GOOD NEWS! Just spoke with the customer, they returned the car to the dealer and he refunded them ALL of their money! He (used car dealer) also called me in total disbelief that the car was so rotted and had other issues. I think he did the right thing. **Please folks if you are looking to buy a used car have it checked out by a mechanic BEFORE any money exchanges hands** These folks got lucky the problem was resolved easily.

There is a mechanic in my my city that does free pre buy inspections. He scans it, looks it over and takes it for a quick 5 minute drive. He does it in hopes that they will choose for him to fix it prior or after the sale and it works more often than not m. He’s a stand up guy and it’s not every mechanics cup of tea to do free inspections but he is doing very well for himself because of it.

I have always done all of my own mechanical work on my vehicles, and had my own garage for 20 years, now retired. If only all mechanics were as honest as you. You are truly a credit to your profession.

Dealer took the car back because there is no way that car passed inspection legally. The dealer doesn’t want any trouble with the law.

"Subarus usually have a unique smell..." Usually it's weed and birkenstocks.

Your rust has a car problem.

Vinnie never waves because you are in a different car each time you go by.

Reminds me of this time working at Jiffy Lube an older I'd say elderly woman came in she had a subaru too, said if we can check it out because she recently bought it and smelled burning oil. Me being one of the more experienced people there and liking looking at cars for people, I did. She took a bank loan out for $4,000 for this car. Had a shabby oil pan gasket replacement, had oil leak, transmission fluid leak, power steering fluid leak, the frame was rotted out. I told my manager and we had to break it to this lady without giving her a heart attack that her car is very unsafe and she shouldn't be driving it but she said she's been traveling mainly on highways with her family. Heart breaking, absolutely heartbreaking.

5grand for an ‘03. Sounds overpriced already b4 the issues

That's not rust, that's Subaru's crumple points to lessen impact in an accident.

Ah the classic dealer move, detail the interior, clean/wax the exterior, then put it up for top dollar. In my trade we call that a “special”, unfortunately a lot of hard working folk fall for it. I’m glad this guy got his money back as not many do.

I bet it went right back out on the lot for $5k again!

I like your video intro or lack there of, most people on KZfaq have 30 to 60 sec intros which get annoying and Iam sure most people skip. I like the way you videos are just a quick “hi” and then straight into the video. 👍

Dealer gave them their money back because you have 217k subscribers looking at that dealer's business practices. Always get the car checked out before you buy is the moral of the story.

I just recently stopped working at a shop because I moved to the middle of nowhere and these videos really make me want to take up the trade again. Thanks for rekindling my love for mechanical things and the joy of solving problems.

Seeing this video, and all of other cars you have to work on, makes me appreciate living in the southwest. No rust here, just tumbleweeds and 110 degree summers. Glad the customer got their $$ back.

Rust. It's what makes a Subaru a Subaru.

For a chap who drives on the wrong side of the road, I do really enjoy watching your videos. Keep them coming please.

The good old "post purchase inspection" you know it will be a banger.

If i could find someone this thorough and honest around me i would use them.

It's a forruster

Glad to hear that somewhere there's a car salesman that is a decent person.

I've never seen a car look that good ontop, while being that rusted underneath! And i say that coming from Northern Ontario where they salt the roads 6 months out of the year.

Don't be too anxious to have a street repaved by your shop. A shop near me used to love the side street in disrepair by them. It helped to diagnose suspension issues. It got repaved and now they can't get noises.

This looks like an Auction special, and it was cheap. A lot of the time the little lots dealers just details them change the fluids and thrown em up for sale.... Your customer is lucky they were able to get their money back,good on the dealer for doing that....but I would bet this car will be at an auction lot real soon

$5000 for a bucket of rust Sweet deal

Tremendous respect for your honesty, even more than your amazing mechanical and diagnostic abilities. Your customers are very lucky to have you Sir.

By far and away the best mechanic videos on KZfaq, if I’m ever in your neck of the woods I’d stop by just to tell you. I think you have a great setup and a fantastic family, all the best too you.

That things a peach... that fell off the tree last fall and has been rotting ever since

I am a mechanic also.There are a lot of shady shops out there.Nice to see an honest one.Keep up the good work,and God bless.

