My wife and I are about to buy a 2004 civic. It was a "fleet" vehicle, used for commercial work. It has 44,000 miles on it. We have a carfax report. The only thing we found odd about it was that the timing belt was replaced after only 14,000 miles. This could just be a petty thing, but if it snapped, there could have been engine problems. But it also said, on the carfax report, recomended maintence performed. The car was bought new at a honda dealership, and the maintenance was performed there too. I've heard that timing belts are gennerally replaced 40k to 60k miles. Is this something to be worried about? I don't want to make an investment if this will afect the performance/longevity of the car. Of course we are going to do a pre purchace inspection, but could this be a really bad sign? We are buying it for $9800. It reatails for over $12,000. Please help. thanks.

 

the timing belt is a 90K mile affair. If it was replaced at 14... I'd walk away. There's a reason it got replaced.... either someone had the motor apart, it skipped a tooth, etc.... too many unknowns, and there's too many civics in good condition available with unquestioned histories.