Advice for Buying Used Car reviewed/repaired by selling dealership - Need independent inspection?

copper2016

I am considering purchasing a 2013 Mazda 5 with 70 K miles on it from a known Toyota dealership. The dealership did the 160-point inspection on the car and provided a clean Carfax (single owner, no known accidents or other concerns). The dealership replaced the four tires and front rotors. They also did the alignment when we expressed concerns re: pulling to the right during our test drive at high speeds. Do you think we should also be getting an independent inspection (they are fine with us doing so) or is this necessary?

stever

Carfax misses stuff.

A "160 point" inspection is often just marketing. The fact that the dealer actually replaced the tires and rotors and did an alignment is a good sign though - plenty of inspected cars pass with mis-matched tires or worse.

It can be cheap insurance to have your own mechanic do a pre-purchase inspection, but I've skipped taking my own advice before.

kyfdx

copper2016 said:

I am considering purchasing a 2013 Mazda 5 with 70 K miles on it from a known Toyota dealership. The dealership did the 160-point inspection on the car and provided a clean Carfax (single owner, no known accidents or other concerns). The dealership replaced the four tires and front rotors. They also did the alignment when we expressed concerns re: pulling to the right during our test drive at high speeds. Do you think we should also be getting an independent inspection (they are fine with us doing so) or is this necessary?

It's like any used car. Plus, it's not "certified" if it's a Mazda at a Toyota dealership.

Treat it like any car from a private seller.

copper2016

Thanks for your responses! True, it's not truly "certified" but there is a dealership inspection process and they provided me with the printout of the work they've done. The dealership also provides a limited warranty (60 days/2500 miles) for any major repairs - which I think is essentially the MA required lemon law for a car with this mileage.

Mr_Shiftright

I always get my used cars inspected. The dealer is not a disinterested party and therefore can't be completely impartial in judgement.

copper2016

After taking in your responses and thinking it over, we've gone ahead and scheduled with our own mechanic to have the car looked over. Plus, I found a review of this dealership (which I'd thought had a pretty good name around here) and someone had a pretty negative experience with a non-Toyota used sale that made me feel like it would be better to have an impartial eye on the car before laying down the cash. Thanks again!