it's for $4000, but i haven't seen the car yet, so i haven't offered the guy anything. here's the weird part. it has 8 hits on carfax, all of which seem to be title changes and registrations and smog checks, BUT: the car is a 1993, but wasn't first registered till 1995. there have been 5 title/registration entries, 4 of which were for a lien/loan holder title. i'm not exactly sure what that means. the guy who's selling it says he got it from an auction a month ago, but that fact doesn't show up. does this strike anyone as strange? the VIN number comes back to an accord SE, so what could be the deal?

 

What is the mileage like? 4 grand sounds a little high. Does owner have maintenence records? I had a 93 SE but it was a auto and I wanted a stick. When the engine died I got a 90 lx and stripped the SE and put the f22b1 (engine from a 96 EX with vtec) better gas mileage better power. I steer clear of deals where the current owner says he doesn't know about the history of the car. Test drive the car really hard check for bad tranny shifts, if engine smokes (bad internal seals) or knocks, also stay away from cars with SRS lights that stay on. The engine and tranny, and air bags are the most important. if you don't know a lot about the car in question take it to a dealer and get the 40 point inspection. it could be the smartest $30-40 you spend if the car turns out to need some serious work. Don't be afraid to have car checked out before you buy. If you wait, you may get stuck with a car with a lot of problems. A well maintained honda can run 500,000 miles easy. I saw many in a junk yard in NC. Get car checked.

 

not everything shows up on a carfax...

and a lien title is someone took out a loan and used the car as colateral so if they defaulted on the loan the car is the banks, make sure that there are no current liens on the title