An honest account of my experience buying a used car from BidCars Boston…read more
I found this car because it was priced about $2,000 below the average market price for the same year, trim, and mileage. When I called to ask why, the salesperson told me it was simply because they price cars low to move inventory quickly. That sounded fine at the time, but it turned out not to be the real reason, and no one ever actually told me the real reason. I had to piece it together myself.
When I got there, the car looked great on the outside with no obvious issues. On the test drive, though, I immediately felt the brakes pulsating. The salesperson said it was probably from the car sitting for a while and that the rotors just needed to be resurfaced, an easy fix. I was also told, almost in passing, that the car had been imported from Quebec, Canada. Overall the car seemed nice, so I moved forward and put down a deposit.
It was only during the final paperwork that the sales manager told me that, because the car was imported from Canada, it carries no manufacturer warranty. That is a significant thing to learn about a vehicle with only about 20,000 miles, where you would normally expect years of factory coverage remaining. That was the moment the below-market price finally made sense. To be clear, nobody ever directly connected the discount to the lost warranty. I had to infer it on my own.
Since there was already a brake problem on the test drive, I asked whether the car had actually been properly inspected, because a pulsation like that should have been caught. I was assured, more than once, that it had been fully inspected and was in good condition. They did put the brake repair in writing on a "we owe" form, which I appreciated.
The trouble started when I tried to protect myself. I offered, at my own cost, to have the car independently inspected at a nearby Acura dealership before finalizing, and even offered to coordinate the appointment and have it done on their dealer plate. They refused outright, saying they don't allow a pre-purchase inspection "in the middle of a transaction," and that if I insisted, they would tear up the bank contracts and put the car back up for sale. Around the same time, I was told about another customer who was supposedly "nearly in tears" when she learned the car had been sold to me, which felt like pressure rather than information.
I also asked for a simple copy of the inspection report they claimed had been done. I was told their service reports are "done in bulk," covering many different vehicles, so they don't release them. That was hard to reconcile with the repeated assurances that my specific car had been carefully inspected.
When I asked whether anything discovered later could be added to the "we owe," the answer was no, only the brakes. Everything else, I was told, simply had to pass state inspection and fall under the Massachusetts used-vehicle (Lemon Law) warranty for 90 days, and they would not repair anything outside of that. At that point the owner took over the conversation and, while insisting he wasn't threatening me and only wanted "clarity," repeatedly suggested that maybe I should just cancel the deal. It was a lot of pressure and deflection in response to what I felt were very reasonable requests.
I decided to go ahead anyway. After the car was registered, I took it to an Acura dealership for a real inspection within 2 days, and this is the part every potential buyer should read. The technicians found the entire underside of the car covered in oil and flagged a possible oil leak. On top of that, while the two front brake pads were brand new (from the "we owe" repair), the rear right pad was completely worn out, on a car I had been told was fully inspected.
If you are considering buying here, my advice is this: insist on an independent pre-purchase inspection before you sign, get the vehicle's import status and warranty coverage, and be very cautious about the below-market pricing.
