I'm about to buy an 03' with 21k miles. The owner admitted that when the car was a couple months old he slid into a curb hard enough to shatter his 19" wheel, dent the fender and bumper and damaged the upper and lower control arms. He replaced everything and says the car is fine.

Now, my problem is that the car is in Penn and I'm in NC so I can't test drive it or even see it (other than the pics I've seen) I'm due to fly to Philly on Tuesday for business and I was going to meet the owner and purchase the car on Wed and drive it home. I want the owner to take the car to a Nissan dealer or independent garage and have the car checked out. I will obviously pay for this.

What do you guys think? Anything specific I should be aware of?? Would the remaining factory warrenty be void if an independent shop performed the original repairs?

Any advice is much appreciated.

 

“Would the remaining factory warranty be void if an independent shop performed the original repairs?”

No. Its very difficult for NISSAN to void an entire warranty. If you set-up a 350Z for racing only, I doubt if NISSAN will replace your engine once you've made significant internal modifications.

If the shop returned the Z to its “original condition,” you should be OK.

 

If your concerns are specifically about front suspension/frame condition, you may want to have a suspension/frame specialist inspect the car. Sounds like you are expecting everything to go like clockwork...they never do. If I were in your situation, I would coordinate with the owner and a third party mechanic to inspect the car in your presence. Plan on a whole day for the shop inspection, your inspections and time to reflect on wether this is a good purchase. There will always be another Z for sell.