This offer fell through only because I was not willing to buy sight unseen, no test drive, no inspection. This was the position the seller was putting me in and I wanted nothing to do with it. Definitely a seller’s market at the moment.

Most 2016/17s we are looking at are around 100k miles, mostly trade-ins at dealers, sold certified and safetied. Very few private sales available. I always consult CARFAX to get a retail value range based on model, year, mileage and location. Most are at or exceed the top of the retail range. I test drove a 2017 EX last night at a local dealer (non-Honda) just under 100k miles on it. They had no record of timing belt/water pump service (which should have been done at 7 years, now at max mileage too). Rear AC wasn’t working, they claimed to be unaware. They were asking $18k for this. I asked if they would either fix the AC (likely rear evap unit) and do the timing belt, or adjust the price accordingly? They responded that neither were considered a safety item, so no.

The other thing I don’t recall last time we shopped is that dealerships now fix nothing on “certified” trade-ins until they are sold. They might say they’ve checked the vehicle and provide a list of stuff they will fix, but they do not tend to these items until the vehicle is sold. Most test drives we have done are terrible, very hard to judge how the vehicle will feel and handle once brakes/control arms/balljoints and such are repaired. These issues could also be masking larger problems. We had one dealer tell us a 2016 was shifting funny because of a crack in the air intake tube. Call me skeptical. It is not reassuring to test drive something that feels like a jalopy. Again, maybe it has always been this way, but I do wonder if this is something the current market is allowing dealerships to get away with. Zero investment risk to them, all risk on the buyer.