Brainstorm a dealer's logic with me?

[California98Civic]

So, I am looking at a carfax for a used car. When it was 4 years old, the first of three owners traded it back to the original dealership (I guess for a new car). The dealer put it up for sale with 62,000 miles on it, having done this to it:

"Cabin air filter replaced/cleaned
Vehicle washed/detailed
Air filter replaced
Oil and filter changed
Oil pan replaced/repaired
Accessory removed
Stabilizer bar links replaced
Safety inspection performed"

Why remove an accessory (which one, I wonder)? And why replace stabilizer bar links at 62,000 miles? Also, after selling it the same dealer then replaced the valve cover for the new owner just a couple months later, at 64,000 miles. Am I crazy or is it possible the car had been in some sort of unreported accident before the sale and these are pop-up problems getting fixed?

Just wondering what I don't know yet.

[Xist]

How common is it to replace oil pans? I have done two, my aluminum pan was stripped, and a lady ripped out hers.

How close is the stabilizer bar to the oil pan?

[Xist]

Otherwise, it sounds like this:

[freebeard]

Why remove an accessory (which one, I wonder)?
....
Just wondering what I don't know yet.

Well, there're your known unknowns and your unknown unknowns. According to Rumsfeld.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Well, there're your known unknowns and your unknown unknowns. According to Rumsfeld.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by Xist

How common is it to replace oil pans? I have done two, my aluminum pan was stripped, and a lady ripped out hers.

How close is the stabilizer bar to the oil pan?

Dunno. But did your car have just 62,000 miles when u replaced the pan. I dunno... Maybe it is totally normal... Consequence of the designor something... Maybe the mechanic damaged the pan...

[Fat Charlie]

The oil pan? Maybe some Quickie Lube stripped the threads on the drain plug. Maybe the gasket had a leak- a lot of them aren't even gaskets, just a bead of RTV, and it happens. R&R means remove and replace, you've got to do that to replace the gasket. I wouldn't read too much into that.

Remove accessory? They do that all the time. Tow hitch? Joe Customer is going to worry about the transmission. Wal Mart backup camera, ricer gauges on the A pillar or chrome sidesteps that are scratched up? Get rid of them before you park it out front.

Sway bar links? Potholes. Add to that the fact that many used car departments will automatically approve repairs up to a certain amount of money, and techs will recommend lots of innocuous sounding stuff that doesn't cost much per car but adds up in their paychecks at the end of the week. Say you get paid 1.0 hours to check out a car. If you have to R&R a filter to inspect it, do you want to put the old, okay one back in for free, or since you already have to talk to Parts and tell the service writer what the car needs, why wouldn't you want to throw a filter on the List Of Things To Do and get paid an extra 0.1 hours to put in a new filter?

I can't explain the valve cover. Maybe it just happened, maybe they overfilled the oil when they did the change and it pushed past the gasket, maybe they pulled it off to check out a noise and decided to slap a new one on for some reason. None of it strikes me as hidden collision damage, though.

[Xist]

My experience selling a car is that people do not want to know that it has required repairs. That seemed to cause more questions than it answered. The buyer did not ask if it had recent repairs.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

... None of it strikes me as hidden collision damage, though.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I know too that you have lots of experience in this regard with shops, which is helpful. I'd be getting like a 35 percent discount on the car (so I'm double checking everything). If the car checks out when I see it and take it to a dealership for an inspection, I'm gonna buy it. If I do I'll post here about it.

[ksa8907]

Possibly removed a lowering kit which had damaged the stabilizer bar links. Maybe rubbed on the oil pan or, as previously mentioned, some macho man stripped the threads on the drain plug.