Infiniti Mechanics?

[forestzemel]

I'm looking to buy a G35 from Craigslist. It'll be my first time purchasing something this expensive and I keep reading and hearing people say "Take your car to infiniti to get it checked out" etc etc before you buy.

My question is, even if I pay for them to go over the car.... Aren't they going to attempt to sell me on things that are potentially not even wrong with the car or will they be 100% truthful since I would be telling them I just want it inspected before I buy it?

[telcoman]

I'm looking to buy a G35 from Craigslist. It'll be my first time purchasing something this expensive and I keep reading and hearing people say "Take your car to infiniti to get it checked out" etc etc before you buy.

My question is, even if I pay for them to go over the car.... Aren't they going to attempt to sell me on things that are potentially not even wrong with the car or will they be 100% truthful since I would be telling them I just want it inspected before I buy it?

foresztzemel

A few things you may want to consider.

1- Have you spoken to your local Infiniti Service Manager and Service Advisor as to what they do to inpect a vehicle and how much they charge?

2- Do they provide you with a deatailed written report and run a check on the VIN number?

3- Keep in mind the dealer has very expensive diagognostic equipment that others do not have.

I just traded in an 06 6M sedan because it was going to require between one and two thousand dollars of work

Just keep in mind between accidents, floods, and just plain vehicle abuse purchasing a vehicle on craigslist is in my opinion more of a used car risk than if you purchased a CPO vehicle from an Infiniti dealer that just came off a two year lease from that dealer and was serviced by them.
You will pay a little more but in this world you get what you pay for.
Buy a newer vehicle and get a warranty because parts and labor are very expensive.
Just my $.02

Good luck

Telcoman

[audtatious]

^^ +1

Having someone else who is familiar with the vehicle do a check on it is always a plus but it's never a guarantee. Having them at least pull the maintenance records and to report on any recalls that have not been done in the past is helpful. Again, nothing is guaranteed but the information allows you to make a better decision. Today, I doubt most people do take vehicles to a mechanic and have them checked out before purchase. I know I didn't when I bought my last used car but as the car still had a factory warranty I was confident any issues would be resolved.

[EPhilly]

Reading this just made me a little nervous. I just purchased a 2009 G37 with 16,000 miles and did not take it to Infiniti. I was planning to do so if I bought a car with more miles and was not covered by a dealer up to 60,000 miles.

My take on this is the car is covered (basic coverage) up to 60,000 miles. If it has 55,000 miles on it, I would of taken it to the dealership.

[pippen99]

I don't want to cause you more angst but a 2009 might not be under warranty. The warranty is 4 years or 60000 miles. The warranty timer starts on the vehicle's in-service date(the date on which it was first purchased). Before you get a big surprise you need to find out how much warranty is left and get the car in for anything warranty before it expires.

[audtatious]

I don't want to cause you more angst but a 2009 might not be under warranty. The warranty is 4 years or 60000 miles. The warranty timer starts on the vehicle's in-service date(the date on which it was first purchased). Before you get a big surprise you need to find out how much warranty is left and get the car in for anything warranty before it expires.

+1

When I purchased the sedan it had a SES but was still under factory warranty so I had no issues with purchasing it as I knew I could get it fixed. If I were to purchase something that was outside of a warranty then I would take more time to check with the dealership for a maintenance record.

The issue is not with the car itself, but with the maintenance that was/was not performed by previous owners. In this case the car has 16k miles....if there are receipts for oil changes and such then you should be fine and can even look into an extended warranty for protection.

[forestzemel]

The owner of this car claims to have been doing the oil with synthetic by himself every 3k miles but "has no service records, he was ripped off a year ago by paying 20k for the car... He didn't think about asking for records then" (It's a 2004 with 85k on it for 11.2k, which is what he owes on the car). I've called 6 players, a few of them have maintenance records, the latest was 2010. Called another dealership and all he would tell me was that the car was serviced there. He wouldn't give me a date or what was done to it.

As long as I take it in for an inspection and the carfax is clean, is it worth the buy?

[audtatious]

If the car looks good, seems to have been maintained, and the price is in line or lower than NADA/KBB values then it should be fine. Purchasing anything used is always a chance. I've known people who have purchased flawlessly maintained vehicles only to have them start to fail.

You can always look into an extended warranty if you are not sure.

[forestzemel]

If the car looks good, seems to have been maintained, and the price is in line or lower than NADA/KBB values then it should be fine. Purchasing anything used is always a chance. I've known people who have purchased flawlessly maintained vehicles only to have them start to fail.

You can always look into an extended warranty if you are not sure.

Awesome thank you! About the Infiniti inspections.... Do you think they're going to give me a load of bull just to get my $ "in case I buy the car" or do you think they will be perfectly honest?

I feel safer going to someone who works on infinitis all day every day but we all know how much mechanics are... Kinda like they try and do if you go to some random oil change place. "Well, you need this that this that, we can do it for you today for X amount of dollars"

[EPhilly]

I would be on the alert for BS. Honestly I am kind of wishing I took my car to a dealership to get it checked out (not sure how much that would cost).

Audtatious - Is there anything in a lease contract mandating an oil change every XXX miles?? -- If you bought car that was leased, how would you know if the owner bothered to change the oil? (sorry if this is off subject)

[audtatious]

If the car looks good, seems to have been maintained, and the price is in line or lower than NADA/KBB values then it should be fine. Purchasing anything used is always a chance. I've known people who have purchased flawlessly maintained vehicles only to have them start to fail.

You can always look into an extended warranty if you are not sure.

Awesome thank you! About the Infiniti inspections.... Do you think they're going to give me a load of bull just to get my $ "in case I buy the car" or do you think they will be perfectly honest?

If they are not the dealership selling the car then I would expect them to be completely honest.

I feel safer going to someone who works on infinitis all day every day but we all know how much mechanics are... Kinda like they try and do if you go to some random oil change place. "Well, you need this that this that, we can do it for you today for X amount of dollars"

That's fine if they are warning you about things that do or may need fixing.

Browse through the maintenance schedules listed in the owners manual, if you can find one online. They will give you an idea what and when Infiniti expects parts to be replaced, etc. If you can't find a manual then you can browse this: http://www.infinitig37.com/maint-sched.html

[audtatious]

I would be on the alert for BS. Honestly I am kind of wishing I took my car to a dealership to get it checked out (not sure how much that would cost).

Audtatious - Is there anything in a lease contract mandating an oil change every XXX miles?? -- If you bought car that was leased, how would you know if the owner bothered to change the oil? (sorry if this is off subject)

Yeah, I have no idea how much an inspection would cost. Heck, I'm not even sure they do them...but I assume they would be willing.

I've never leased an Infiniti so I don't know what is in the paperwork. Oil change schedule in the owners manual is 3/3000 or 6/7500. Most people probably go 5k. You won't know if the prior owner bothered to change the oil or not as they don't require proof.

[EPhilly]

Ohh I thought he meant BS from the seller. Agree, I would think they'd be pretty honest.

Aud - Thanks! Didn't think there would be any way to check oil changes on a lease. (The car I bought was a lease is why I was wondering)