Man Buys Used Honda Civic. Then He Learns It’ll Cost $9,000 For It To Pass Inspection: ‘Honda Is 100% Trying To...'

A 19-year-old says the used Honda Civic he thought was a bargain could now cost nearly three times what he paid to get it road-ready.

Matthew Snapp (@matthewsnapp1) shared the surprise repair estimate in a recent TikTok.

Snapp said he bought a 2007 Honda Civic on Facebook Marketplace for $3,200. The car had 155,000 miles and, at first glance, appeared to check the right boxes.

“Seemed like a great deal,” he says. “Clean title and everything.”

He says he took the Civic to a dealership for the inspection required to register it. Snapp said he expected the car might need some work—but not the bill he received.

“They quoted me $9,000,” Snapp says.

Because he could not afford the full estimate, Snapp asked what repairs were actually required for the car to pass inspection. He said the dealership told him it needed $4,500 in power-steering work alone.

“To me that’s insane,” Snapp says.

Now, he is questioning whether the Facebook Marketplace deal was much of a deal at all—or whether the seller unloaded a car with far more problems than he realized.

As of this writing, Snapp’s video has received just under 2,500 views.

Did He Get Scammed On Facebook Marketplace?

A $9,000 repair estimate on a car that cost $3,200 sounds brutal. But the quote alone does not prove the seller scammed Snapp or that every repair on the invoice was immediately necessary.

The first thing to separate is the car’s title from its mechanical condition. According to NerdWallet, a clean title generally means the vehicle has not been branded as salvage or junk by an insurance company. But it does not mean all of its systems are necessarily in good shape.

The Justice Department’s National Motor Vehicle Title Information System recommends pairing a vehicle history report with an independent inspection because a title record only covers certain parts of a car’s past.

But as Snapp suggests in his clip, the dealership’s full $9,000 estimate includes repairs that were not required to pass inspection. Snapp said the power-steering work alone accounted for $4,500, but the video does not show an itemized invoice or specify the exact parts the dealership wanted to replace.

Before agreeing to any repairs, Snapp should ask the dealership to spell out which problems actually caused the car to fail inspection and which fixes are recommended. He can then take the estimate to an independent mechanic for a second opinion.

The Federal Trade Commission recommends having any used vehicle inspected by an independent mechanic before buying it. A history report is useful, the agency says, but it usually will not reveal mechanical problems.

Snapp can also enter the Civic’s vehicle identification number into the NHTSA’s recall database. Recall repairs are free, though the video provides no evidence that his steering problem is tied to one.

For now, the fairest conclusion is that Snapp may have bought a car needing expensive work he did not know about. 

Gallery: New 2007 Honda Civic Type R Pictures

5

‘Honda Is 100% Trying To Screw You Over’

Most commenters agreed on one thing: Snapp should get a second opinion before spending thousands of dollars on repairs.

“Honda is 100% trying to screw you over. That’s probably just recommended maintenance stuff. Find a local garage and get it inspected there. Labor and parts will be cheaper. If it really needs the work, it would cost a quarter of that,” one viewer wrote.

Others were even more direct.

“Rule #1: don’t take your car to a dealership for an inspection,” one person commented.

“Get a second opinion,” several others wrote.

Some viewers said the dealership quote may have reflected higher labor rates, factory parts, or work the shop did not want to take on.

“They gave you the ‘I don’t want to do the work’ price,” one commenter wrote.

Another added, “Honda trying to make ALL THE MONEY. Get a second opinion.”

The $4,500 power-steering estimate drew the most disbelief.

“4500?!! They scamming you, brodie,” one viewer wrote.

“Literally swapped my G power steering rack for 400 total bucks, wtf,” another claimed.

A third commenter said they bought a similarly old car with 115,000 miles for $3,500 and spent roughly $2,000 on parts and labor with help from a mechanic friend. They estimated the same work could have cost more than $5,000 at a shop.

Others encouraged Snapp to learn how to do the repairs himself.

“You scammed yourself, bro. It’s an 07, you don’t take it to the dealer. That’s rule #1,” one viewer wrote.

Motor1 contacted Snapp via TikTok direct message and Honda via email. We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.

 

 

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