Used Car Buying Tips: What "as is" means...
Posted by Todd McMahon on Fri, Aug 20, 2010 @ 11:37 AM
...and why reading the small print its important.
We recently had the type of call that was truly heartbreaking and unfortunately was a textbook example of bad things happening to good people. Our member smartly decided it made sense to buy a used car.
Unfortunately for him the car he purchased was a lemon. Shortly into his ownership period (weeks) his warning indicator lights started up and, much to his dismay, he discovered his car needed a considerable amount of work across multiple systems. Adding insult to injury, it appeared as if he wasn’t the first to discover this. Apparently, another tech had recently examined in the car covering many of the same systems that were now failing.
Here is the heartbreaking part – our member purchased the car at an auction and agreed to buy it “as is”.
The “as is” clause is the number one way sellers release themselves from the provision of any implied warranty and can even release themselves from the requirements of most state’s lemon laws.
Buying a car “as is” means you own it no matter what, and any defects the car may have are the buyer’s responsibilities. As the buyer, you have no recourse to the seller and once the money changes hands the car is all yours.
Sellers aren’t stupid and they recognize that selling a car “as is” can often mean a lower selling price, but its worth it to them as they value not being responsible for any future issues. “As is” is a seller's way of making it clear they don’t want to hear of any issues from the buyer post transaction.
It's important to note that no service contract will cover preexisting issues in the same way I can’t buy homeowner’s insurance for my house after it has been hit by falling pieces of Skylab (yeah, I know I’m dating myself here). Extended service contracts are a great way to protect yourself from future costs and repairs but they aren’t a way to finance existing repairs. Don't let anyone try to convince you to buy a car “as is” and sell you a service contract as a means of covering the cars pre-existing issues.
Car buying at dealer auctions, government auctions, or with salvage titles can seem like a great way to save money, and maybe sometimes they are. But as we often say; if it seems too good to be true, it's probably "as is"!
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