 Used cars and trucks are sold legitimately all the time. However, too
many vehicles are sold using false promises by unscrupulous salespeople
to entice consumers to purchase ‘lemons.' These often-unroadworthy
vehicles might be automobiles written off by insurance companies but
then repaired cosmetically for resale. Other times, the odometers might
be rolled back. Consumer complaints usually include verbal
misrepresentation of the condition of the vehicle, non-disclosure of
previous damage, and claims against the vehicle.
Automobile Fraud Frustrating to Canadian Used Car Owners
There are very few things more frustrating than buying a product and finding out later that you were mislead or defrauded. If you think you have been the victim of fraudulent or deceptive business practices, you should immediately contact your provincial consumer protection agency for help getting compensation. But how do you avoid getting conned in the first place?
The best way to determine the future performance of your vehicle is to know its past history. But car salespeople may either mislead, hide or not even know the real history of that used auto. So how do you uncover the details from independent sources.
I trust just three sources whenever considering a used car purchase: LemonAid by Phil Edmonston, Carfax (an online VIN tracking system) and my local Canadian Automobile Association vehicle inspection service.
Canadian author Phil Edmonston is founder and past president of the non-profit Automobile Protection Association (1968-1987), a former elected member of Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports magazine) Board of Directors, and a colleague of Ralph Nader.
The American-born Edmonston is author of 125 best-sellers focusing on consumer rights and the world-wide automobile industry over the past 30 years. You can purchase these books or even just borrow them free from your local library.
Lemon-Aid new and used car/truck guides seek to inform and protect Canadians in an industry often criticized for its dishonesty and exaggerated claims. These guides also focus on warranties and confidential service bulletins that automakers swear don't exist.
By giving consumers the exact bulletin, repair memo, or news clipping reproduced from the original, neither the dealer nor automaker can weasel out of doing the right thing for you.
By tracking industry recalls, technical bulletins and repair reports, Edmonston is able to build an overall profile of every make and model of vehicle available in North America. He rates the cars, trucks and minivans accordingly. The results may surprise you. Sometimes it takes years for a fundamental flaw to become apparent - rust hot spots, transmission issues, engine breakdowns, etc. Edmonston's organization gives you the details of these faults, so you can make an intelligent choice when narrowing your search for a used vehicle.
That's been helpful by steering me away from problem-plagued makes and models. There is no point even looking at certain automobiles if you know they are likely to be lemons right from the day of manufacture.
But while using Lemon-Aid eliminates the most problematic vehicles from my used automobile search, it doesn't tell me anything about the specific history of the car or truck I'm about to purchase.
How do I know that the salesperson or owner is not lying about the mileage, damage or ownership history of this particular automobile?
That's where CarFax comes to my rescue. It's the most complete database of vehicle histories in Canada and the United States of America. The Virginia-based company accesses 4,400 different information sources and a database of more than 2 billion records to compile reports that are e-mailed almost instantaneously to its customers. By tracking every vehicle's unique VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) throughout North America, CarFax can give you amazing details about its possibly checkered past history.
"We literally have every car on the road in our database back to 1981," said Carfax Vice President of Marketing Scott Fredericks. He notes that 1981 was when the U.S.A. government accepted the VIN as a standard tracking code for a vehicle's history. "Think of the Carfax as the DNA of the car - the Carfax report never forgets."
Was the vehicle written off for salvage? Was it a lease or rental car? What is the most recent mileage recorded on the odometer? Did the truck from out-of-province, or even out of country?
Carfax charges $19.99 for a single report and $24.99 for an unlimited number of reports for one month. That's pretty cheap peace of mind before I write a cheque for thousands of dollars.
And finally, when I've narrowed my search down to a single used car, I request a 143-point vehicle inspection by my provincial CAA organization. This services runs $135-$155 for members ($165-$175 for non-members), so I only use it when I'm absolutely ready to buy.
CAA inspectors can catch a wide variety of hidden problems: evidence of an unreported accident (over-spray paint, misaligned panels, poorly fitting doors/trunk lids); excessive body corrosion; alignment issues causing uneven tire wear and tear; water damage and myriad other potential trouble spots.
Doing your due diligence, should help you avoid most problems buying a used car in Canada.
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