Kevin Trifaro

Hey guys. I've been wanting to get an Evo IX for a long time, but could never afford one. Fortuntely, I am in a position where I can buy one now! I have been searching around and I was contacted by a person on FB who is willing to sell a RR Evo IX MR to me for a pretty cheap price and the car has fairly low miles for the price. Other RR Evo IX's I have seen with the same miles are around 5-7k more than what the asking price is. I'm assuming there is something potentially wrong with the car, and I am aware that the MR models tend to have the weaker transmission. The other issue I can potentially seeing is the car is located in a state where snow is fairly common, so rust is something I am worried about. After researching rust removal, I'm not as worried about that because it was much cheaper than I had expected. The car is too far for me to go inspect, but from the group of photos he has sent me, the car looks extremely clean. What do you guys think? Thanks.

cleong

Make the trip to inspect the car in person.

Kevin Trifaro

Unfortunately the car is roughly 1600 miles away, and with my current work schedule. I am unable to do that.

iD33

Resist the temptation. The potential negatives of buying a car without proper inspection can be costly.

cleong

A whole bunch of nice photos won't tell you if there's a transfer case whine, if the clutch slips at WOT, or if it has a problem cold-starting. How about CarFax or service records? It gives an insight how it's been used.

If your work schedule doesn't allow you to travel the 1,600 miles to view the car, would you have the time to have the car fixed up plus cash for the repairs? If you really still want it, an pre-purchase inspection at a recommended workshop of your (not the seller's) choice, so you know exactly what you're getting into.

Kevin Trifaro

Absolutely true with the photos, I am waiting for videos to be sent. Seller says the car runs and drives. I am also going to be grabbing the vin in a few days (Seller told me he's out of town this week) so I am definitely going to pull the records on the car. I would have the time and money to fix it once it gets to me. The only issue is my work schedule changes almost every week, hence why it's a bit difficult for me to get there physically. Money is not too tight ad in roughy 3 weeks my rent is going to drop approx 600 a month as my girlfriend gets her nursing license transferred from out home state. I appreciate the pre inspection advice. I'm definitely going to look more into that. I recently moved to NC and since being here roughly a month and a half, I have seen a grand total of 3 evos. The closest one to me approx 100 miles away and the used car dealership doesn't even want to return emails let alone sell the car. Thanks for the help

evoforstevo

iTrader: (15)

Send it to a performance shop for a pre purchase inspection. Make sure they include a compression check.

iLLevo_

I don't care what his car has. You never jump on the first car you see. Think about how long you've wanted this car.. think about EXACTLY what your looking for (year/model/edition/color/mods?) This is your chance to get exactly what you want.. Know exactly how much $ you are willing to spend on this evo. (Cash is king. You just might be able to get an evo that you think is out of your price range if the person needs the money enough) There are a ton of well modified healthy running Evo's for sale out there. There are also people trying to get over on you. With that being said there are a couple things you can do to make sure that the car your buying is well maintained/taken care of. I suggest getting the VIN number off of all of the cars you are interested in and see if somebody out there can pull up the car fax for you. (Or Pay for it yourself it's not a ton of money and it's well well worth it) When I bought my car I had a buddy of mine check out the vin number.. after that I was completely sold on my car.. With the car fax you can tell many things by looking at it... it has how many owners the car has had.... service work... maintenance... oil changes... a complete record of all dmv interactions the car has had. My car had zero accidents.. meticulous oil changes every 3k miles.. also.. don't forget! Ask for paperwork!!! A good owner of an evo is going to have every single receipt for all work/mods done to the car.Take my word for it. This is what you do.



Open up 6 tabs in your pc/cell phone browser.

Scan and browse these sites daily and write down/bookmark potential Evo's
Utilize the filters on the websites too.. year/model/color and also price range!

