Quote:
Originally Posted by Insightful Trekker
AFAIK warranty "time" starts from the date of delivery to the original purchaser. You should also make _sure_ that the vehicle still has an enforcable warranty. Should it have been declaired a total loss, i.e. accident damage, flood damage that all warranties are null and void.
Call any Honda dealer with the VIN and they should be able to tell you. _BUT_ such is not 100% fool proof. There can be a "lag" time from declaration to entering into Honda's tracking system. How long you ask? I don't know but I'd bet no more than a few weeks.
HTH! 
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I plan to check the VIN with one of the VIN checking services out there, it's what I did for the last car I bought and the unlimited month that I bought spotted a few salvage cars along the way and it was nice to check the car that I was selling at the time too to make sure there wasn't any errors on record. I'll check with Honda via the VIN, do I need any more information other than the VIN to find out, could I just see a VIN posted online and call Honda to see or do I need more than that?
One of the reasons why I want to know the age of the car is not just for the warranty of the battery, but also because in the state of Minnesota, a car that is 10 years old becomes free of the 6.5% sales tax and instead an 'in-lieu' tax of $10 is due. It does require purchase price to be under a certain value to qualify as well, I'll have to look up the details. We also don't have emissions testing or any other inspections to deal with either as emissions has been discontinued since the late 90s.
So if I managed to get a car that was 10+ years, I'd only have to deal with this
$10.00 in-lieu tax
$10.50 plate fee
$ 8.00 title fee
$10.00 transfer tax
$ 3.50 public safety vehicle fee
$ 8.50 filing fee
$50.50 total, but I think there might be another $10 fee that I forgot so it would be around $60 probably.
In 2006 I gave the woman behind the counter $40 and got change back but I didn't need new plates so something has changed since then. Every year I think I give $20 for the registration renewal tax.
Minnesota is very old car friendly in this respect, we have tons of older Hondas and Toyotas on the road that look like they will be around until they rust out and their wheels fall off. Which says wonders about their reliability, less as much about steel body automotive construction.
At this point, unless I decide to wait a year, which I don't think I'll be doing, I think I'll just pay the sales tax, it should be around $300 or less for me anyway and I might be paying about that much to fly out to buy one and the warranty is always a nice bonus. ...but it still factors into the cost of buying the car so if the battery is fine and the mileage isn't too bad, or even if the battery is bad but the price is still appropriate, I'd know it sweetens the deal a little.
