I did everything in my power to ensure I got a great car. I did my research. I prepared the documents ahead of time. I reviewed the Carfax; I bought a second document for 24.99 to see if it had anything different.

Know your goals

It's important to know your goals with car shopping, What Kind of car you want, What works for you. I decided pretty quickly I wanted a Honda. I wanted a car that could last for a very long time. I also had a 1986 450 Honda Rebel Motorcycle. Which made me more crazy about the Honda brand.

• I wanted something low miles about 50,000 miles or less.
• I had a budget of $11,000, But I wanted to shoot much lower if possible.

Me And my old 1986 Honda Rebel Motorcycle! I painted over the address in the photo. Thats why there is discoloration

I fell in love with this Honda Civic Coupe! Only 28,000 miles and it cost 10,000. It seemed so perfect, and what a great deal!

BRING A MECHANIC

I brought a friend of mine, and he helped A TON! But neither one of us are mechanics. Try and bring a car mechanic to the dealership or wherever you are looking at cars. Or test drive it to your mechanic.

I didn't think this was necessary; I checked the carfax. My car only has 28,000 miles on it. There's no way in hell anything bad happened to it... Right?

My friend and I even popped the hood to see if anything was stupid obvious to us.... I was looking for obvious leaking or damaged. And my friend noticed a lot of corrosion at the bottom of the battery. The battery was changed a year before. So It didn't seem like a huge deal.
The bad corrosion from the old battery

When we test drove it. My friend slammed on the breaks to check if they worked. We turned on the air conditioning, and the heaters. I felt like we did a really good job checking things.

I bought it!

After Purchase

A couple of days after buying it. I started learning my car more, The scratches. The little stains here and there. I started feeling kinda angry with the previous owner. I felt like they didn't care about my car.
I also noticed that the passenger door doesn't lock automatically. I have to lock it on my own.
That was annoying, But still a minor issue.

I always insisted on having a mechanic take a look after I bought the car just to see if there were any "unknown" problems. I read an article that Carfaxes aren't always 100% Accurate because sometimes things aren't reported.

Great right? You want to buy something super expensive. It's scary to think something that seems "foolproof" Isn't 100% perfect after all.

The Mechanic

My car drives great, So I assumed I wouldn't get bad news, The day before I had to buy a new rubber holder for my car battery, Because that was broken. It cost me 5.00 So No biggie; I installed it myself even.

When I popped the hood, My mechanic froze...
" This car has been in an accident."

He determined this in less than five minutes of looking under the hood. What... The... Hell.
He noticed the simplest things that I so easily overlooked. Because I didn't know what I was looking for... So as educational purposes I will show you...

• He also noticed more crazy things, Like little repaints here and there.
  He pointed them out, But I still couldn't see it.
  

• Wrinkling on the side of the inside hood.

• The hood was painted because of it's dull, ugly gray color. It didn't even have tags.
  

(I had no idea what under the hood was supposed to look like, So I assumed it was okay. )

• There were repainted areas on the outside of my car. He could see a slight color difference. But I couldn't tell.

• Zip ties on things instead of actual clips. ( They were trying to save money in any way they could)... Jerks!
  

• Lots of "off market" parts.

• The Grille thing on the front was replaced

Then There were other things unrelated to the accident. But still an issue.

• The undercarriage was ripped to shreds. Part of the rubber or plastic had been dragging. I wish I had a before picture Because it looked horrific. Like it looked like A torn up piece of fruit that I could just peel the layers of the bottom of my car off, Until nothingness. Scary!
  After he salvaged the mess that was under my car
  

He determined that the accident it was involved in most likely

• Was 20-30 miles per hour.
• Hit the left side of my car.
• Could have been just from moving it around, and wasn't too serious.
• Probably costed a few thousand in damages.
• Obviously wasn't reported.

I was really scared

Would I lose the money I paid for the car? Would I have to return the car, and find another? I left the car to be looked at more carefully.

The results

I got lucky, While the repairs were sloppy in a lot of ways, More than I listed. The job had been done (mostly) correct.
I was expecting a huge list of repairs needed, and possibly a 1,000 +
bill.
My mechanic also didn't hold back; He would tell me if he felt I should take it back. But he still felt that I had gotten a good deal overall. The only thing that He felt needed repairing right way was the undercarriage, and I was expecting to replace it, But he surprisingly fixed it nicely. The total came to just $80.00, and I plan to get the door fixed so it can lock which will cost me an additional $260.00, But It's not something I "absolutely" have to do. Everything else works. It's just an inconvenience, Which I want to fix.
So while I feel like punching some people at the dealership. I am happy that I get to keep my car! I also learned a lot for my next car trip.

It's kinda hard when you are getting your first car, I feel like many of us don't know what we are doing. I hope to learn the inside of my car so that I can repair simple things on my own. Also so I'll have enough experience to examine my next car before I purchase it.

So for those of you who rely 100% on the carfax.

Don't.

Yes! Check it. But Don't let that be 100% of your decision process. That was my biggest mistake. I assumed everything was fine because of the Carfax. and I thought for sure I wouldn't be one of the "unlucky" People who got a car that had undisclosed information. But who knows, Maybe this happens a lot more than we think it does!

You may not know for sure what your car has been through.
My car wasn't treated very nicely for its five years of life and has only been driven 28,800 miles. But I feel lucky that things weren't worse. I hope to be a much better owner to my car!