Hey guys, I purchased a Honda Accord Coupe 2006 yesterday from Gwinnett Place Honda, Georgia. My residence is at North Carolina.
Here's the listing:


http://gwinnettplacehonda.ebizautos.com/webdetail.aspx?iid=4720416


I'm justwondering if I'm going to have major issues with the Accident reported on Carfax. Because I was totally against buying an unclean title car but given that it's a CPO Honda and I couldn't find any damage on it, I gave in.

After driving it quite a bit, it's pulling to the right. I tried tire pressure etc but it still does it. The dealer said he'll take care of it this coming Saturday (Nov 7th). (My date of purchase was Oct 31st, Saturday.) I'm just wondering what you guys think? I like everything about the car except for the veering to the right.

I am in love with the car, but this is unnerving. Also, the listing mentions Keyless entry, but all I got was a regular (non remote control) key. He said he's going to give me my spare key this Saturday, so I'm guessing it's the remote one. If not, can he order one from Honda if I insist?

I'm getting a little paranoid as I've put down quite a bit for this car. I did not negotiate much as the list price was 17999 and was red tagged to 15999. I paid 15725 before taxes. I kinda feel a little ripped off. Monday will be the third day of ownership. Any thoughts on returns/lemon laws/CPO warranty that could/should help me?

Thank you guys! I look forward to ironing out the hiccups cos I'm in love with the car, and glad to be here amongst Accord lovers.

 

Could just be the tracking. That would cause the vehicle to pull in a particular direction. Certainly the first thing I would get checked and its cheap to sort out. lets hope its something simple. Good luck!

 

Definitely express your concerns to the dealer. The pulling issue could simply be alignment related. The carfax said the police report indicated "moderate damage." Being an insurance adjuster I can tell you to always take anything you see on a police report with a grain of salt. Probably 50% of the police reports I have seen are screwed up. Sometimes even the total opposite of what happened. That is likely why they are no longer admissible as evidence in court. I wouldn't let a police officer noting "moderate damage" bother me. The police officer could have put "moderate damage" for something that would buff out. I have seen them write "heavy damage" for a bent bumper before.
I know this is hindsight, but did you ask the dealer if he knew anything about the prior wreck?

 

Thanks for the replies.

1. He had already promised me a spare key this Saturday, so I confirmed with him whether that's the electronic remote lock/unlock one, and it is.

2. When I asked him about the veering to the right he said, "It's a Honda Certified Vehicle man, don't worry, we'll fix whatever's wrong with it."

Well, I'll keep you guys updated!

00AccordLX5spd: Thanks man, that makes me feel a little better. All the buzz surrounding a car with clean title made me feel an acute buyer's remorse for putting down that kinda money for a car with an accident report.

 

Here's where to post this questions...

 

powerslave,
The accident was when the car was new so it would appear that the repair at that time was all that was done. Also, the carfax says there was no airbag deployment so I'm guessing the use of the word "moderate" relates to cosmetic damage and not structural. I have seen several posts about drifting caused by the subframe being bolted up out of line so perhaps the dealer can set it right easily. The "certified" label will help but I would give them a written list of things that concern me and ask them to respond to them in a signed letter rather than verbal assurances.

 

I don't know if you got ripped off or not but $16K for a 2006 w/60k mi. seems a bit too much for me, esp with an accident on the report. Just remember any future buyer will automatically deduct $2k from the market value when you decide to resell it, no matter how small the accident. Then again, this is coming from someone who genuinely dislike dealerships.

 

WheelBrokerAng: Sorry. Thought I'd make my first post worth a little while

kris_loehr: I was told it was cosmetic damage. I doubt the accident has anything to do with the pulling to the right because the car seems to have been driven quite a bit after the accident. That's inconclusive cos of no mention of mileage at the time of accident though, but jst going by the timeframe.

hooks: I took the "No airbag deployment" report into consideration while looking at the car which meant the damage could not be structural as from my understanding the airbags would have been deployed in case of a serious accident.

I hope the subframe being bolted out of line or something simple is the issue and it gets resolved quickly. I'll keep this thread up to date.

honda2k: I agree it's on the higher side, but I looked around and it is consistent with most certified honda dealer rates across the nearby states. I understand the accident report will be a nuisance while resale, but I'll live with it.

Keep your thoughts rolling in guys, I'm going note down all the things mentioned here before heading out to the dealership this Saturday and ask him about it.

Thanks.

 

I actually looked at Autotrader.com a little bit. I was SHOCKED at how many cars had the free carfax posted and how many of them had accidents reported on there. I looked at 10 cars and 9 of them had accidents reported on the carfax. I was looking at Acura TSX's with manual trans (something I'm interested in.)
I guess people really can't drive anymore....

 

Alright, I went in yesterday and I got the remote key. But regarding the alignment issue, when I came back to the car, I found they put "Problem could not be duplicated."

So I take them for a test drive and tell the guy to drive. If any one has ever been to Duluth, Georgia, you'll know how crowned the roads are. Every road we went out on was crowned (as in slanted). So when the car was veering right, the driver was saying it was because of the crown. When the car veered right on a somewhat straight, he said it's because of torque steer. I told him to let the car roll and he would do but keep putting inputs to straighten it.

Now I know what the car does, cos I've driven at least 600-700 miles of all kinds of roads since I purchased it and I've driven rental cars on these very same roads before (like the Impala and the Nissan Versa) and when I was on the highway, I did not have to constantly correct the car to the center. In these rentals I could just put it on cruise control, let the car roll and leave the steering be, by resting just a finger or two against it. In my Accord, I have to constantly wrest the steering to the left for it to go straight every 50 odd metres.

Another observation is the steering doesn't feel centered when the car is veering to the right, but I guess that's normal given it is aligned with the wheels so it's doing it's job.

So I know the car DOES have a problem.

Now I have a few questions.

1. Is this how Honda checks for alignment issues? Is this standard procedure?

2. How do I get them to correct something which they're not willing to accept?

3. Should I/ Can I complain to American Honda/Consumer forum or someone about this treatment?

Please help guys as this is taking the fun out of putting down ****load of money(for me) on a certified honda. I could have had similar odds on a used car, wonder why I paid the extra few grand.