U'll never guess what happened..
 

Anyways, So i bought this SVX on saturday being all excited and all. Here in Ontario, Canada..a used vehichle package is supposed to be bought by the seller and presented to the buyer. The guy that i bought it from did not give me one because he said he didn't know. He told me he was the 3rd owner and it was not an accident car. I went to register it yesterday and they registered it fine and all. But they gave me a vehicle history and it states that this car had 9 previous owners and the last two before him were an auction that sells accident cars or stolen cars, the next owner was a bodyshop, so i am guessing it's an accident car. So i found out that he was the 10th owner. I tried calling the bodyshop to see if he remembers the car, but he just denies it. All i am trying to do is to find out if the car has had major damage. I am not blaming anybody as it was my stupidity, the care looks fine and runs fine but now this ish got me thinking.... :confused:

You might want to have a mechanic check it out, just so you'll know what may be coming down the pike - sort of like closing the barn door after the horse has gotten out, but still . . .

It's entirely possible that, despite its checkered past, it could still be a good car for you. I sure hope so. ;) :) :)

I hate to be the one saying... Watch out for that SVX.

My first 94 L was in a similar situation. I ran the carfax on the car after I bought it. Accidents don't matter much now-a-days since they can fix the car back and fix it real well. My last 94LSi was in 2 accidents (fender-benders) and the car runs much straighter than my 2 other that I've own and all.

Back to the story. First 94L -- I was the 7th owner. There were 4 actual owners before me and then it was bought and sold at 2 more auctions. Which made me 7th.

if I was the 5th owner, that would not worry me too much. But 2 auction sales are not good indicators for the SVX. To me they yell out -- STAY AWAY! No one wanted it and it was on the auction block twice! I ended up sinking in more then 10,000 USD in the car before parting it. Twice what I paid for. And I could have had a late 96 or a 97 for that without any problem.

So make sure you take her to a mechanic and do checkup (try at least 2 different places to cover all).

Don't mean to scare ya. Just a warning.

Lwin

Well the goverment here requires u to take a safety test everytime u buy a car. I took that test and it passed except for the fact that i have to change the ball joints which i am doing in about an hour. The mechanic said it was in great condition and there was hardly any rust underneath. So i hope i have a good future with this car.

Good to hear... Long live your SVX.

L

There should be NO rust. It is an SVX. They don't rust. Cept for Zep's but we dont know whats up with his. :)

Mike

Body shop owner
 

Sorry about your misfortune but if it was at a bodyshop for work and you can't tell where the work was done, you're fine. They did a fantastic job. Even someone not trained to look for paint work can spot an average body repair. It might be brighter than the rest, not quite match or just plain look a little off. If you don't see that and mechanically everything checks out (I would pay up to $200 to be sure and have a trusted mechanic go over it real good). Don't just rely on the mandated saftey inspection. There is usually very few things they look for other than rust, brakes and suspension. Good luck!

Mike is partially right. The body of the car should not rust unless the rust protection (zinc plating under the paint) is compromised by an accident and the subsequent repair process.

But there are plenty of other parts of the car that can, and do, rust. Suspension parts, exhaust parts, brackets, bolts, etc - anything steel but the body, really.

A car that has seen a lot of winters and little care will tell you by the condition of these parts, and Carlito's mechanic was looking for that, I imagine.

Now, what's this about Zep's car?

mine seems to have a couple of "cancer" spots on the seam midway up the door on both sides of the car... I don't know what the deal is, but I really need to get it taken care of this summer. Will a body shop be able to grind it out, fill it and re-paint it? i'm not terribly concerned with matching the paint perfectly, just stopping the rust from spreading..

how much should i expect to pay?

-adam

Fixing rust
 

Rust on subarus can be caused from the zinc coating being warn off by an accident and fix or can be caused just simply from water and gunk remaining in a region. I've started to see some SVXs that have the same trait as my Brat in the rear wheel well. Water gets into the top of the well and gets behind something and begins the rot. Best solution I've found to slow/stop the rust is keep it nicely oiled underneath. Its also convinent for letting those pesky oil leaks slide a little longer.

Some parts of the car do rust. Mine now has a 2"x2" rust spot at the rear passenger side fender just below the gas door. It started out as a half dollar sized spot about 2 years ago and has grown since.

KuoH

SVXes should not have any rust at all on the body if they are taken care of very well by the owners. I have close to 200k miles on mine and no rust on the car so far.

Lwin

Lwin hows the condition of your engine? Mine seems to be fairly nice, but i put a cone filter on and now it idles all weird. Im just trying to figure out if its worthy of a reading hall or not :)
phil

Engine is good. My differential is on the way out. Not good but should last till summer. I need a bunch of things for the car. Most of them are cosmatic so I am not worrying too much at this time.

I am also thinking of getting another lower milage SVX so that I can use my current one for R&D.

L

i should be able to get my front diff back from my mechanic if you want it to rebuild while you drive your curent. Let me know
phil

p.s. if your planning on reading we should car pool