If one is shopping for a house, most locales require a disclosure of history and defects from the seller so prospective buyers have a better idea about the history of the house.
It’s too bad the same doesn’t apply to cars. A 2013 Volkswagen GTI with the drivers window open on a rainy Sunday is something that will never be captured by CarFax. As a buyer, wouldn’t you want to know about this?
If its anything like my old GTI (a 1985 model) the open window will really not matter, as the carpets will become soaked after a rainstorm anyway. Or maybe this is why they are advertising this one for $4,000.
Of course, the water could get into the power window switch and burn the car to a crisp. THAT would show up in Carfax. 🙂
This touches on a really really sore spot (99 Olds Bravada).
When I sold cars, this would happen from time to time, it used to drive me crazy when a salesman did this. You would get into a new car and it had an awful wet car smell and when you looked around, there was a window that was down a crack and soaked carpets. Double check, the keys might be in the ignition, thats where they usually were when we couldn’t find them in they key tracker. Or in the salesmans desk.
With the new “keyless go” standard on all new Altimas, when I went test driving recently I noticed they used a new trick, instead of the wall of keys or lock boxes. They kept a halloween jack o lantern bucket full of all the Altima keys, so the salesman just carried the bucket around, and we could open any and drive any car without picking out the individual key.
I’ve never used a passive keyless system, but I don’t get how that works, each transmitter should still be coded to each individual car, otherwise any Altima remote can open and start any Alitma? Or did they still have to find the key in the bucket?
As long as the right key is in the near vicinity of the car it will work, all the other keys are ignored. If they sold the car, they would have to provide the new owner with the right set of “keys”. Also, only one salesperson can wander around with a bucket full of keys.
My ATS announces that the “key” is leaving the near vicinity of the car if I leave it running while I get out with the “key” to do something away from the car. I don’t know what might happen if someone tried to drive off without the key. If you drive off without a key, and then shut it down, your stuck there.
Yeah, the ‘bucket ‘o keys’ idea has downsides, too. Maybe the ideal situation would be to have the bucket ‘and’ the wall of keys. The bucket could be used for short-term movement or even lot rotation, while the wall would be used for anything where the vehicle was taken off the lot.
Still, I’d be severely loath to let just any car salesman near the bucket. It would be far too easy for some of those guys to either drive off with the bucket, or take off without the key and be stranded somewhere miles from the dealership.
OTOH, in a stranded situation, with the fact that they’d have a cellphone to call someone to come get them, it’s not quite as big a deal as it might have been decades ago when you’d have to hope you were near a payphone (and have change) when the car was turned off with no way to get it going again.
Yeah, you’re exactly right. Once I picked the one I wanted, it took 5 minutes of sifting through the bucket to find the individual key. I was there early on a weekday, but I’d imagine the system wouldn’t work so well if it was busy. I do believe they still had the wall of keys, because my second key came from somewhere else they had to fetch.
And you’re dead on Fred. My mom keeps her key in her purse, never takes it out. I was driving her car with her in it, dropped her off at Walmart, drove across the shopping center to my store, shut it off… Well, s**t! Now I’ve got to hike back to Walmart…
Yeah, I really don’t see the perk of keyless entry.
I’m sure there’s chimes and bells and what not to not let you forget the key, but its just another nanny “technology perk” to make us more irresponsible with our keys and car, just like blind spot sensors and backup sensors, etc.
The family I live with, the dad has a new Harley Davidson with keyless ignition. He went to pick something up at their RV in the Harley, but luckily realized that he left the key on the bench in the garage that’s next to the bike, before turning off the motorcycle. Otherwise, someone would have needed to bring the key and waste time, etc.
My dad’s 370Z has keyless as well, and its fancy and stuff but what was so hard with pressing a button on the fob and then inserting the metal part into the ignition?
Just another way they make driving less of an experience 🙁
I was really irritated I had to get a push button start as part of the trim level, I’d never had a car with one and I thought it would be a pain. I was especially put off that it had a remote starter, I’d always thought of those as gimmicky add on’s to Fast & Furious style Civics and the like.
But after just a few days with it, it became my favorite thing about the car. I live in Oklahoma, a land of extreme weather, with very hot summers, and very cold winters. With this system, I make sure and crank the fan up before I park it in the driveway. Then all that’s required is to remote start as I’m getting ready to leave the house. Leave my key in my pocket, walk outside, press the button on the door to unlock it, and I slide in to the pre-cooled or pre-heated car, never taking the key out of my pocket. And the range is incredible. I can start the car from inside the restaurant as I’m signing the check, from the movies as the credits roll, etc, and walk out to a 76 degree car on a 110 degree OK day; well worth it.
If you leave the key in the car, and try to lock it from the outside with the door button, it won’t let you. If you leave the car with your key, an image flashes constantly on the dash to avoid the “drive off without key” situation I mention in my mom’s Hyundai. Like anything new, routines have to be slightly readjusted, but I’m thoroughly a keyless convert now.
I recently broke the key in the ignition of my Citroen no problem it still went however I coudnt undo the fuel cap, the new key eventually turned up from France and is chipped to the car but using it to turn the broken stub will not start it, still have to use the fob piece of the original unless I swap the chips but it does unlock the fuel filler and doors ok.My $200 Nissan Sentra has remote locking and alarm its kinda handy.Vicinity isnt enough for the Citroen the ignition needs to recognize the chip or no diesel will flow an no go.
I was told on ones of the mines in Middle of Nowhere (& you have to pass through security to enter or exit) they normally leave the keys in the glovebox which was ok until a guy drove 400 miles to the airport only to discover the key was in someones desk next to the car park.
My key has to be within 3 ft of the car to allow the doors to unlock. Not sure if the key has to be in the car to start, but does need to be within 3 ft. If the key is left in the car, the horn honks at you a couple of times.
A neat spin on Trick or Treat, though nobody ever gave me a Nissan in my youth (Datsun then).
carfax or any other disclosure would not have saved me from the turd 99 Olds Cutlass that my wife made me buy in the summer of 2000! It would have shown a still warrantied dealer maintained car that had its oil changed every 3000 miles, that still turned out to be a turd!
You don’t need CARFAX to tell you GM makes turds, just ask someone who owns one (like me).
you have my condolences.
When I worked at a Honda dealership a Maroon Accord came in with the trunk lid all scratched up from the protective plastic flapping in the breeze. They repaired it and sold it without telling anyone.
They also sold a Chevy Uplander that was always getting free work done to it due to some agreement.
If the damage (cost to repair) was less than the states legal requirements for disclosure, then they wouldn’t have to. Repainting really does not make the car less reliable. But if the paint job were to deteriorate I think that the dealership could be held liable.
Well, if it was an A4 (99.5 to 05) Golf or Jetta, it could have been the plastic retainer broke if it had been really hot earlier and the window would have dropped on it’s own. I think VW fixed that problem on the newer models. I am glad I got the base Titan, no keyless entry and a $2.00 copy gets rid of the bulky plastic cap key and I have a regular small metal head key that fit’s in my pocket. One less thing to go wrong.