bought a 2002 Ultra today - did I make a mistake? (Update)

[Billha]

Update 3/13/11: Added photos, scroll down.
(Update): Before I went to look at this '02 Ultra I noticed that it has the ventiports on the front fenders. According to Wikipedia, the ventiports were added to the Ultra in 2003, so I thought maybe the '02 Ultra I was gong to see was a late '02 model or maybe the seller made an error and it was actually an '03 Ultra. Well, the pink slip says it's an '02, and I looked at the production sticker on the driver door tonight, and it was made on 08/01. So I'm wondering if maybe the previous owner's cousin also replaced the front fenders with the fenders from an '03 or newer Park Avenue... have any of you ever seen an '02 Ultra that has the ventiports? (End Update)

I bought a 2002 Park Avenue Ultra today from a private party. White pearl exterior, light tan interior. Front bench seat with flip-up armrest, not the bucket seats. It has 88,000 miles, moonroof, HUD, and I think it also has the backup sensor gizmo or something with a red LED on the roof above the rear passenger seats. It didn't come with the owner's manual, so I don't know all of its features yet.

Everything under the hood looked to be ok. Fluids and fluid levels looked ok. Oil filler cap showed no signs of coolant. The front driver side engine mount looks a little cracked in a couple places around the donut edge. The edge of the LIM gasket is black, so it may be original, but doesn't appear to be leaking externally. No service records were available, so I don't know the repair history, but the seller said he wasn't aware of any major engine or transmission problems/repairs, and said he hadn't had any problems at all in the last 3 years he has owned it. It started, ran and drove fine. No error codes. Oil pressure at cold idle was 49 PSI according to the dash display. Passed a Ca. smog test a couple of weeks ago. Interior is in very good condition, including the OEM floor mats. Everything that I tested seemed to work ok, but I didn't test cruise control, heated seats, or a few other minor accessories.

Now the bad news (unpleasant surprise): The seller, a young college student who bought the car from his uncle in northern Ca., didn't mention in the listing that it has a salvage title; the only significant problem he noted in the listing was that the paint on the rear was cracking, but he didn't provide photos of the trunk so I had no idea of the extent of the damage until I arrived. When I arrived to look at it I immediately noticed the paint on the trunk and some minor cosmetic problems on the rear. I asked the seller and at that time he told me that his cousin was rear-ended and the trunk was damaged, but he didn't know what a salvage title is. He went inside and asked his dad, and his dad said yes, it has a salvage title because of the accident to the rear trunk. Someone did the repairs and repainted the trunk before his son bought the car from his cousin. I almost walked away at that point, but given the condition of the rest of the car, the mileage, and the low asking price, I kept looking it over.

It has an upgraded stereo head unit (in-dash navigation system with motorized flip-down DVD, plus additional separate dvd player) and upgraded aftermarket speakers behind the factory grills. It has a Clifford alarm system (SST?) with remote start; not sure why it was added, because it doesn't snow here in so. Ca. and this car already has the factory alarm which seems to be working ok.

Problems:
1) As I noted above, the paint is blistering and cracking on the trunk and on a small area on the top of each rear quarter panel where someone blended the paint. Note that the paint on the rest of the car is in good condition, though.
2) Oil leak (may be the pan gasket).
3) The fluorescent display on the AC unit is faint. Any ideas what would cause that? The unit seems to work ok, but the display is faint.

The wheels on the car are the OEM wheels. The tires will need to be replaced soon, but not immediately. The seller included a spare set of 22" wheels and tires from his cousin; I have no need for them, so I'll sell them for whatever I can get for them and that'll effectively lower the price that I paid.

The bottom line:
I got the car for $3,000. I really hope I didn't make a bad decision. I never thought I'd give serious consideration to buying a car with a salvage title, but I've been shopping for a Park Ave Ultra for a couple of months, and there aren't many Ultra's for sale in my area, and the ones I've seen for sale had roughly 150,000 miles and no moonroof, and were listing for over $6,000, so I thought I should take advantage of buying this car while I had the opportunity. What do you guys think? Should I have walked away from this car???

Thanks.

[00Beast]

Sounds like it will be fine to me. You might want to get the alignment checked out to be safe, but if it's just a little cosmetic stuff I wouldn't worry. I'm sure it will give you plenty more miles. What you paid is right what it's worth with the salvage title. Considering the other stuff, I think you got a good deal and a good car.

Do you need me to post my maintenance list?

[Billha]

Regarding maintenance, the first thing that comes to mind is that I'll plan to buy the aluminum LIM gaskets and replace them, but I haven't decided when I'll do that...just a few weeks ago I replaced the intake manifold and gasket on the '99 SLE that I recently bought, I swapped the superchargers on my '92 with the one on my '93 (thinking I might keep the '92 for a while longer if I don't find a replacement vehicle soon), and then 2 weeks ago I replaced the water pump on the '92 (for the same reason as above). So I need some time off from car repairs for a while.

[00Beast]

I don't think your LIM gaskets are going to fail tomorrow, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on. Do it sooner rather than later.

[The_Maniac]

Unless the location where the salvage title has different rules then what I know of, that sounds goofy. To my knowledge, a salvage title is given to a vehicle where the cost of repair is beyond the value of the car. Given the age/mileage of the car when it was allegedly rear-ended, the damage being described I don't think sounds like it should have been salvaged (the description of the damage sounds like it was a trunk lid and maybe a bumper).

