Went with my daughter to look at a 2018 Jeep for $23k that she was interested in, it has 58k miles. Carfax showed it came from Virginia. Has had 6 different owners. Has had 2 clutches installed during its 58k mile life (very odd). As an auto shop owner/mechanic I was looking it over while my daughter talked to the salesman.
Check engine light didn't work, I also brought my scanner and they let me scan it (surprised actually), lots of codes hidden by inoperative check engine light, underneath it looked like pond scum all over the bottom, it's a Jeep and wasn't real surprised but it was obvious it hadn't been off road much if at all. They seemed surprised that the check engine light didn't work (they knew). She still drove it and realized they're cool to look at but not drive as a daily for her.
I'm in Alabama and see flood cars after floods happen sometimes, she didn't buy it and enjoyed watching Dad own used car salesman, I think she also figured out ole Dad can be how he needs to be when needed. Never let a used car salesman bully you into a car you don't need/want, they tried and figured out it wasn't happening.
Flood cars usually will end up at auctions in different states, beware and be aware.
Carfax is known for being shady. They've even sold stolen cars. Apparently, they don't vet the registration numbers.
carfax is a sham like almost everything else out here in the wild.
I’ve looked up VINs on carfax of vehicles that were in serious multi-vehicle accidents with police reports involved and zero of the accidents showed up in the carfax reports
No surprises there. 🙄
She's fortunate to have a wise Daddy like you!
Remember the good ol days when you had a magnet to check for bondo and fiberglass? Easier times! Aluminum body panels killed that trick. I never buy a vehicle if they refuse to allow me access to the ECU. I bring my own scanner, plug in for a key on/engine off and do a running check to see if all sensors are within spec. On a personal note, I wouldn't buy a Jeep passed 2012. Unless it was V8. Pentastar V6 motors are boat anchors. The older ones were ok at best. But I'll keep my 01 Tj wrangler with the 4.0
Yes, I do. I'm mid 50's, cars are pretty much plastics now, it's insane.
I wouldn't buy a jeep beyond 2006! The TJs were the end of the era for Jeep as far as I'm concerned. Yes, I'm biased. I still love my 05 TJ (LJ).
Jeep should have never left the 4.0L engine imo. Oil leakers? Yeah but torquey as hell if you could keep a transmission in it lol.
My only "complaint" is the gas mileage. However, I have too much fun driving it to truly care.😜
You got the last of the greatest jeep made. Never sell, unless it's to me! ;)
At my funeral, everybody gets a tazer...last one standing gets the Jeep!
Wonderful idea! I'm having the jack-in-the-box music played, unannounced. Surprise!
New cars suck and they're ugly too. Nice restored older cars are available for the same price and they are a much better product. 🤓 1985 was the last good year before lots of regs.
You don’t like that 20x14 box screen sticking up out of the dash with a crappy version of windows, and screens telling you that you’ve hit the accelerator too hard and are going to cause all the global warming?
Picky, picky.
When cars went OBD2 and government regulated, they went to hell. I have a 1979 Ford F100 that I'll never let go of. Among other old Fords.
I bought a 2013 Platinum f150 in 2020, also in Alabama. Clean, seemingly pristine, no history of wrecks in Carfax, but over the years I've found grease pencil marks on the backside of panels and parts that lead me to believe they were sourced as a "self-repair". Fine. I can live with this
But, the thing you said about floods has me thinking........I noticed that the paint on the bottom of the rocker panels is bubbling with rust. That's not a normal Alabama thing. I've always wondered why/how such a decent condition truck has so much underneath "weathering". Creaky springs, electronic running boards always needing wd40...... Like it was exposed to a weather event.
Ever heard of Lowry Brothers in Boaz? Those were the guys.........
Funny I was just in nearby Albertville, Alabama last month visiting the kids-inlaw and almost bought an F-150... definitely cheaper there than in Florida!
Yeah, people from all over Alabama drive to Boaz to buy cars because there's only a 3% tax in that town. 👍
Side note - Albertville is where they dropped off thousands of Haitians almost overnight. Did you notice that situation while you were there? It was really bad just a few months ago. Totally disrupted the town. Another one of those "drop 2000 people in a small town" overnight, displacement things.
