I bought an Acura! Update #1

Hey guys! Today’s post is a bit different from other posts. I bought a car and wanted to share with you the details. I was planning to change my old car this year for a newer model because I wasn’t sure how long my 14-years old Honda Civic is going to last. So, I put aside $10,000 to buy a reliable used car in case my old car breaks down.

My 14 years old Honda Civic

My friend is a car dealer with access to auctions to buy and sell cars. Before looking for regular used cars, I asked my friend to screen the auction run list for good cars. We found a slightly damaged Acura CSX 2010 that was written off by the insurance company, because the body shop estimated the repair cost at around $10,000. The book value of this car is around $11,000 CAD because it’s a premium trim with leather seats and navigation system.


Buying at the auction can be very tricky because you can’t see the car in person. Picture visualization is the only option. However, the auction claimed that the car starts and drives. We inspected the damages based on pictures and estimated repair cost at around $1,500 max.

Damages:

• Bumper 
• Fender 
• Headlight 
• Wheel 
• Right quarter panel 

There’s no way these damages cost 10K to repair. So we decided to bid on this car and we got it for $4,200 + auction fees and taxes. We picked this car from Hamilton and drove it to Montreal with no problems. We placed the bumper back on the brackets, swapped the wheel with a spare and we were good to go. It was a smooth ride, but goddamn Toronto traffic is a nightmare. I took us 3 hours just to pass Toronto.

So far this car costed me $5,000 and all I have to do is buy some parts to fix it. Since this car is 8 years old, it shouldn't be hard to find replacing parts for it. Even if used, that's fine with me. But first, I will find out at my body shop if the bumper and the fender can be repaired. The wheel is leaking air so it has to be repaired at the special wheel shop.

I will post updates with pictures very soon.