Honda Stopping Production of 2005 Insight in March?

[figgy]

Edwin came from a Dodge dealer, but I talked to the original owner anyway. Condition was superb and no problems have come up other than the wiper nozzle $50 fix. They were a good dealership, and maybe I lucked out there...

Jane came through Craigslist from two wonderful caring owners who took great care of her. I had her checked by my dealer (wrote that into the sales contract), but she is just about perfect and we've had no problems with her at all.

We looked at another Insight (2000, 50k miles) from another private seller and we might have taken it but Jane was nicer. The seller seemed fine and the car was in good shape for the age and miles.

I hear you about croked quasi-corporate sellers. We were on the verge of going with an East LA crook who lied to us about the condition of the car (saying it was perfect etc.) and then was crazy enough to give us the contact information of the Honda dealership which was desperately trying to get the car to work again (it wasn't even driveable!).

The proof in the crooked pudding came out when we said, 'Great, we'll drive down tomorrow to pick it up' - suddenly the 24 hours for 'detailing' and 'cleaning' became 2 weeks for repairing a brutalized salvage car!

Anyway, my tiny experience is that not all car dealerships are bad, and most private sellers are honest, and these car wheeler dealers are the most crooked. I don't know if that extrapolates to the whole US.

I would go so far as to say that MOST INSIGHT owners are decent folk who take care of the their cars, so for the Insight you are probably more likely to get a good private seller than for other cars where folks don't care about their cars as much as Insight people.

In any case, no matter what, try to get to know the previous owners if at all possible, and view the car and drive it before having to make a final decision. If you are buying from a remote place, they should give you a better price to make up for the increased risk to you that they are scammers.

A private seller won't likely be selling a wrecked car to you, but a used car place might pick up a salvage car, dust it off, and try to foist it on you!

[Chris]

Well here is something interesting that I got in the newspaper today, although it is about a Honda Accord Hybrid, it does talk about the Insight and what Honda may plan do do with it after 2005. Click on link below to see the article. If the article is hard to see then put your cursor down at the right hand corner of the pic and a little image thingy will apear, click on it to enlarge it.

http://jupiter.walagata.com/w/sinestro/ ... brid_1.jpg

Continuation..........

http://jupiter.walagata.com/w/sinestro/ ... brid_2.jpg

[ElectricTroy]

Originally Posted by Foxpaw

Technically speaking, unless there's been some misrepresentation on the part of the seller, you could be sued for not buying it after winning the auction.

True, but how often does that happen? I've sold plenty of small items, the buyer never paid, ebay returned my listing fees, and that was the end of it.

Now a car is worth a couple thousand dollars, but it's still easier to just re-list the item than to try to sue the buyer.

[jsanford]

Originally Posted by Chris

I am not too fond of buy a used vehicle, I would rather stick with the new one because then whatever damage is done to it is done by me.

That's interesting...I've always had the opposite opinion. New cars depreciate the most their first year, and continue to do so at a great rate until around their third year or so.

The only new car I purchased was (ironically) right after I graduated from college, because I moved to a new city where I didn't know a soul. If you find a used car with very low miles, particularly a Honda or Toyota, the risk of finding problems are low. Certified used cars may even carry the same warranty--or better--than new.

The only trouble I had with a used car purchased with 21,000 miles was with a third-party alarm when I changed the battery, and the dealer fully compensated me for the hassle, as the alarm should've been removed in the first place. My pre-owned Insight was so close to new it still even had a bit of the smell, and I saved over $6000 what was being asked for new ones.