Citizens needs to rise up in their town over that. That is a legit criminal invasion being carried out.
Never noticed [them], only spent a few nights on way back from Pigeon Forge... enjoyed their Buffalo Wild Wings and a smokey hole in the wall called Bucks Bar on Halloween for brews (or maybe in Guntersville, at least nearby. Kids lived in Gunters, now in Alberts, more affordable).
How is Pigeon Forge? Nice place or? Family want to go there for a vacation soon but not sure if it's ideal seeing how things are happening in Memphis, TN as well as all over TN.
Any suggestions for dining as well as family activities if you have them?
Beautiful area, you can't go wrong with either that or Gatlinburg. Kids will probably enjoy pigeon forge more, but they're close together anyway. Last time we went was mid COVID and I hardly wore a mask anywhere and nobody really seemed to mind except the aquarium
Thanks for the info!
I was in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area a couple months ago. If you’re going check Bigfoot Philly Cheesesteak. The ribeye Philly is bomb as hell. It’s right by MountainShire.
https://www.mountainshiretn.com/
Alright thanks man, will check it out and discuss with my family!
Honestly I'll never go back during the season when the "leaves change"... it was so crowded, traffic was hell, had to wait in line at every restaurant, finding a parking spot was a hassle, $20 to park in a lot (which we finally did out of frustration), didn't even go to Dollywood as planned due to crowds, didn't seem worth it. Were told by locals that summer crowds are actually worse especially during the annual car show.
But, it's beautiful place, not all bad! We rented a huge log cabin outside Pigeon Forge about 25 mins up the mountain. We were there for a fam reunion, around 18 people in that roomy cabin, so was nice to catch up with fam! My wife used to go to PF/Gatlinburg with her fam when she was young, was a blast back then... it's just now the secret is out and it seems the entire southeastern U.S. decides to go there for the change of season!
One of those trips that we're glad we went... but will (likely) never go back!
[note] We drove there from Fla bc we picked up fam in Alabama, a total of 2,200 miles round trip on crowded roads with multiple accidents/ weather/ construction/ illegal immigrant idiot truckers (lol) slowing the trip, which def added to our frustrations... so perhaps my review isn't totally fair to PF!
Haha yeah I know how it is with busy places and such! We were talking about getting a cabin as well.
The general expense as well as experience sound just like if you were going to a big city for attractions and the like. I've never been to Tenn, but seems like it's a nice state to visit!
Thanks for the info!
My pleasure!
Side note: My father, now 81 years old born in 1944, is deaf, 100% deaf since he was 5 years old (he got the measles, mumps and chicken pocks at the same time which destroyed his inner ear and more). I always notice your posts (for a few years now at least) because of that, and appreciate what you offer here, fren. I know more than most about "deaf culture" and, well, you are amazing! I enjoy reading your feedback here on GAW... keep helping "wake up" people to this Great Awakening... it's an amazing time to be alive!
Are you MileHiLife because you fly a lot, or is it because you're from Denver?
Lived outside Denver for over 25 yrs... though now bk in Fla where I was born & raised
I haven't, just looked at reviews, some good, some bad. Typical used car lot reviews.
Kind of sounds like normal wear up north but hard to tell. My 20 year old Toyota has a good amount of rust on the bottom and paint is starting to bubble near the bottom
Northern cars rust bad because of the salt on roads for ice, always hate seeing northern cars here in Bama lol. We mainly get surface rust on before major rust rot.
👍 Curious though why you considered that vehicle after so many owners and repeat repairs? Problem is going to a dealer instead of private party. Why spend 15k instead of thousands less. We just bought a car from a private party . Proper homework and procedure. Very pleased. Ps: beware the Jeep high-speed wobble, very dangerous, musg have mechanic drive car at 70 mph or more to test.
She got a report for free (I think CarGuru maybe, Carfax revealed it also) and didn't notice 6 previous owners. She mentioned it when I met her there after she noticed it. Was an immediate red flag. I warned her about going to the lot she found it at, I don't buy new or used cars. I have an auto shop, you'd be surprised how many people will dump a car when repairs get too expensive. I've put my kids in cars like this for years, some still driving them, I have 5 kids. My youngest daughter wants to do for herself and there's nothing wrong with that, she's very responsible and determined to do for herself, although she does ask me to go with her and I'm happy she does. I know about death wobble. It didn't have it yet, just very rigid and she found it wasn't for her. She wasn't going to buy it anyway, did want to drive it and see if she even wanted a Jeep, she can be a bit hard headed, no idea where she gets it from, well, maybe I do.
