Discussions

Buying a good used vehicle is a nightmare:  
 
I am guessing that 95 percent of vehicles advertised have something wrong with them. (the rest, well...perhaps was a parent car, or someone is leaving the province, etc)  
 
Most of us buyers want to know that when paying $3500 and up for a car that they get some idea of what an "AS IS SALE" really means.  
 
I have offered sellers the money to take the car in to get pre-safety done with a guarantee to buy it for their asking price. Most guys won't go for it saying...it's "SOLD AS IS". Even if I backed out of sale, they now have the "PAPER". A win for the seller! My only guess is they just won't disclose the info, though they likely know the issues. (Would they not get more for the car if they posted the pre-safety inspection sheet?)  
 
If you are like me, most of us just want some form of guarantee that the vehicle can be made road worthy with very little (under $1000 work to be done to safety).  
 
What are your views?

If you want any type of guarantee, you need to purchase from a dealership that can provide it. The definition of 'as is' means that it is up to you as the buyer to either take it as it sits, or pass.  
 
From Wikipedia:  
"As is" is a phrase used to indicate the existing condition of something without any modifications or improvements. The term is employed in legal, business, and consumer settings to establish that an item or property is being sold or provided in its current condition, with no warranties or guarantees regarding its quality.  
 
It sounds like you are bitter because you didn't do enough reading about what the term 'as is' means.

We've both bought and sold a number of used cars over the years, both with safeties and not safetied. Most recently, we bought a used car about a year ago.  
 
Most cars under $7500 would not have a safety these days. That's just the price of cars. You might get lucky and find one for less, but the days of a decent used car for $2000 are long gone.  
 
Usually people who sell them without safeties are because it's not worth the hassle - they are selling the car mostly for parts or to someone who can do the work themselves or for cheap. They just want the car gone. For us, we know it would probably be a big repair bill, but we can't be bothered either due to time or lack of cash. So the price reflects that.  
 
In short, if you're looking at a $3500 price point for a used car, you are unlikely to find one that's safetied. You might luck out, but we ended up spending considerably more than that when we bought a 10 year old small, basic car last year (safetied).

if they are refusing your request it is better to walk away.  
Also keep in mind that a safety is an inspection on a defined list of items at the time of inspection only. The safety inspection does not for example tell you if the the engine is about to fail

It is not 2010s anymore. Back then, it was easy to safety a vehicle. Now it is impossible  
 
I have bought cars that were under $5000 with a safety. Now cars are over $7000 and most of them are old and high KMS

I've sold a few vehicles with no safety. If a buyer wanted to take it to a mechanic for an inspection, I'd be fine with that. But I can also see how a seller who's getting a lot of interest in their vehicle might not want to wait around while a potential buyer takes a car for an inspection.

For a car at that price point it’s more hassle than it’s worth to the seller. I totally understand your thinking and if they’re willing to it’s as close to a guarantee as you’d get. Unfortunately though the odds are that the seller is going to know that someone else is going to come along with cash and no hassle to them. The used car market is tough these days due to the changes to safeties. At least when it wasn’t so expensive to have the inspection done sellers had value in it, but now it’s so expensive that more cars are just being dumped “as is” because the investment in safeties is too high to recover upon sale.

depends on history of car at MPI.  
 
plus if you are paying that low. Bring someone knowledgeable with you for test drives.  
 
when I sold mine (way over asking price), many people interested. Won't have held it for anyone. First one with the cash got it.  
 
Still see it driving around (now 15 years old); oh I miss that great car.

No. Unless the safety is under 1 year old, you have to get a new safety in order to register the vehicle

If safety is over 1 year old then car is NOT safetied. Personally I wouldn't buy without safety but at the same time I wouldn't sell without a new safety either unless trading in to a dealer.

I too would not buy a vehicle without a pre-safety. We too have offered to pay for it, just so we know. I absolutely would not buy without this, and I'm fine to pay for it even if walking away from the sale. Better to be out the cost of the pre-safety than to have a vehicle that cannot be safetied (I know of someone who did this thinking not much needed to be done but the amount of rust it was nearly impossible to get it safetied). If they won't let you pay for one that raises a lot of red flags. If they can sell without it thats great, but personally would not buy it.

Even little old me. Can tell if a car has too much rust before buying. So funny.