? It's worth either buying carfax for yourself, or having someone you know run them. If you can't get that before the auction, at least have a cell phone so you can call someone who can run them on line as soon as you know the numbers.

good luck!

 

Like ORBRIT says look for repainted parts. I helped a friend who has a car lot, we went to manheim and harrisburg auto auction and you soon start to learn what to look for. Run your fingers along door jams and the front fenders under the hood and make sure you don't feel a line. That line would be where someone taped off the fender, door, etc. in order to paint it. Make sure you don't get it from the as is lane of the auction, make sure you get a test drive with the max you choose. The best auction to go for a good quality max between manheim and york is manheim all the way. Good luck and hope it works out for you.

BTW i'm from lancaster close to ETOWN what part of harrisburg are you from?

 

DO NOT BUY AN AUCTION CAR!!!!!

Much like yourself, i bought my first max at an auction only mine was in New York. 95 gle fully loaded now with 80k I have had to put in over 4k in repairs alone with this car. I am very **** about cleaning my cars, and this one is friggen rusting allready. This is to anyone who thinks they are going to save a few grand buyin a car of an auction instead of off a dealer trust me spend the extra money and buy it off a dealer with a warranty, trust me you will be very greatful in the long run. Brian

 

Actually I have had 2 cars from the auction previous to this. The trick is to know how to find a good car at the auction. If you don't know what to look out for you will get had. My friend who is a dealer has been in the business for 25 years and he knows what to look for. As far as warranty goes I have a 5 year 100,000 on my car that was bought at the auction. I know plenty of people who buy cars at auction, just be careful and if your friend is a good dealer he will know what to look for. Good luck and I strongly recommend going to the auction.

BC_95GLE sorry if this sounds like I'm putting you down. I am not in anyway. That sucks in your case about all the repairs.

 

how did u manage to get a 5 year warranty on a used car thats not precertified??? how much more did it cost

 

Where do you think your car came from? You think the dealer that sold you the car bought it new? Trade in Maybe? Guess what. 90% of used cars you see on dealer lots are dealer auction cars. 80% of all cars traded in to a dealership are sent to auction, the rest are wholesaled to other dealers. It is the same thing. The Dealer auction is not the cause of your problems!

That said, public auctions are completely different animal, but he is not going to a public auction.

Manheim has a great reputation for inspecting the cars! I go to the manhiem auctions in Utah and Arizona.

 

My friend got me the car at the auction. He had been looking for like 2 months. They took it back to the lot and I picked it up, with all their newer cars, under 100K miles and no more then I think 6 or 7 years old you can buy a warranty that covers anything except; clutch, brakes, tires, etc. any wearable item like a clutch isn't covered. The good part is my tranny is covered and most major work is covered. Since my friend owns the lot I didn't have to pay that much more. Most people have to pay like $1000 - $1500 more. I think it is well worth it. So I bought a 99 black on black leather 5 speed with a warranty better then some of the new cars coming out for a price way less then them.

fst96se
I agree with you 100% manheim does a very good job of looking of cars. Also what you added about private dealer sales versus public sales is very true too. Usually the public sales are crap dealers are trying to get rid of.

 

BTW i'm from lancaster close to ETOWN what part of harrisburg are you from?

I actually live in 45 minutes north of Harrisburg in a valley where I'm surrounded by V8s (Rustangs and Camaros/Firebirds) and a lil bit of rice. All junk. Does anyone in Hburg area ever get together??

later,
Jason
97 Max 5spd Silver SOON
92 Dodge Daytona Iroc RT Black 1 of 60

 

it's also good to look at the welded joints of the structure, like the front of the car and the lower B-pillar. Sometimes if a car has been in an accident and not a good repair job was done, you can tell. check to see if both front doors have the same closing sound, and both back doors. also check for tire wear, brakes, and little rust spots. someone once told me that if you have a magnet and a piece of paper, u can try all the panels. whereever the magnet falls off, it means there's a non-metal filling. start the car and try all functions. check belt to see if it's cracked. i'm not sure if they let you test drive at auctions.

goodluck! i wish i had gotten a 5sp maxima.