Great post and advice! Thank you
I’ve worked on cars for 36yrs and you could not give me a Chrysler product including a Jeep.
Buy an automatic 4x4 pickup truck. Jeeps always blow. So do Dodges.
Agreed, she has found a Honda Civic she wants to go look at. Better choice for her actually.
yeah run from that one. Any Fiat "Jeep" is a disaster waiting to happen.
I'd put her in a Toyota or Honda if possible.
She found a Honda Civic she’s interested in. She’s shopping, I’ll go look at whatever she wants to look at, even I think it’s a no, she’s learning something at the moment. She has a Toyota Corolla and hates it. I taught her to drive a manual when she was learning to drive and I gave her a great 04 Mazda 3, manual. Traded in for the 24 Toyota, auto and regrets it. I told her she would.
Actually been trying to get her to wait until market levels out(ish).
I've driven a honda crv (non cvt) for 5 or 6 years, and we also have 2 toyota rav4. CRV is WAY more fun and smooth and just feels faster, rides better and feels much bigger than the RAV4. The CRV, even though its a basic A:B car, it's suprisingly smooth and crisp, overall the best car I've owned when all things considered together such as reliability, ride, power, handling, practicality and cost of ownership etc.
The toyotas are super reliable but it may be that they are inherently boring. Not sure. Honda's background with motorcycles might mean they have some soul.
Regardless, any mechanic says toyota is #1 but honda is always a close #2.
People will swap in a Honda K24 into some other car and turbo it to 700 hp, but IIRC the only Toyota engine people do that with is the 2JZ-GTE supra engine from a long time ago.
I'm going to be looking for a different car soon, and I've got some Toyotas in mind, but if they're boring when I drive them I'll pass.
I looked at a car several years ago (didn't buy it), that's when I found out about flood cars. I live in CA. Be careful, if you live in the west, in buying used cars from the southeastern US. Good post and good job being 'Dad.'
From what I can tell, flood cars are at auctions after insurance pays the owner. Either the owner buys back and sells or the insurance company gets them and auctions off, usually the insurance company trying to comp some of their money back. It's a racket that isn't for the consumer for sure. Glad you didn't get bit fren. And yes the southeast will get these cars a lot, it doesn't flood in Bama or Georgia too bad, we just get their flooded cars from Louisiana, Virginia, Florida and Carolina's a lot of times. There's no law against selling them here in Bama, not sure about Georgia.
I'll always look out for my children, even though they're grown. Until I can't.
Don't have to worry about that with a used Tesla, LOL.
No, but you might have to worry that the battery doesn't have much life left. That could cost $10-20k.
I believe they are warranted for 8 years. I wouldn’t get over 3 years old if I bought one.
I agree, of course I warned her. She does listen well but I will entertain what she wants to look at.
I am assuming this was a Wrangler since you said it had a clutch.
I have a 2012 which is the very close to the same as an 18. It has the 3.6 Pentistar engine. This thing is notorious for throwing codes. It is a good motor but requires high maintenance. .The oil sensors go bad and throw a P06, P052, P052. It has a plastic oil coller located in the valley of the engine underneath the intake manifold which becomes brittle and leaks. You can replace this with an allumiun cooler which seems to last. The previous owner could have cleared the codes and it just hasn;t been driven on the highway long enough for them to re-appear. If you know how to work on these the codes are not a deal breaker but this is defintely a off road or beach day secondary vehical. If she wants something cool that will last, go get a 4runner that has the 4.0v6, throw a leveling kit lift and some 34" tires on it then drive it for 300k miles.
I drive mine through ponds and lakes and do not have any issues by keeping the water level under the door handles.
Yes, a Wrangler, 3.6L. Seemed to run decent just not a smooth ride, typical Jeep. Of course, daughter didn't hear when I told her it'll ride like a tank until she drove it. Dad wins again lol.
Chevy pickups are having massive problems with their new v-8 engine.
Total dogshit.