Car is ready to drive: Right into the Hudson River!

What a thoroughly nice Gentleman, I really like this guy. Honest and goes well above keeps all us subscriber's and keeping his customers happy. Good on you Brother. Keep up the amazing work. Merry Christmas to you and your family Sir 🎅👍

The oil leak is too late to save it from rust.

5 grand?! Yikes! I made a similar mistake with a Pontiac Firefly, glad it only set me back $800. Drove it for 3 months and got $100 for scrap lol All the best to the owners!

I live in southern va so rust is not a big deal until I got burned once so I check every time now!

My heart just sank for the new owner. I'm glad the dealer did the right thing.

I love to see honest and experienced mechanics. Not too many of those around anymore, it seems. Subscribed!

fresh smelling Subaru= one that has bounced from car lot to car lot and keeps getting detailed and pawned to the next sucker :))

You seem like a great guy! I love your honesty and your great attitude. We need more honest people like you. In the business. Keep it up bro! Excellent!

I just looked at a 2015 Subaru Legacy earlier today. It has 132,347 miles on it, bought it from another dealership a little bit ago. It came in for a service and inspection. I found coolant stop leak in the cooling system, the passenger front axle boot had a big tear with no grease, and both rear struts were leaking. Recommended replacement of engine, radiator, heater core, and all cooling system hoses due to the stop leak. I also recommended replacement of the axle and both rear struts. The customer contacted the dealership they bought it from and the dealership told them they were on their own. They ended up doing just an oil change and holding off on the service because they weren't sure what they were going to do with it. I feel really bad for them for getting pretty much scammed on that car.

Wished more mechanics were like you and helped their customers with other issues besides fixing the vehicle. As they say honesty is the best policy.

This is another reason to do a PPI before buying, if they don't want you to do it, back off from the deal

Great video, very informative. Thank you very much for posting a video like this. You're a great mechanic, which I've never been able to find. That brings me full circle to a good 20 years of doing my own work on my vehicle. Thank you again.

When you find a reliable honest mechanic you use nobody but them for everything. I got a car back that was sitting for a few years my in-laws never drove ( I sold it to them but they never drove the thing). I took it to a mechanic I was referred to by my friend. I told the guy it probably needed shocks, brakes and a lot of stuff i thought it would need. It turned out all that stuff was ok and he told me there was no need to replace the stuff. Right then and there I knew he was a stand up guy. I have used him for the past ten years. I would never take it to anybody else. This guy in the vid reminds me of my mechanic. You stay in business by being honest and word spreads.

I hate when customers bring me a new car that they got for a deal ($500) and there's nowhere to jack it up from because it's all rotted out.👎

You have the trait that makes it easy to sleep at night and be able to look at the person in the mirror every day. That's what we call personal integrity. The job is hard and down right makes you feel evil sometimes, but people will always thankyou in the end.

I once tried out a great looking Jeep Wrangler, drove evenly, plenty of power, and the 4 wheel drive worked. I asked the used car lot owner if I could take it to my preferred shop to show my mechanic, no problem. He sent his worker with me. Shop owner came out and he immediately crawled underneath and he called me over, just about the entire chassis had black duct tape and been sprayed with undercoating. He peeled a large section of it off to reveal hardly any metal left. No Sale, of course the car lot owner did not know it had been doctored to deceive the buyer. I got out of there real quick.

Love your Upstate New York humor and honesty. It's nice to find a knowledgable, honest mechanic. Keep doing what you do. Thank you.

I"m surprised the magnet on the Astro light was able to stick to something!

Heh Heh "smells like a Subaru" and that would be coolant, burnt pistons and arrogance?

Good part about living in Alabama is vehicles never rust. And no vehicle inspections

Kudos for being so honest, wish all Mechanic/businesses were as honorable. Keep up the great work!

Wow, the customer narrowly dodged that bullet! Bet the next one they look at will be brought to you first! Great video, as usual.

In Gordon Ramsay's voice: ITS ROTTEN!!!

After seeing that subframe it would have been a "No" from me.

I’m in Florida,but if I were in your state,I’d be stopping by often!I’m sold on your honesty-you’re a dying breed.Keep up the good work!