1. Go to the CARS FOR SALE section of EvolutionM.net Put up a WTB post. Put down exactly what your looking for and make sure to bump your post every so often (don't go nuts with it but make sure people are seeing your post) garage talk app is great for this... so you can see when people respond to your threads and you can message people back and forth and talk...Also... scour the evo cars for sale section a few times a day... there are many that pop up for sale that are great.. don't be afraid to ask people on the forums if they have heard/know of the car in question.

2. Autotrader.com

3. Cars.com

4 edmunds.com

5. Craigslist (can be sketchy but you never know)
6. Autolist.com

Also the apps on your smartphone for all of these are great.

As well.. you can have the car inspected at a shop of your choice..if the person has nothing to hide they won't mind that.

Take your time. Don't rush it. This is your chance to get an insane evo for a good price.. just do your research... know what you want. Don't settle. This way you'll always be happy.

P.s. When you go on your test drives.. make sure that you test the car out thoroughly... ask to go on the highway so you can shift thru ALL of the gears on the transmission

Check for rust!

Kevin Trifaro

I appreciate the advice. I have been lurking on this website and all the other car selling pages like auto trader, cars.com etc for an evo since march of last year, as that was when I paid off my Cobalt SS. It's even to the point where my girlfriend gets mad at me if I simply mention "Evo" around her LOL. I am currently waiting for the VIN from the owner, but it might be a few days before I get it since he's out of town. I have also been looking for perfomance shops near his area. Hopefully i'll hear back from either one soon, but probably nothing until after monday. From what i've been able to gather based on the seller's FB page is that he has 2 evos, one is the rally red one he's offering to sell, and the other has a color changing wrap. What I do know is that the car has a clean title, decently low mileage (80k) and very little mods, mainly suspension work and an intake from what he's told me. I know that for another 7k I can contact a guy roughly 150 miles from me that is selling one in rally red, but I figure even if this car has transmission issues, I can get the transmission rebuilt for less than buying the other car. A buddy of mine who's ASE certified and also has an evo VIII has been giving me advice, and knowing more information is always good. I really appreciate the advice everyone. I'll keep updating this as I get more information.

DAMNhe'sFAST

If it looks too good to be true it probably is. You mentioned lower miles than usual and on the rarer colors like RR and electric blue the miles are likely rolled back (my friends dad is in the limo biz; he rolled back his MKZ from 47k miles to 7k yesterday, no joke). There's a lot of rolled back cars out there. Stick to the cars that are in your area so you can look at them in person. A shop inspection is good if you can. Keep an eye out and you will find your new baby. Since your new to evos stay away from the heavily modified cars. An evo 9 with intake exhaust and tune is much faster than you think. Good luck with your search!!! I'm looking forward to updates as I was in your exact position 2 years ago.

codgi

iTrader: (22)

Yeah you are doing the right thing now: trying to get a local shop to take a look if you can't go and drive yourself. Too many "put back to stock" cars that have been beaten up and have serious issues to risk these days. Good luck and hope you find something good soon!

nemsin

iTrader: (19)

There are auto inspection services that you can hire to go out and inspect the car. They paint meter all the panels, etc. Some even offer no lemon guarantees. Might be worth a few hundred $ for the peace of mind.

kpt6

iTrader: (126)

You should do society a favor and report this person for fraud. If you don't, that's on you in the future - watch yourself wind up with a rolled back odometer.

Generally a Carfax will help as far as rollbacks go. It's stupid not to buy one of those. They aren't always flawless but they can pay for themselves.

Kevin Trifaro

Pretty sure that's illegal to roll back the odometer. I plan on getting a shop to look at it. I wanted to find one that is as close to stock as possible because theres no fun in buying it pre built. My cobalt SS with a few bolt ons and a tune went from 260/260 at the crank to 294/368ft lbs at the wheels. Gotta love turbos.

Kevin Trifaro

Right now, I looked at one nearby to where he is and I sent an email to a performance shop. Im assuming based on google prices that it'll cost me roughly 100$ to get the test done, but I have no clue if they do compression or paint meter, or no lemon guarantee. I'll have to wait until I get a response on monday or tuesday.