Pontiac G8 Forum banner

Buying an "airbag deployed" car?

22K views 30 replies 11 participants last post by  Jeff92se 
#1 ·
Ill make it short and sweet. I am considering a G8 GT with a clean title, but had an accident that made the front airbag deployed within the first year.

How sensitive is the airbag deployment (small fender bender, or major accident)? Does anyone have any personal insight towards buying cars with an accident listed on the carfax?

I plan on keeping the car for a long time, so I am not too concerned about the resale value later down the road. The car looks super clean, and has decently low mileage on it.

Thanks in advance for any input!
 
#2 ·
Dealer or private party?
At the least, have it taken to reputable collision shop and thoroughly inspected put it in the air, an alignment rack, etc.
Inspect it for bends or wrinkles on structural components.
Check the carpets for dampness, could be water leaks.
Check door gaps and operation, excessive wind noise.
Check windshield for original equipment marks.
If possible, find out if one or more bags deployed.
Check with your insurance company if the title is branded, some will not insure them.
Have the dealer run the vin and see if it has been flagged and the warranty voided.
If you're borrowing, let the lending institution know the title situation.

I know I've forgotten something. Others need to post up.
 
#3 ·
If there is a paper trail for the accident, try to find out the extent of damage and what was repaired. This should give you a clearer picture of how bad it was.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Is it a gray g8 with camaro rims by chance. Think it had black and red leather . Saw one a month ago that was going to auction that was front ended and airbag deployed.
I think it was declared totalled and am not sure how it works when it comes to auctioned off totalled vehicles. I am almost sure if it was that one, it would have to of been disclosed .
 
#6 ·
Wow! Thanks for all the quick replies!

Its at a dealership, its a one owner, its blue, and the car was bought brand new from the same dealership selling it used now. The dealership states it is a clear title, and spoke to the previous owner about the specifics about the crash....but im not believing the story 100% just because of previous experiences with car dealerships.

Has anyone taken a car to a shop from a dealership to get a second opinion before purchasing? If so, do you just ask to take it on a long test drive?
 
#8 ·
I haven't personally done this per say. I had my friend slash personal mechanic look mine over as well as me. When I was selling used cars ,I would have customers that would ask to take it to their own guy or a shop . We always let a person do this as long as their mechanic wasn't in the next state. They'll charge you of course but always good to get an unbiased opinion( there not the ones trying to sell you the car ) .they'll check to see if it will pass its inspection and so on . Probably take it for a ride. I always check for body lines and color match to see if there is an signs of body work . Good luck
 
#10 ·
I quite often get customers bringing in cars for a pre-purchase inspection.
Tell the dealer that you want to get an inspection done by your local mechanic.
I have found in the past if the dealer um's & ah's - he is hiding something.
If he throws you the keys & says no problem then he is confident that he has a good
car for sale.
People often ask me if I think if the cars been in a previous bingle - & I say to them
if it has but repaired correctly, most often than not the car is better than before.

You have to remember that I'm in Australia, but here there a crooks who buy cars from salvage auctions, cheaply repair them, make them shiny, then sell them again to innocent buyers.
I've had cars brought in for inspection & have found cleaning rags stuffed into the
horn button & air bag missing altogether....
In Australia if you buy from a dealer you are protected if he sells you a dodgy vehicle.
I would assume it is the same in the US..
Have it checked, if it has been repaired correctly, I wouldn't hesitate at buying it IMO..
 
#13 ·
i have never seen a car that was in a collision that was "better" than before (maybe on a foxbody mustang lol) .. that's what people say when they buy a car that has had prior repairs lol.. It detracts from the value of the car and your offer should respect that. Pay the right price for the car and you'll do fine if everything checks out. Take it to a reputable BODY shop and let them tell you the extent of the previous damage.. Prepare to pay for the inspection and make sure you tell the body shop manager you want his blessing on the purchase as you're hiring them for this inspection, you want a detailed report..

Better than that would be to get the pics the insurance company took when it was involved in the crash. have the dealer contact the original owner or his insurance company and make the request.. Something the dealership (if they were on the ball) would have had upon the trade. This way when someone like you comes along there's no question about what and why something needed to be resprayed or replaced.

On my "resurrection" thread i took 1000 pics of every step (inside outside, engine and body) because, one day, when i do want to sell my G8, i can answer any questions one may have..

Best of luck with your purchase but DO NOT buy it without a good body shop inspecting it.
 
#14 ·
I'll give you an example of better than new - albeit not common, but nonetheless
true & acurate.
My son bought his new Commodore ute home - bought it BRAND NEW from the dealer
he works at.
That night we're giving it the whole once over, wash, polish, new wheels etc.
Every time I walked past the right side of the car the rear quarter just didn't look right..
There were tiny buff marks in the paint & although I couldn't put my finger on it I
thought something was wrong.
(I think my mind was saying new car, thats how it is)
Anyway, about a month later an elderly lady backed into it..
We took it to our local body shop for repair, and soon after my son gets a call from the shop owner asking when the rear quarter was repaired ??? WTF ???
My son said the car was 1 month old & had NEVER been hit...
The painter had the car up on a hoist & told us to come around, and sure enough there
was overspray, buffing compound etc under the car, and he could point out where the whole rear quarter had been repainted. He said that the quarter panel had not been replaced, but repaired for sure.
Anyway, when we got the car back, it now "looked" right -
BETTER THAN BEFORE........
 