I own an auto repair business that started in 1963. One of the many reasons we have remained in business so long in an ever changing market is honest work. I too see deals like this on a regular basis and it breaks my heart to have to give some one the bad news when they could have avoided it in the first place with a buyers check. I have been able to get people out of these jams just as you did but some times there is no way and they are stuck with a turd. 3 times a year on my tv ad's (right before school starts, post holiday new year and right before tax season) I run a buyers check banner. Amazingly it rarely gets attention but almost without fail on the times it does I usually have to tell the prospective purchaser not to buy the car because of all the faults and damage hidden. If only more people just took the time and had one done they would end up likely saving money in the end. Kudo's for your honesty!

Yes, to answer your question. Dealer probably paid $2,000 at auction. Your other issue, main street getting paved. Just call Dominoes. They'll help you out.

South main auto llc I love your videos. I'm a huge car buff and I'm very very much Into auto mechanics and I love coming home from work to watch your videos. I learn something new each time. Your very detailed and informative.

“Did my customer get ripped off?” Yep

I thought everyone (especially in salted roads states) knew that you gotta take the car to your mechanic before you buy the thing. It's worth the small charge/fee to know what the deal is (or isn't).

Always check down below before you buy it or you may be calling a divorce lawyer.

Mr. and Mrs. O. sure do make a nice couple; it's always nice to see them interacting.

you have just made me love Arizona so much I live in Williams and it is wonderful I have never dealt with anything I've watched on your show everything comes apart with hand tools

You can disable the seat belt buzzer on a Subby you just need to turn the key to the on position then buckle/unbuckle the driver's side seat belt 20 or 25 times and then cycle the key. The light and chime should come on for a couple seconds then go out and never annoy you again.

is it so hard to look underneath a car before spending 5 grand on it? Even if that thing was mint, 5000 is steep for a 15 year old car

Good for you for the honest opinion on this vehicle! Good shops like yours are hard to find. I guarantee if I lived near you, you'd have a customer for life.

It's nice to see your videos and it's also very good that you're honest👍

I got so excited when I first saw this video because my next door neighbor(who was from Vermont) had this exact same car. Same year, color, interior and he finally sold it to Carmax because it was so rotted underneath it just wasn't worth saving. Then I realize his had the fairly rare 5 speed transmission where this one was an automatic. But the story was the same, looked beautiful on the exterior and interior but due to 15 years of Vermont weather, the underside was toast. Sad to see it go because the car was so fun to drive with the manual. Great video when Eric O comes to save the day!

5k sounds pretty steep for 15 year old subaru

Dude ! That is awesome ! Thanks so much for helping that woman out. Don't know her or you for that matter, but so many people get ripped off . Nice to see at least somebody come out on top for once.

Great to see there are still honest mechanics out there. Kudo's to tou for being one!

Garages like yours are very hard to find. Great job.

That car probably was bought at an auction at 1000 bucks

"If I can do it, you can do it." Best part of your videos nice job Eric O.

I put one of my bosses friends Corvette stingrays on the lift it had been cut in half and the front of another stingray welded on to it that went back to the dealership

That's scary, since it wont pass inspection the dealer should have to take it back. 5k is too much even if it wasn't rusty & leaking.

everytime I see cars like this I'm glad I live in Texas lol

Thanks for taking the time to make this. It helps to know what to look for when buying a used car. For most people, as long as it looks nice and the radio works it's fine 😂

Love seeing Mrs O... so many of us watch your channel and that’s why she received her refund... great job Pal..

Lord I am so glad I live in Texas. Never had a car with rust problems. Makes used car buying so much easier.

Great video! I live and work in northern Wisconsin and work on diesel stuff. But I do side work all the time cars and pickups and the rust is crazy. Good on you for encouraging them to take it back and even more surprising that they did!

Makes me glad to live in a State where they don't use salt on the roads.. I recently scrapped a '97 Dodge Neon and there was zero rust on the shell.. NONE!

That's what I did on my first car that I still have (1982 Pontiac Trans am). Look underneath it. So many don't and seeing your good vid explains nicely WHY you should!

main street really needs work. good way to test suspension for now. small town street maintenance is brush tar in the cracks and throw sand in the holes.

I read your pinned comment and that's good news for the owner. Too bad the car is about done.

