I’m looking at buying a Honda Fit with only 22,000 km on it. The asking price is $13,500 CAD.

A reputable body shop in my town did the repair work on it, and my trusted garage has inspected it and says it’s mechanically sound.

Other than the fact that it’s already depreciated, can anyone think of a reason I shouldn’t buy it?

 

Also I drove it and didn't seem to have any noticeable issues

 

Don't know about Canada, but in the US you can find it hard (or expensive) to insure a car with a salvage title. Have you called an insurance company and asked how much coverage would cost? What's the comparable value of a 20 Fit with a clean title? You also may find the car prone to rusting sooner since it didn't get the factory finish for things like undercoating and painting.

22k km is a nice low figure, but these cars go >300k km if you just maintain them and watch the rust. I personally wouldn't pay a lot more for a really low mileage example. Not with the durability of these cars. That's my take.

 

I don't know anything about car prices in Canada, but will assume that since you're asking you're satisfied that the price is reasonable.

Given that, if you want a car to drive for a decade or more then getting a low mileage car with a rebuilt title might be a good purchase (again, depending on price). I have owned a couple rebuilt cars in my life and never regretted it. When I was a kid my mechanic dad and I rebuilt a totalled Ford Taurus wagon that my mom then drove for >200K miles.

Conversely, if you like to change cars regularly or have any concern that you'll quickly grow tired of the Fit and want to resell it, I wouldn't mess with a car that the majority of shoppers will never consider.

 

Isn't it obvious?

The front is wrecked.

 

The only issue I would be doubtful is the same that Steve-o mentioned: Quite often repaired areas are more prone to rust.

 

Thanks thats good advice. we oil spray everything where I live so rust is manageable. Insurance says they will insure it.

 

thats good advice. Resale would for sure be more difficult if I tried to sell it. I drove it for about 40 minutes and I didnt find anything I think I would grow to hate about the car.

 

Based on the description in the original post ("a reputable shop in my town did the repair work on it, and my trusted garage has inspected it and says it’s mechanically sound") those are clearly before pictures to give us some context for the damage the car had before being repaired.