karlfranz, that is good to know. I found that if you wave the garage controller it in front of mirror (while trying to preset while holding down the button), it catches the signal easier.

henrym, the parts guy you spoke with probably gave you the wrong info when you were there 2 weeks ago when they told you that the wire harnessing was not in place and can't be installed easily. I'll see what Scott finds out.

 

I was about to say, it would be pretty easy to add the homelink option to the car, but karl beat me to it!

The bumper repaint could be nothing... Or it could have been in an accident that wasn't reported. Have someone inspect the rear closely and underneath it if possible. Wouldn't be a dealbreaker, but definitely a bargaining tool.

The paint chip.... Well that comes with the territory of buying a used car.

 

Yup, great points. Maybe have him redo the leather, cracks too. Someone here negotiated that. =)

The dealer said that he can have his guy "airbrush" the front bumper where the stone chip is. But not sure how that looks. Is it just touchup paint? On a special DBS color (lighting silver)

I called around and San Diego AM said they can add the auto dimming mirror + garage door opener for $1223. I looked at a sticker window of a v8vantage before and it said the option is $295. Am I misunderstanding because labor cannot be $1000. But when I talk to the parts dept, they said its a $800 mirror. So are options way cheaper when you buy the car vs when you buy the exact same item after the fact? Can imagine it would cost 2.5X more after the fact.

 

jyeh -

if i were you, i'd focus less on the rock chip, lack of auto dimming mirror and garage door opener and instead focus on where this car has spend the majority of its life to-date.

i personally would never buy a used car that has spent considerable time in chicago. i lived there for only 3 years and had the underbody of my car washed regularly during the winter months, but still the amount of corrossion to the underbody components and engine area due to the salted roads is pretty unbelieveable.

my local mechanics said they can always tells when a car is not from around here (here meaning California).

i mention this not to scare you away from buying what looks like a very nice car but instead to point out a potential concern given how much the smaller items already seem to worry you.

 

Most Aston owners in Chicago store their cars in the winter. Mine has never seen snow or salt. I wouldn't let Chicago being the location scare you.

I was told the auto dimming mirror wasn't something you could add to a car built without it because the wiring harness wasn't correct. I think it is because the mirror requires a signal letting it know when the car is in reverse to disable the auto dimming function.

Personally this reversing feature wouldn't bother me but it wouldn't surprise me that a price like $1,200 is quoted to add this mirror. Not that the price is reasonable.

This car was built to the owner's specs. I remember it being at the dealer prior to him picking it up. I would bet the mirror was an oversight. I don't know the owner, however.

Based on all the things I told jyeh about the service history I would advise that he have someone qualified look at the car to review all the items in the service history.

Henry

 

I am in the camp of the guys who think Chicago is fine since it is a low miles car and was probably driven just in summer. That is like 2,000 miles a year for this car.

The mirror is a personal thing. If it's worth it to you do it obviously.

I don't care about the paint chip either. It you drive the car this will happen and touching it up is fine in my estimation. If the front bumper is otherwise perfect you may want to have it filmed.

However, I am concerned about repainting the rear bumper. I would find out what happened there and make certain it was just a cosmetic issue due to some strange event like a scrape. But this is not a collector Ferrari so unless there was damage I don't think it matters much.

I would never, ever buy any car without seeing it in person and driving it. You cannot outsource this. Cars are personal and all not the same. If you like this car use the money to get on the plane and go see it, which is even a higher priority in this case than a PPI in my estimation.

YMMV