Always like your videos...and ty.!!! Good or bad ...it's great to learn from your honesty with everyone... and your an awesome mechanic technician .... on the you tube channel... ! Thanks to you and your great half and family.... Great job to you both to share your life ,and stories ... thanks so much!

The cassette deck was impressive. I miss my Van Halen 1984.

Good to see the used car dealer did the right thing.

Thank you for the follow up on the customer. Glad it worked out.

Im 15, i bought my first car at the beginning of 2023. Its a 2003 buick century. It was a grandmas car, only has 79k miles. I did some work to it then i brought it for inspection. The mechanic told me it was pretty rotted. I work on cars but i didnt know that the rockers are that structural, i thought its the subframes that really count. It needed 3000 dollars worth of work. So i brought it home and ordered all the parts but i did cheap chinese parts. I wish i checked with a mechanic first. I just bought a 2001 buick lesabre. I got the lesabre checked out before hand. The lesabre is much more solid and i got it cheaper than the century. So now i have 2 buicks. Gonna use the century as a beater and fluid film and baby the lesabre. I learned my lesson the hard way. Get your cars checked out! Great video as always Eric.

Glad I live in Dallas. I don't miss the salty roads in Iowa one bit.

"Farm Use Only". Thanks for taking us along.

I am so glad your cust got the money back.

Thanks for not being shady. I would faithful bring my vehicle to your garage. I really appreciate your honesty.

Just came upon your channel yesterday, old video but still a goodun!

Good video Eric and am glad you updated us with the good news on the customer's outcome. Having watched many of your videos, I know you guys have to deal with rust, and a car that's 15 years old is likely beyond driving as major frame members have or are rusting through by that point up there where you live. However, need to comment that when you pulled out of your parking lot onto Main St, the sky was heavy with clouds, the same here with periods of light rain even and this is drippy ol' 'Western Washington, where, thankfully, the same 15 YO car if a native will still be all solid with no major rust. I bought an "03 Mazda Protege 5 back in 2012 at our local Honda dealer second hand and it had been gone through with paperwork indicating what had been done and the one mystery question, has the timing belt been replaced? Apparently so as I've not had it break on me yet... The car had 110K or so miles on it and today it's 184K+, and runs well for the most part. At the time, I was replacing a tired Ford Ranger truck, a 2 wheeler peeler, deluxe STX with the thirsty 4.0L V6 and the not so smooth shifting Mazda sourced 5spd manual and matching canopy for the P5. I did pay a premium for it, some $6400 at the time, but like I said, no rust issues here and the car drove very well, was tight and solid and had matching but cheap tires on it but at that time, gas prices were high and cars like it were going for a premium. 6 years on, it's been reliable, dealt with a brutal commute, got new tires, I put some new front brakes on it, the radiator had to be replaced (in 2016) and both backdoor lock actuators went kaput, but the AC still blows cold, all windows still work, the leather seats have not split, yet, no oil mixing with coolant, though I do now have a very slow leak that I've not been able to track down definitively yet, though I have one tiny possible suspect thus far... Irony of ironies, one of the things the dealer had to do was replaced the rear passenger door actuator when it was traded in, and this was late 2011 as I bought it in late January 2012. By that fall, the driver's rear door lock actuator craps out one cold night in I think November. Then a year, later, the passenger rear door lock quits again, but both front doors and the rear hatch are fine, go figure... Not replaced them. I just keep 'em locked. Anyway, glad the customer got her money back and I'm surprised she had not clued in to inspecting the cars up that way if she's lived there a number of years to decades by now to avoid this kind of issue.

Haven't even started the video, but lemme guess.... head gasket;) 2000 - 2010 Subaru engine checklist for major issues: 1. Cold start it to see if you hear any knocking sounds; 2. check underneath and look between the exhaust and the oil pan on each side to see if there is any oil or coolant (head gasket); 3. Use a 10mm to take off the three bolts to check the timing belt condition; 4. look under the oil cap while running to check for blow by and also see if there's any sign of water/coolant in the oil.

The owners were so lucky to get their money back! Your recommendation was worth Gold! Nice work again Mr O!💖❤

Just found this channel. Awesome look into the process and solid info. Subbed, from the 716 👍