Seems everything since around 2015 is garbage imo.
if the car has an iPad where the radio is supposed to go I don't want it!
2012 and below for this anon
Would have been a big no for me after reading "6 different owners" 😅😂
I like police auctions.. look up the ones in your local area, never know what you'll find (;
Be careful with police auctions as well. Had a family member's husband that bought a police auction. After 3 months of driving it in the summer he ended up in the hospital in a comma and almost died. Come to find out the vehicle had been used to transport drug chemicals and was a rolling lab. It poisoned him. Once these vehicles have been used for transport of these toxic compounds they should be scraped.
Hate to tell ya, but Jeeps, on the average, suck. Sad, too.
No mechanic i know recommends them, except that they are good for the repair business.
Edit: around here, majority chicks drive Jeeps. Shitloads of frogs or some dumbass crap all over the dash. Not hot chicks either. Lots of lesbo dykie-looking slobs. Like the badass Mustangs, etc...fat blonds at the helm. Quite disheartening..
Not to hurt anyone’s feelings but the Jeep brand are hunks of crap. Unless it’s a 90’s or earlier and maybe a very early 2000 model, all garbage. You can talk to any mechanic that knows vehicles, which brands break down the most and are unreliable. Jeep always comes to the top. Followed by Chevrolet and of course Ford. There is a reason you see Toyotas everywhere now. People have learned. Honda has a few brands, but you have to look into bypasses in the “engine shutdowns” feature. It’s trash. A simple $60 bypass will eliminate it and of course never, never buy the turbo. Period. Total trash. I know these things because of personal trials and of course im friends with several mechanics. My little towns around me are loaded with them. And I talk and ask lots of questions. Parking lots are full of the brands I’ve already mentioned. Loaded. But you’ll never see Toyotas there. Very rare.
My cousin owned 2 Jeep wranglers. My wife owned a Cherokee. And a friend owned a Wrangler as well. None of them own JEEPs anymore. There's a reason people say JEEP stands for, Just.Empty.Every.Pocket.
Love this story. Many cars from floods are auctioned in Georgia and Alabama. We almost purchased a little pickup truck, noticed it was popping rust with brand new wheels and tires. The spare underneath was put in the bed of the truck totally rusted.
My husband didn't want an open cab nor a clutch. I had to tell him it's a freaking flood car! Sold on the island in the flooding of Milton and Helene in Florida
It's worth paying for a pre-purchase inspection. I was going to buy one of those goofy looking VW bugs from my daughter. The mechanic told me "you'd be insane to buy this car" and then went into the details.
A lot of quasi-mechanics by wrecked cars and flip them. Naturally, the buy them cheap and buy cheap parts to fix only what is necessary.
Unscrew or unsnap the sill plate and pull up the carpet. If you see rust, walk.
That vehicle should have a salvage title.
I bought a used car from the site below. I got a 2017 Ford Fusion with 90,000 miles on it for $6500. It had a dead battery, I jumped it, put it on a trailer and brought it home. After replacing the battery, the car runs like a new car.
The interior was spotless. There was not even a fuzz ball in the trunk, never been used. Back seats look like they have never been sat in. Still has the new car smell. You can smell the new car smell when you turn on the heat. I was amazed and very happy. The blue book value was $12 - 14K. I had to pay 10% fee to auction site and taxes when I got it back to Michigan. Well worth every cent I paid.
I am planning future purchases and turning them for a profit. I retire in 6 months from now, it will keep me busy, make a few dollars on the side. The auction site selling the one I bought is out of Columbus Ohio, I bought the car from the state of OHIO. I think they are selling old city vehicles and replacing with new cars for their employees.
I am giving up this info out of the kindness of my own heart, don't make me bid against you in the future, LOL.
https://www.govdeals.com/
Like I said, I think these were city owned vehicles so the maintenance was most likely kept up to date. I took my Fusion to my oil change place and he looked at the oil and said, "This oil is new". I asked about the air filter, "Brand new". The tires were new as well. If you need a new car, give it a try. All the defects are written on the windshield, lots of photos to inspect the cars, a video of the cars engine running also. Good luck to you.
Here is a example:
https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/18990/10337
Edmunds blue book value on this car for dealer price is $14,679 – $17,253
The first issue I see here is buying a Jeep....