Please Help choosing between Mirage and Versa Note! (UPDATE: got a Mirage)

[Top_Fuel]

...I contacted the dealership about the salvage and they said they have the title and it’s clean...

I bet it has a salvage/rebuilt title...meaning that the car has been repaired and inspected and is road worthy...but the title has been reclassified as "rebuilt" (or whatever they would call it in Cali). If the seller has a rebuilt title without a lien, that means he can sell the car to you and you can get plates for it and drive it. In his mind, that may be his definition of a "clean" title.

In any case, you NEVER rely on the word of the seller for something this important...especially if it's a professional used car dealer.

If you're about to drop $5K on a car, spend $25 and get an AutoCheck report on it. This thing came from a salvage auction where it had front end damage...



These guys probably bought it at the auction and repaired it. If it shows up with a non-salvage Autocheck/CarFax report, then the title really is clean.

A rebranded title doesn't make it a bad car...but it significantly affects the car's value. At $4900, this dealer is hoping to unload it on someone who doesn't know the difference.

...Take your time.
...Find a good, gently-used Mirage auto with 1 owner and low miles.
...stay away from a 3 year old car with 4 owners, and two different stories about salvage title lol.
...Don't settle for something with a lot of question-ables.
...look at Subcompact culture's Mirage for sale:
...https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...ge-Portland-OR

Take a trip up the coast and buy that Mirage! That's a great example of a used Mirage with a clean history and no stories. Definitely worth $3K more than the 2014 you are considering.

[newtomit]

I saw the 2017 with 28,000 miles, but it has a dent on the front and I've contacted the seller many times with no response so who knows...

I'm looking at the AutoCheck report again and it looks like first owner was personal, about 12000 miles for 1 year, which is average. Then 2nd owner was a rental in Las Vegas, 23000 miles for 2 years which is also not bad for rental. Last one was also a rental, 24000 for 4 years, pretty low. My dad can't come with me to look at the car, but the dealership is one of those part auto repair shop part dealer, and the repair shop is a small family business that gets really good reviews online so I trust them more than the other dealerships that don't have repair shop onsite and use third party machenics. I've attached the AutoCheck report here... it seems pretty ok.

[newtomit]

So... I was planning to take a look today and contacted the dealer to check if it's still available. It got sold this morning lol. Interestingly, the car had been listed for 2 months before I came on this forum and now it's sold so fast... got me wonder if that's because I posted the listing lol

[Top_Fuel]

Well...it does have a "clean" title! I think they were able to get one from the auction company because they are a dealer. If I go to my local Copart and buy a car like this at auction, they give me a salvage title because I don't have a dealer license.

Here's what that car looked like before it was repaired...








This car was built in November 2013...which is arguably the least desirable Mirage to own (2014s had some issues). Based on the photos, I'd say this thing probably had a rough life as a rental. If the dealer got close to $4900, good for them. Be glad you missed out on this one.

[newtomit]

Oh WOW. Thank you SO MUCH. That got me feel better about missing it. How were you able to get those photos?

[Top_Fuel]

How were you able to get those photos?

I was curious about this car because it was at a Copart (salvage) auction...but somehow it had a clean title?!? So I ponied up the $8.99 at the auction company website to see the auction photos.

It looks like if a licensed dealer buys the car at the auction, the auction company can give them a clean title even though the car may have been "totaled" by an insurance company. So we all learned something today!

That's why I always Google the VIN number of anything I'm looking at.

[newtomit]

Wow. Thanks so much for doing that (and thank you all for your advices). I thought it was weird that Google search came up with salvage but AutoCheck report was clean... Crazy that AutoCheck would pass it as clean.

Now back to the search lol

[Fummins]

I found it for free using bid-history.com https://bids-history.com/search/?sor...&retail_value=

Edit: maybe not. Hangon
Nevermind, wrong car...

[newtomit]

You know, to think about it... they might not have sold the car this morning. I think they just said that because I was asking too much about the salvage...

[Dirk Diggler]

Even though Nissan sells more cars than Mitsubishi, dont forget Mitsu still sells alot of cars in the US, over a 100k Mirages sold since 2014 in North America. That's a big data pool going back 6 years. If their was a major cvt issue it would be well documented online like the failed Versa/Sentra. There's not though. That recall the Outlander Sport went thru was related to cvt programming not the cvt blowing up in 60k miles. You went in, got it updated and the cvt ran fine. Nissan literally had their JATCO CVTs exploding steel belt shrapnel everywhere, big difference. $7k is alot of dough to play around with a used Mirage. I got mine for $7500 OTD price, no rust, clean title, one owner, from a Mitsubishi dealership. It was 5 years old with 45k miles on it. I follow the advice on here and take good care of it with 2 cvt servicings, oil changes every 7k miles, and I got my brakes done. It's a reliable car just hold out plus the Mirage comes with an AUX jack!