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Advice on a possible purchase

thaext

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I found a white 2020 non-R that I was about to try and make a deal happen and when I contacted the dealer, I was advised that the car that I'm interested in was stolen by a "prospective customer" and was involved in a car chase for about 20mins. The carfax is clean as of now, but the used car manager told me that there may be a report on the carfax in the near future.

The manager told me that the police put a spike strip and the thief drove through it and the dealer put on brand new tires. He also told me that something in the front was damaged and they fixed it. Going by the carfax, the front transmission cooler was replaced. Was wondering if I should run away as fast as possible, or see if they're open to negotiating?
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pilotgore

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I found a white 2020 non-R that I was about to try and make a deal happen and when I contacted the dealer, I was advised that the car that I'm interested in was stolen by a "prospective customer" and was involved in a car chase for about 20mins. The carfax is clean as of now, but the used car manager told me that there may be a report on the carfax in the near future.

The manager told me that the police put a spike strip and the thief drove through it and the dealer put on brand new tires. He also told me that something in the front was damaged and they fixed it. Going by the carfax, the front transmission cooler was replaced. Was wondering if I should run away as fast as possible, or see if they're open to negotiating?
Runā€¦.. if anything breaks youā€™ll always wonder if it was associated with that incident.

I mean, itā€™s your money, but whatā€™s peace of mind worth to you?
 

ScottyRyan2018

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Get a copy of the squad video of the chase. Buy the car. Play the video for family and friends. Tell them it was the best test drive you ever did ( minus the ass kicking at the end )
 
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RRM350

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Being a '20 you should be able to get the Ford CPO warranty which is almost as good as their extended warranty at least for the powertrain but with a deductible, assuming it's a Ford dealership I'd want that minimum at no cost.
 
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thaext

thaext

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Being a '20 you should be able to get the Ford CPO warranty which is almost as good as their extended warranty at least for the powertrain but with a deductible, assuming it's a Ford dealership I'd want that minimum at no cost.

Even with the car chase and all, the used car manager was still huffing and puffing about the car. While I totally agree that a cpo warranty at no cost should be a minimum, I'll see.
 

CANTWN4LSN

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I guess this puts a whole new spin on the advice on break-in to "drive it like you stole it".
Seriously with regard to that, I doubt the thief was conscientious enough to warm the engine temp up to 190 degrees before revving it above 4000rpm. Might be fine but I would always worry about that if I were to purchase it, including any other potential damage especially at the price point you are likely to pay for a 'new' car.
 

Stewert

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I found a white 2020 non-R that I was about to try and make a deal happen and when I contacted the dealer, I was advised that the car that I'm interested in was stolen by a "prospective customer" and was involved in a car chase for about 20mins. The carfax is clean as of now, but the used car manager told me that there may be a report on the carfax in the near future.

The manager told me that the police put a spike strip and the thief drove through it and the dealer put on brand new tires. He also told me that something in the front was damaged and they fixed it. Going by the carfax, the front transmission cooler was replaced. Was wondering if I should run away as fast as possible, or see if they're open to negotiating?
Stay away. Besides the fact the thiefs beat the living he'll out of it, he could of drove for miles on those flat tires. What ever the dealer told you, it's probably 10X worse.
 

BabyDoc1012

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Are they coming down on the price any, or are they sticking to the price? ā€œWe know what we got, donā€™t low ball isā€ šŸ˜‚ Good on the manager for telling you about it. I just wonder how a ā€œpotential customerā€ was able to steal it? Every test drive Iā€™ve been on in the 20 years a salesman has gone with me. Even if they had to squeeze into a tiny backseat. I would ask for a full list of damages and repairs and verify that OEM parts were replaced. Personally I wouldnā€™t buy it, but that is because my anxiety would have me freaking out every time I heard a squeak or noise I freak out thinking it is going to fall apart because it was stolen.
 

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thaext

thaext

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Are they coming down on the price any, or are they sticking to the price? ā€œWe know what we got, donā€™t low ball isā€ šŸ˜‚ Good on the manager for telling you about it. I just wonder how a ā€œpotential customerā€ was able to steal it? Every test drive Iā€™ve been on in the 20 years a salesman has gone with me. Even if they had to squeeze into a tiny backseat. I would ask for a full list of damages and repairs and verify that OEM parts were replaced. Personally I wouldnā€™t buy it, but that is because my anxiety would have me freaking out every time I heard a squeak or noise I freak out thinking it is going to fall apart because it was stolen.

They're pretty much sticking to the price.. The carfax shows it was for sale since Feb of this year, and I think they were asking about 80k, the car was stolen in Apr, and not sure what happened between Apr and now, but their asking price is 71 and the website says "price dropped by 10,695 since 6/01
 

XdArrows

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Potentially a good storyā€¦. but, I would move on. Too many unknowns on what was actually damaged. Wheels, front fascia, oil/trans coolers, splitter, belly pan, etcā€¦. Everything on the front of the GT350 is expensive to replace.

There are a lot of pieces you cannot see that could be damagedā€¦ for example, the belly pan is easily cracked with a hard scrape, not to mention all the other components that could be damaged, bent, or broke.

Just my .02ā€¦ look elsewhere. There are clean cars still available that do not have questionable history.
 

br_an

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I'm going to take the unpopular position: I'd pursue it (just like in the police chase šŸ¤£)! If they'll deal even a little you have some leverage with the situation. I'd probably drop the words "recovered theft title", "loss of resale value", "damaged goods", etc. in my conversations with the sales manager*. Look into the state laws about theft recovery from dealerships, there's gotta be something you can use in this situation. Don't give up too easy, but also be reasonable - don't get crazy with your offer. Push for an ESP, but I'd still take it if they won't go there. Then I'd drive the car, enjoy it and not worry about the resale. GT350s are special. Treat it right. Keep it forever.

*Obviously find out exactly what they had to fix. Go for a nice long test drive (but don't steal it! šŸ˜œ), get the car inspected, etc. If the repairs were done competently, I bet you wouldn't have even known something like this occurred.
 

Demonic

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It's not like they only made 20 of these cars. There's another out there for you.
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