I was in the market for my first car around July of 2014. I saw a Maxima on facebook with one of those "for sale in this city" groups and thought it looked awesome. They wanted 1400 bucks for it, and needed it in the next two days to "bail their son out of jail". Not knowing too much about cars back then, I looked at it, thought it looked fine, and scrounged everything I had to buy it. At the time, I worked at a grocery store, so I had them deliver to the car to my parents house, and had the deal go down. I was so excited to get home and see/drive my new car. Finally my shift ends and I rush straight home to find out, my maxima is leaking oil and antifreeze. At this point I was extremely disappointed, but I made an appointment and dropped my car off to our mechanic that we've had for a few years. The next day, I actually drive it for the first time, it sounded really really good. It was also one of the first times I had driven a standard that was so powerful. At the time, I was confined to a 1st gen eclipse, which only made about 90 HP, even less at the wheels, with a fart cannon on it. I got to the mechanic, and he decided he'd put it on the lift so we could all look at it, because I just bought it and he knew I wasn't good with cars. So now its on the lift, and we see the underside of it. The exhaust from the Cat and back, was all rotted out, which is why is sounded really good. We also saw that the Lower Radiator Support was completely rotted out, a really common problem with these maximas. We also saw the rot that was accumulating on the rockers, and the wheel wells themselves. We called the people we bought it off of and they said they already spent the money. We went to the police and they said because it was a private deal, they couldnt do anything. It was at this time, my cousin said that he would be able to replace the Lower Radiator Support, if I bought the part. So I bought the part, the oil pan and gasket, and he replaced them both. All in all it was around 200 bucks, including the oil and filter. After he was done, he noticed that when he took off the battery cables, the metal broke, and so we had to hunt down new battery terminal clips, which took a few days. He also lost a bolt for another part, I really dont remember what it was, and we searched for a day or two for it in the shop. We go to buy one, and lo and behold we cant find anything like it. We were about to call it a night when he looks at the floor, and its sitting up right in the middle of the floor. So he finished the rest of it. This happened around the end of july. I was so happy to drive my car again, nothing could go wrong right?

I was on my way back from getting the car, and had to go to autozone because I needed power steering fluid. I was talking this car up to my uncle who's really big into cars, and was going to take him for a spin in my new car. I pick him up, and halfway out of his drive way my exhaust falls out and scrapes against the ground. I ended up having to have my dad coat hanger wire it up to keep it in place. So I order the exhaust parts, about 300 dollars in total, and have my cousin replace that as well.

Now the radiator we knew was leaking, but I was operating on a minimum wage budget and couldnt get it fixed right away. When I had the money, I went to my mechanic, and had him inspect it to see what we needed to replace. After that was done, he gave me the list

1. Both lower control arms, rotted
2. radiator
3. All struts and coil springs, all were shot
4. Brake pads, all were worn
5. All tires, worn down to nothing
6. Both thermostats, both were shot

My dad and I decided that we could do the struts, radiator, and the brake pads. I researched for a few days how to repair all of these, and we hopped to it. Due to the rust, the struts/coilsprings took about 3 days, at about 8 hours each day to do. We also had to order new strut bolts and nuts from the nissan dealership, which took a day to ship. After that, we replaced the radiator, which took about two days, because he worked a shift where he would get back and we'd only have two hours of daylight to work on it. After that, we decided we were done working on it for a little while, and I saved for about a month or two to afford my mechanic. Around october, I was finally able to get it completely fixed, nothing wrong with it at all. Around two weeks after that happened, my guage cluster started going out randomly. All indicators would go to zero, and the mileage and trip mileage would be blank. It happened randomly, no rhyme or reason to it. I never got it fixed, because I tried googling it and didn't come up with any solutions.



Fastforward to december, It was the day before my college finals and around midnight, my mom wakes me up because my dad hit a deer with my car coming home from work. I drive down, and see that my car is really messed up. The radiator support is bent inwards, my driverside headlight is shattered, my relay box behind the headlight is shattered, my hood is bent inwards and upwards, my bumper and grill are pretty messed up as well. At the moment, this is how it is sitting right now, and I'm going to have it taken to a body shop to hopefully straighten out the frame. I have the new hood, and Im going to buy a new fender, because when the bumper cover was hit, it ripped out the fasteners in the inner wheel well, connecting to the fender.