 

i am planning on buying a car from auction too....in about 2 weeks. if u can't get VINs the day before the auction, get someone to check them for you on carfax while u are there.

 

I know my car came from Rhode Island it was owned by an older woman she left the registration and an old license in the car, weird. I had commishoned someone to buy the car for me and i was away over the New years holiday that year so i didn't get a chance to even see the car. Everything was good with the car till the first week if you buy a used car off of a dealer or private party you get a week warranty so to speak and it was fine after that **** started fallin apart. So i'm sure you can see where i am a little gun shy and try to stear anyone away from buying auction cars you just dont know. Brian

 

Last week my friend bought of the auction Mercedes Benz CLK 430 2000, silver with black interior for $18000. V8 4.3liters 275hp/295ft-lbs. If you go to a dealer prepare to pay for this car around $38000 today. I didn't see it yet, but he told me that its super clean.

 

MAX95RUS...."RUS" is "Russian" or?

 

RUSSIAN

 

You've probably seen so many threads that you're not going to read this one, but I purchased my 98 Max SE at a Fredricksburg, VA auction. My parents' friend is a dealer. So we went, and I had my sights set on a 240 SX or a Max. I finally found the Max, it looked great, but we saw it as bidding time appeared. We didn't get to look under the hood, or check for paint, or anything. I bought it, pretty much blind. I was lucky, it turned out to be okay, everything was fine, only the front bumper looks to have been replaced. The people at the Auction who checked out my car said they did a CarFax report and the title was clean. Maybe he had an un-reported fender bender. Just be careful, they usually take cars that dealers reject to auctions.

 

Heres a first. My boy is from lancaster, he's into cars too, but hondas. Lancaster isn't all that big, so I wonder if you know him. He used to drive a white prelude, but now he's got a civic...something...I think a Si. Ring any bells? From what he's been tell'n me, he does ALOT of racing.

 

Capitone

I'm the one from Lancaster, What is your friends name and what does his SI have done to it?

 

My bad, His name is Anthony and I have no idea what he's got on it so far, I have no idea. I don't ask him much about it because 1. it's a honda and 2. he just about got it. But there has been talk of a turbo. The prelude he had before was pretty dam fast though, so if anything, you may know him by that ride. Ring any bells?

 

Sorry doesn't ring any bells.

 

i got my max from manheim in april of 2001, it was from a dealer in ny and only probs i had was ac condenser caught a rock and didnt work, and hadda replace an o2 sensor other than that its been great. theres a lot of nice clean max's that go through there. you might be waiting for a while to find a 5 speed, esp a nice one. see if your friend has a membership to manheims pre sale listing, that way youll know whether theres a car there worth checking out. if not make sure you go very early and have a comfortable pair of shoes on to wonder and find the right car. its always helps to have either cell or 2ways radios to keep in contact with incase ya find something. i actually missed a black 98 5 speed cuz it and the car i got were on the block at the same time. with manheim you might end up payin a lil more but the cars are almost always worth the extra cash. good luck in finding your car

 

Dats smooth. Im swing'n down there myself for New years. We'll be chill'n at dat big A$$ park that most hot rides be at. I'll keep an eye out for any maxima's. If I see one, I'll say wutz up. If not, no biggie, cause Lancaster is a FUN A$$ City!! It almost reminds me of NY.

 

Are you talking about Longs Park? That is where alot of cars chill at.

 

Im not from out there, so Im not sure what park it is, all I know is it's close to the mall and has a lot of hills and turns and trees...yes trees. I know parks should have em, but compared to NY parks, this park is a RAIN FORREST to me!!

 

Yeah that is longs park it is right next to the mall. Maybe i'll see you in lancaster.

 

No doubt. If you see me, definately say wutz up and don't mind da crew, we are definately a rowdy bunch, but if you from Lancaster, dat shouldn't be a big deal. Just look for a dark Green Max wit clear corners, factory se rims and out of state tags surrounded by a bunch of Chromed out honda's, VW's and da like If christmas goes right, I might have a bit of chrome myself