Dumbing down used cars?

[callbay]

I have an acquaintance that owns a used car lot. He told me that he will not buy used cars at the local car auction from certain dealers that "dumb down" their trade ins and then take then to the auction to sell.

He said they do something to keep the check engine light off even though there are codes that the car has thrown.

Do you think that this is very common practice?

Do they just disconect the light for the check engine symbol on the dash or do they do something to the computer so the codes the car has don't show even with a code scanner?

 

[JC1]

They probably reset the code with the scanner, but don't get the vehicle to complete the drive cycle to be in a ready state.

 

[Vuflanovsky]

Well, my take is that they don't call them "sucker auctions" for nothing. A "gentleman" near me who ran a used car lot was recently given 25 years in jail for hundreds of odometer fraud cases and disabling certain diagnostic tools over a period of a decade. In terms of diagnostics, I can see something similar at the dealer level only on a much less frequent scale. The susceptibility to this may well depend on the state and county where you reside as much as anything else.

 

[eljefino]

I'm sure it happens daily. Why I'd rather buy a slightly broken car from a private party I judge to be an idiot. 80% success rate.

One can also cover a bad catalytic converter with a couple spark plug anti foulers. This can look legit to the end user who's happy to pass I/M for a while longer.

 

[DemoFly]

Every single used-car dealership or wholesaler does this. Every single one.

There is no honest used car dealership or wholesaler.

100% of a used-car dealerships profits come from lying. If they bought cars at value and sold cars at value, they could not exist as a company.

Simply having tremendous luck with buying cars cheap and selling cars at value is not enough stable profit to keep a business afloat.

 

[VeeDubb]

What do you guys think of nearly new cars with less than 10,000 miles. E.g. 2016 Town and Country with 9000 miles being sold used? A sure sign of a lemon that has been dumbed down?

 

[skyactiv]

Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
What do you guys think of nearly new cars with less than 10,000 miles. E.g. 2016 Town and Country with 9000 miles being sold used? A sure sign of a lemon that has been dumbed down?


Many dealers will use a new vehicle as a service loaner car and sell it when it's still less than a year old with low miles.

 

[pottymouth]

Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
What do you guys think of nearly new cars with less than 10,000 miles. E.g. 2016 Town and Country with 9000 miles being sold used? A sure sign of a lemon that has been dumbed down?


You would be surprised by how many car buyers default on their loan in the first year.

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
What do you guys think of nearly new cars with less than 10,000 miles. E.g. 2016 Town and Country with 9000 miles being sold used? A sure sign of a lemon that has been dumbed down?


Many dealers will use a new vehicle as a service loaner car and sell it when it's still less than a year old with low miles.


That's how we got our Elantra. It was "new" as far as warranty and registration purposes were concerned, but it had a little over 3000 miles on it from being used as a loaner. MSRP was $21K and we paid $15K.

 

[VeeDubb]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
What do you guys think of nearly new cars with less than 10,000 miles. E.g. 2016 Town and Country with 9000 miles being sold used? A sure sign of a lemon that has been dumbed down?


Many dealers will use a new vehicle as a service loaner car and sell it when it's still less than a year old with low miles.


Good point. I should have been more specific. Say a relatively new vehicle of one brand being sold at the dealer of another brand (e.g. low mile new Chrysler at a Toyota dealer). Doubt they would use the Chrysler as a service loaner.

 

[Rocko1]

Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
What do you guys think of nearly new cars with less than 10,000 miles. E.g. 2016 Town and Country with 9000 miles being sold used? A sure sign of a lemon that has been dumbed down?


No, not a sure sign of anything. Could be rental, defaulted on loan, lemon, hated car and traded in, who knows.

My company bought me a current year Escape with 27K miles that was 30% off new sticker. Looks brand new except for 2 tiny dings. Has longer warranty than new car.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
What do you guys think of nearly new cars with less than 10,000 miles. E.g. 2016 Town and Country with 9000 miles being sold used? A sure sign of a lemon that has been dumbed down?


Many dealers will use a new vehicle as a service loaner car and sell it when it's still less than a year old with low miles.


Good point. I should have been more specific. Say a relatively new vehicle of one brand being sold at the dealer of another brand (e.g. low mile new Chrysler at a Toyota dealer). Doubt they would use the Chrysler as a service loaner.


We get a lot of vehicles traded in that are less than a year old. Also sell a fair amount of former rental cars, the rental cars have to be disclosed to the customer that they were once one.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I'm sure it happens daily. Why I'd rather buy a slightly broken car from a private party I judge to be an idiot. 80% success rate.



Exactly, or maybe not an idiot but bought a low priced car that has a problem they don't want to pay someone else to fix, and can't repair themselves.

I bought a $500 saturn like that.

 

[crazyoildude]

Car dealers in general are not the most honest bunch around.. These days they are a little better thanks to the internet.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: VeeDubb


Good point. I should have been more specific. Say a relatively new vehicle of one brand being sold at the dealer of another brand (e.g. low mile new Chrysler at a Toyota dealer). Doubt they would use the Chrysler as a service loaner.


Anything could happen. The chrysler and toyota dealers could have different branding but are both owned by the same company. Since they don't want to "confuse" a new chrysler buyer with a slightly used van they stick it on the toyota lot, or vice versa.

 

[Superflop]

I once bought a used pickup from a used car lot. It ran fine then one day a gauge cluster light went out so I went to replace them all and saw that the check engine slot had no bulb. I found it pretty dang amusing. Never even noticed it didn't light up at key on.

 

[HM12460]

One of the first things I do when looking at a new to me used car. Turn the key on, engine off to see if all the dash idiot lights come on. Lot's of used cars for sale with questionable backgrounds. Bring your code reader along too.

 

[callbay]

I take a code reader with me when I buy a used vehicle but how long a drive does it take to get the codes to be thrown if they have been erased by the dealer?

Can the dealer make it so no codes will show anymore?

Thanks!

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
What do you guys think of nearly new cars with less than 10,000 miles. E.g. 2016 Town and Country with 9000 miles being sold used? A sure sign of a lemon that has been dumbed down?


Lease return, rental, or repo. My mother turned in a 2014 Prius with 8500 miles a couple weeks ago.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: callbay
I take a code reader with me when I buy a used vehicle but how long a drive does it take to get the codes to be thrown if they have been erased by the dealer?

Can the dealer make it so no codes will show anymore?

Thanks!



A 20 minute drive gets a bunch. Tell the dealer you want to take the car home for the night, and promise to put gas in it, and you want to see if the CEL comes on. An honest dealer will let you; a dishonest one will stammer "uh we only have that one license plate".

There are some maddening codes (to fix) like EVAP leaks that take a couple cycles and sometimes 1/4 to 3/4 tank of gas.

But a $6 bluetooth dongle and "torque pro" on your smartphone will read I/M status.

My county does OBD emissions inspections and if a car fails 3 days after sale we can go after the dealer for repairs or money back. They'd probably just do money-back and dump the car on some other sucker. (And IMO they should bump it up to a week)