All in all, I absolutely love my car, it has an all black interior, leather, standard, and it's really strong compared to other standards I've driven. It really sucks that people like the ones I bought my car off exist, and would purposefully take advantage of a younger kid trying to buy their first car. I just wish it wasn't as rusty, and not nearly as damaged as it is currently.

Whats your story with your maxima?

 

Overall, I don't understand why you got offended- what did you expect for $1400? Since you're posting on this forum I can assume it is at least 2k model with 3L engine and unknown mileage. You spent less than 1K in repairs and got drivable car for under $2500 total. Granted, your labor cost something but even if you asked mechanic to do this you'd end up under $3500. Try to buy anything in that range which would get you around. It sucks you couldn't take full advantage of this deal as the car is seriously damaged now. Is there a way to total it through insurance and use the money to buy another car? Repairs could be extensive with this kind of damage.

 

Seems like your Max has a long list of repairs. I'm really glad you're still liking it though. The body shop work is probably going to weigh down your pockets a bit though :/

My story in short - I bought my Max as my first car from my parents. They rarely used it, but it had been extremely well maintained, besides the fact that we had no garage. Besides being my daily driver (can't afford another), it's one of my favorite things to work on and modify.

 

I bought mine from a dealer when i got done with grad school. I purchased an 03 titanium edition in 2011. First car i've ever purchased I'm still driving it and minus a few small mechanical issues, it's in really good shape. I've spent much more in maintenance than i expected but, it's an old car and parts don't last forever.....unfortunately. I'm selling it this year just because i'm tired of the inconvenience of taking it to a shop every month. It's high mileage and something fails every month. It's just starting to get inconvenient but overall it has been a great car. Drove it to Texas from Georgia when i moved and i drove it back to Charlotte when i moved last year.

I hope you see where you made your mistake(s). You truly get what you pay for. I have no idea why you would ever buy a used car without doing some sort of personal assessment of it or letting a mechanic view it but that's now a moot point and hopefully a good experience for you. Im glad you like your car though. It's always cheaper to fix everything than to get a new car. ALWAYS. If you like it, just invest a few thousand dollars into it, and you can virtually have all new everything. Best of luck to you. Post pics when it's all fixed up.

 

Thats unfortunate to have it wrecked after doing all that work. Glad your dad was ok though.

And as far as being mad at the people that sold you the car... You didnt have to buy it. You should have checked it out thoroughly and if you werent knowledgable enough, you should have brought someone with you who could check it over for you. The responsibility for making sure its a good car before buying it is on you. They werent hiding what could be seen in plain sight.

I routinely take a floor jack with me to see what cars look like underneath when I am or friends/family are looking to buy a car.

Everything you list there that needed to be replaced could have been seen with a decently thorough inspection, with the exception of the struts/springs maybe. But a bounce test might have told you something there. Anyway, its a good lesson to learn and it didnt cost you too much. If you didnt have full coverage, Id search around for a junk yard to get the parts from.

On a side note: I just bought a wrecked 5th gen for $1000. Ill have to put at least $1000-1500 in it. So for $1400, you didnt do THAT bad.

 

Yeah, I know so much more about cars than I did a year ago, and will definitely be able to. And I didn't say it was their fault, I just said it sucked that they would take advantage of people like that. But, I know if I buy another car, I'll be able to check it over, and be able to fix most of the problems I encounter.

 

I guess what I was trying to say is that I don't think they were trying to take advantage of you because everything wrong with the car was there out in the open. It didnt seem like they tried to hide anything (painting over the rust under the car or telling you its in perfect condition). You just didnt know what to look for. But, maybe they didnt need the money to bail their son out... it still wasnt a terrible purchase even if thats the case.

But after learning what you have from the experience, yes, you are more prepared for the next time you go to check out a potential car. And now you will have a better idea of what to check on and look for. But I still recommend taking a potential car to a mechanic or bringing someone else with you that knows a lot more than you.

Let us know what happens next with it! Post up some pics of its current condition.

 

Actually they did tell me it was in perfect condition. They also painted over some of the rust, it is still 100% my fault, but it does kinda suck. I will upload some pics of it soon, when all the snow is taken care of.

 

You bought worse lemon than me!

 

mine needs an engine right off the bat and heated seats work poorly other than that mine was a gem

 

ouchie

 

Ah, well now thats mischievous of them. Sorry about that man.