Without doing a Blue Book on the car, it sounds like it was priced very nice. As long as the damage was repaired properly, you should have no problems. My '04 Monte, was in an accident before I bought it (I knew that thanks to CarFax) and I used it as leverage for my offer. I know buying the Monte it has some minoor paint issues on the front bumper and a small mark on the rear bumper (outside of that, it's in awesome shape).
And my '84 Camaro was brought back to action years ago after I wrapped it around a telephone pole. New rear axel and a body shop to throw on a new quarter panel, I drove that car a couple of years before it spun a rod bearing and is now a "restore project" in my garage.

[harofreak00]

While you would assume that the car would need to suffer major damage to be totaled, its not always true. Shannon's 00 SSEi is a salvage, and it only needed a bumper cover, hood and fender. Cost me a couple hundred bucks to fix.

Can you get a look at the structure of the unibody, behind the panels? That will tell the real story.

[wjcollier07]

Hey, that sounds like a good deal to me. I bought my ultra for $3000 too...but 6 years older than yours. I'll trade yah!

Mine has no history of accidents or anything, but it's obviously had body work done on all 4 corners, mostly the back quarters...but it doesn't worry me.

All that really matters about the end is if they replaced the shock absorbers on the bumper support, that all the body panels fit together properly, and that the unibody looks to be in good condition to take another hit (visible under the rear carpet, and under the rear of the car).

Seems like an excellent deal for that, esp with 88k miles. Mine has 140, I don't think the lower gaskets have ever been done, and they're not leaking. (knock on wood) So I wouldn't worry too much. Just keep an eye on things for the time being until you can get them replaced.

OH, and get that transmission serviced OFTEN!!! Filter and fluid every 30k..and if you can, add a nice big cooler to it.

[Billha]

I looked under the rear yesterday, and didn't see anything that looked bent or cracked but that's the first time I've ever looked under the rear of a park ave. There are a few missing screws in the plastic cover on the back of the bottom of the trunk, and there may be some missing screws on the rear quarter panels in the wheelwells (not sure if all holes are supposed to have something in them). I'll take a closer look as soon as I can.
The exterior of this car isn't perfect, but I don't expect perfection for the price I paid. And if I can sell the extra set of 22" wheels and tires that I also got with this car for $3,000, the car will be free

[Billha]

I took a closer look under the car after work today. There are no shocks under the rear bumper; it looks like a rectangular aluminum tube on each side that's bolted together. I think I can see where some welding and other metalwork was done on the right rear (to the rear of the trunk pan). I were to spray undercoating over that area I doubt that anyone could tell that work was done.
It rained here last night, and I don't see any interior leaks, so that's good.

What does seem odd to me, though, is that the rear suspension arms and its mounting bolts are rusted. The rear stabilizer bar is a bit rusted also.

Hey, does anybody have a rough idea of what it should cost to have a body shop spray 2-stage basecoat/clearcoat on the trunk and blend the top rear quarter panels with white diamond pearl paint? I'm guessing maybe a couple hundred dollars?

[99BonnevilleSE]

[1oldman]

I took a closer look under the car after work today. There are no shocks under the rear bumper; it looks like a rectangular aluminum tube on each side that's bolted together. I think I can see where some welding and other metalwork was done on the right rear (to the rear of the trunk pan). I were to spray undercoating over that area I doubt that anyone could tell that work was done.
It rained here last night, and I don't see any interior leaks, so that's good.

What does seem odd to me, though, is that the rear suspension arms and its mounting bolts are rusted. The rear stabilizer bar is a bit rusted also.

Hey, does anybody have a rough idea of what it should cost to have a body shop spray 2-stage basecoat/clearcoat on the trunk and blend the top rear quarter panels with white diamond pearl paint? I'm guessing maybe a couple hundred dollars?

For that price on a White Diamond Tri-coat? Earl Scheib yes (well, maybe), a good paint/body shop $500? if you're lucky. Just a regular paint job can run $150 per panel - JMHO - BC

[willwren]

That particular paint color will be far more than that.

[00Beast]

I want pics of the damage before I make any further comments.

[willwren]

Any pearl is incrementally more expensive than any metallic.

What's worse is a mix of pearl and metallic. My 'dark yellow green metallic' has multiple flake sizes and multiple colors of pearl. VERY expensive paint, and the painting process is more complicated. Very hard to match.

[harofreak00]

I guess it depends who does the work. I think this price was very reasonable for what he all did..

This is to fix the rust and dent on the drivers door, and to repaint the driver fender and door, and the bottom of all 4 doors.

Before







After

[Billha]

Hey, that looks like my Ultra...except that my '02 wheels aren't chromed, it has the '03+ ventiports on the front fenders, and it DOESN'T have the 'Ultra' emblems on the rear quarter panels. I guess mine's a 'sleeper'?

I hope to take it to a couple of body shops for estimates in the next week or so.
I'll take some pics and try to post them soon.

[Billha]

Here are some photos:

[olblueeyesbonne]

1997-2002 Buick Regal rims.

[BlackHawk99]

1997-2002 Buick Regal rims.

Ya, that was the first thing I noticed too.

[its840]

Update 3/13/11: Added photos, scroll down.
(Update): Before I went to look at this '02 Ultra I noticed that it has the ventiports on the front fenders. According to Wikipedia, the ventiports were added to the Ultra in 2003, so I thought maybe the '02 Ultra I was gong to see was a late '02 model or maybe the seller made an error and it was actually an '03 Ultra. Well, the pink slip says it's an '02, and I looked at the production sticker on the driver door tonight, and it was made on 08/01. So I'm wondering if maybe the previous owner's cousin also replaced the front fenders with the fenders from an '03 or newer Park Avenue... have any of you ever seen an '02 Ultra that has the ventiports? (End Update).

pretty clean looking car.. but ya that is an early production 02 model.. just like around here, everyone and their brother has them vents one their cars.. ford, chevy, mopar, foreign.. old new... its just a styling things that people like one the cars.