So I'm living in the Caribbean and my MINI is tucked away in the US, but I'm looking at buying a car here which is a little daunting.

I'm looking at a couple of cars (mazda demio and suzuki swift) and I found one that I can afford but I'm pretty sure it's been in some sort of collision. The back is recently painted and the front bumper is being held together with a dry wall screw and some adhesive putty. The alignment was off and there was a clunking noise coming from the suspension. It also felt like it had a lot of body roll or kind of like the sway bar wasn't connected.

I talked to the seller and he's going to repair the mechanical issues and let me take it for spin again. I think my main question is would you buy a car that's been in a collision? and if this car can be repaired so that it drives right, would you buy it?

Any other advice on buying a car in another country? it's a little intimidating seeing as I don't recognize most of the models. Our cars are mostly imported from japan if that makes any difference.

 

Run as fast as you can.