#15 ·
...well, someone bought it before the car finished being inspected and before even taking a look at the car in person. I have about given up buying a g8 for a decent price. I can't see myself paying over 20 grand for a 5 year old car with high mileage. It will happen someday though, no doubt about it
 
#16 ·
Hey ,don't give in. Keep your eyes peeled on the for sale section. You'll find the one. I searched and waited a full year before I found mine. These cars hold they're resale value quite well,so you might pay a little more then you want . That's what happened to me. Good luck
 
#17 ·
Hey seymourless, this car didn't happen to be for sale in South Eastern MI did it?

If so I took a look at it. They had it advertised with 16,500 miles, it really had 27K and some change. It was also in a reasonably severe collision involving the front drivers side corner of the car, it appears the frame/suspension was repaired well (everything was straight and the paint was nice) but it was bad enough to break the wheel because one of them was clearly replaced and didn't match the others (conveniently not shown in pictures). There was other damage around the vehicle, paint scratches, chips, etc. All of the other matching 3 wheels were curbed to hell, to the point I was surprised a couple even held air! The trim around the trunk enclosure was all cracked, the panel on the trunk lid had multiple broken tabs and was basically just hanging there, and the cover for the battery was very deformed (although this seems to be pretty common from the ones I've looked at). After sitting in the car the center console was LOOSELY attached and moved quite freely, it had clearly been taken out. The E-brake handle moved side to side ~2-3" total, and didn't have much resistance when pulled up. Lots of little pieces damaged on the interior as well, some pieces didn't line up. The accident deployed the side curtain airbag which WAS NOT replaced. The display in the gauges was constantly flashing something along the lines of "warning: airbag deployment". Even if I changed the display there was still a "!" and it would pop back up eventually to tell me there was a fault in the airbag system. The valvetrain was noisy, but it was a cold day and it clearly hadn't been started in awhile. Engine seemed to run well overall. After some questions they let slip that they fix the cars in house, hence why the airbag hadn't been replaced (likely too expensive).

Long story short (ha, got ya!) they were asking $18K for a stryker blue 2009.5 with the bluetooth and everything with only 27K miles on it. I lowballed them (think LOW) just to see their reaction and he accepted the offer immediately. While test driving another one later that day I struck up a conversation with the salesman and without telling him the dealership he guessed where I had gone. He was looking at another "smoking deal" at that place awhile back and came to the conclusion that's all they deal in is totaled cars that have been repaired.

My assessment, unless you were going to gut the interior and turn it into a race car you likely dodged a bullet. It was very tempting at my lowball offer tho!
 
#18 · (Edited)
There is a higher mileage gxp up for sale in the forum but don't remember his location. hell the warranty is up in a year or within. So if its got a year's worth of driving before you hit the 100k marker ,Ehh go for it . Plus its a gxp.
It's got 79k for under 22. Oh or best offer . Guy lives in Houston
 
#19 ·
I looked at his. Honestly I want the automatic, I have another fun car with a manual in it. That does look like it would be a great deal for someone in the market for a GXP tho!
 
#20 ·
Yea its fair given the mileage and issues. I don't know how far Houston is from you guys but maybe the o.p. may wanna take a look at thread.
 
#22 ·
Ahh, oh yea lol. Although I've read where people have gone some distances to get theirs.
 
#23 ·
I am in Virginia.

The car I was trying to look at was in Virginia also. It was a 2009.1 sbm with 66k miles for 16k. It just pissed me off that I tried to go look at this past weekend, but was unable to because it was in the shop for brakes apparently. This has been the closest G8 to me that was decently priced. There is a 2009.1 silver with 35k miles that they are asking 26k!! I test drove it because I wanted more time behind the wheel of a G8 :driving:

Thanks for the gxp heads up...ill go take a look at it.
 
#24 ·
No prob .like I said, in time you'll find the one. The gxp is in Houston. That's far. Again good luck with yoursearch
 
#28 · (Edited)
That's funny cause the one I saw in my area that I mentioned before was a dark grey with black and red interior . No joke . Don't know when that one will go up for sale. It was declared a total and was supposed to go to Rochester n.y. to be auctioned. I'd assume some local guy there would buy it,,fix it and sell it . Keep your eyes peeled over the next couple months and see if it pops up on the web some where .

This was the car . No inside pic .
http://i1307.photobucket.com/albums/s583/funkygreens/IMAG0020_zpsf46d11ea.jpg
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top