I wish I knew about this earlier! We bought a 93 Mercury topaz from a private owner last year and it turns out we’re at least the car’s 3rd owner! The previous owner crashed it and replaced both bumpers, including complete paint job, so you couldn’t even tell. But we eventually found out more–he had bought the car used from ANOTHER owner, and the driver-side door was replaced after an accident some time ago. Because the door was either replaced shoddily or isn’t compatible with the car’s electric system, the automatic seatbelt on that side often malfunctions, plus the “power” mirrors are inoperable. Many things have gone wrong with this car that the previous owner either lied about (claimed it had new brakes but the brakes completely failed a month later, $500 replacement) or didn’t mention to us. The car’s a total piece of crap but we don’t have the money to buy a new one, as we always keep running into unexpected and costly repair issues. Argh!
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