# Car Lots and Automobile Recalls

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-lots-and-automobile-recalls/385952>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 29, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-lots-and-automobile-recalls/385952 "2006-12-29T04:10:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-lots-and-automobile-recalls/385952/1 "2006-12-29T04:10:51Z")

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If I buy a used car from a dealership, what are the chances that the car is up to date on its recalls on date of purchase?

Is there any legal obligation on the dealership?

I live in GA.

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**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-lots-and-automobile-recalls/385952/2 "2006-12-29T05:11:26Z")

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If you buy say a BMW from a BMW dealership, the chances are pretty good any and all outstanding recalls have been done. When I was a tech, we always checked and preformed them.  
If on the other hand, you buy a BMW from a VW dealership, I doubt very much if there was a check for outstanding recalls. Again when I was a tech we had no procedure to check if any other makes had outstanding recalls.  
If you are buying a “certified pre-owned” used car from a dealer of that brand, I would guess that the odds of all recalls being done approach 100% as I am fairly sure that outstanding recalls is one of the items on the certified checklist (it is on ours anyway)  
There is always a chance that someone didn’t get a clue, and missed one, or forgot to do one, or miss-read a VIN or whatever.  
In any event a quick phone call to the car maker in question consumer help phone line can confirm any and all outstanding recalls.

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**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-lots-and-automobile-recalls/385952/3 "2007-01-05T03:08:33Z")

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If there’s an outstanding recall, just take it to the OEM dealer and they’ll deal with it. It shouldn’t be a disqualifying factor in your purchase unless it’s something like spontaneous combustion between 60 and 70 humidity and the humidity is 65% that day ;). It may be worth a discount if you know it’s not done – just for the inconvenience.