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**Attention - Used Solstice Buyers! READ B/4 You Buy!!

25K views 26 replies 23 participants last post by  mousemeat 
#1 ·
I have been asked to pass along the following information:

Beware that there have been some used Solstices that have been in past floods. There are those who have purchased these cars and 'fixed them up' and are now selling them at very attractive pricing.

I am being told that many of these cars are showing up with a variety of electrical problems.

Please .... PLEASE make sure you do a car history report BEFORE you purchase any used Solstice!!
 
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#2 ·
:agree::agree::agree::agree:

I was still operating my SnapOn franchise during Katrina and was servicing two salvage yards. Within WEEKS of the hurricane EVERYBODY in the salvage industry was aware of the huge spike in flood cars. So was the auction industry. The salvage yards in the KC area were refusing to accept just about ANY vehicles from the impact areas as they were being hauled away from there in an attempt to dispose of them. Insurance companies were NOT worried about the disposition of these "totalled" cars. Flood car titles will usually be annotated.

When I was operating in S.E. Virginia there was massive flooding in eastern Virginia and some small towns like Franklin were under as much as 30-40 feet of water !!!!!!! About 2 months after the floods subsided EVERY car dealership and body shop I serviced had cars in their bays with interiors pulled out of them and carpets hanging everywhere. Gee, what a surprise.

RESEARCH THE CARS YOU ARE LOOKING AT !!!!!!!!!!!
 
#3 ·
You have to do your homework. Personally, if I cannot see a clean title and talk to the previous owner the deal is off... Always have a good mechanic look at the car as well.

Common sense goes a long way here!!

Good post MomsSol!!! With the flooding going on everywhere you have to be very careful when you are purchasing anything used :(
 
#4 ·
My brother in law once bought a brand new Ford truck that had been in a Johnstown flood in the 70s. It was marked way down but was sold as-is, no warranty.
 
#5 ·
Wholly agreed. :yesnod::yesnod: Living in Houston as I tend to do, when I was looking around for my used Sol, I bought from Phoenix, def very few floods there :lol: Also, for many people I know who have had flooded vehicles or otherwise wrecked, it has never shown up on a carfax history report. Of course it all depends on where you take it to get it fixed. My brother took my mother's 30th Anniversary Trans Am into a gas pump on prom night going about 110 (in a 35), it never came up on Carfax.
 
#6 ·
Car Fax



Is it a possibility a car could have been flooded and that not show up on a Carfax report? I've been under the impression the only isssues showing up on a CarFax report are the issues reported and repaired.
 
#9 ·
I'm thinking of buying a used 2006 Solstice from a private owner. He's owned it for 2 years and I've done a carfax to confirm this. I'm 63 and haven't ownered a sports car since 1970 (Triumph TR 250). It has 110,000 miles but seems to be in good condition. My question is is this car fairly reliable ? I'm too old to do my own work on the car so I I'm not looking for something that needs to be babied. Thoughts ?
 
#19 ·
DON'T trust Carfax! They rely on unsubstantiated reports from anonymous sources.

At trade-in I was astonished to find that Carfax listed my car as "totaled, owner repaired" when, in fact, it had never been in an accident.

It took weeks and threat of litigation to get them to amend the report.

Their business model relies on a false trust that their information is correct. If it isn't they have no way of knowing or verifying.
 
#18 ·
I missed this one. My 2 cents, being an 06, unless he's selling it dirt cheap like under 5k, I wouldn't do it unless he has all the service records and has replaced the wear parts. my 06 only has 50k and it's had a hard life. think it will need a clutch soon and the front end seems loose and the rearend clunks. interior has held up great except for the cop holder and the turn signal. convertible top needs some love too. my 08 on the other hand is awesome and a night and day difference. Id drive the 06, then find a newer one with about 40k miles and see how it drives before you make your decision. drive a gxp too.
 
#23 ·
I think it comes down to the area and how the roads are maintained. I bout a Trans-Am from Quebec once and it rotted before its time. There, ( at the time anyway) they used a lot of salt on the roads. Not here.

Also - I think the metal prep processes have gotten much better over the years. You hardly see rust anymore on cars, but you do see a lot of paint delamination in some areas.
 
#25 ·
I bought a'90 Corvette in 2004 that came from North Carolina. Shortly afterwards, it had an overheating problem. I removed the radiator for inspection-the flow test was okay, but I removed about 5-10 lbs of sand from between the fins. It had seen some "beach" service.
I bought an Intrepid from Texas with a good carfax. It had a junkyard engine in it, as I found out later.
As you said, beware!
 
#26 ·
I am trying to buy a flood damaged coupe. But it has drug out for months now. Losing interest in it. But I was going to do a complete restoration of the car as a keeper. I think an easy way to tell if one has been under water is look under the dash. Main cross member, all of them have some slight rust on them, but would guess a flood car would show real rust in that area. It can be seen by opening the driver side door and looking up into the dash along side the steering column, right side. I think there are photos in my Mallett restoration.

But if you are not willing to do everything to the car, I would avoid it. I know several that have flood damaged cars. Almost bought a Carbon Flash Redline. It was a nice car, had water over the front end of the car, at the bottom of the rotors, and was totaled. Some do not have much damage, but you have to look at them closely. The jest of this story is buyer beware.
 
#27 ·
back in November 0f 2016, purchased a silver-grey solstice...manual trans...had 30,450 miles total. It looks good, runs well..
has cloth type seats....in scoping it out, noticed a headlight was replaced..rubber is ok...just changed the oil, and replaced
the oil filter...btw, bought it for under 10 k.....will like to replaced the tires with fresh goodwill(s)
 
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