Having recently destroyed my '06 CRD Limited, I'm now searching for a replacement. It truly is the vehicle that most fits my lifestyle so I'm going to do my best to replace it. I'm holding out for a CRD Limited with all the bells and whistles, since that's what I had (sunroof isn't a necessity, everything else is).

Tonight I found an '05 and rushed over to take it for a spin. Mechanically it was good. Engine, transmission, transfer case all good, ran smooth in all modes (2WD, 4Part, 4Full, 4Lo) and shifted smoothly between them. Had a few small issues (almost non issues), hood struts are shot, 245 tires that rubbed, rear glass latch needed replacing, factory hitch was replaced with something that looked similar and was still 7 pin (might be a replacement for the recall??). Engine temp didn't come up like I expected, it should've reached middle, it never did, and testing the vents with my hand, was warm, not hot. Coolant was up, probably different t-stat, no big deal, every owner has personal preferences, but could be indicative of a need for a flush.
Then the Carproof report...
Whomever had it registered it at the DMV very frequently (no mileage reported at any DMV visit) seemingly every 3-9 months and only a couple of times at 1 year intervals. Made me think it had temp tags on it, and when they expired, they got a new temp tag, and occasionally they just bought a regular 1 year sticker. I'm saying temp tags because I'm hoping it wasn't sold THAT many times. All at different DMV's around central Ontario Canada. Weird. There's a few dealership visits where the mileage gets recorded (first one is service at 154,186 kms). Then at 170,125kms it shows up in Manitoba, Canada at a dealership and almost 9 months later shows up at a dealership back in Ontario, Canada with 170,127kms (2 kilometres more???, but a minimum of 2070kms between them according to Google maps). So maybe they trailered it (or train). Since then it has been registered at the DMV 3 times (6 month intervals).

So my take on this...

I don't trust the registration history frequency. It could be one owner with temp tags, or it could be quite a few owners (the occasional 1year registrations). If it's several owners, I'm thinking lemon. I'm also thinking it had a major break down in Manitoba, owner couldn't afford to fix it, but somehow shipped it back to Ontario, and promptly fixed it then sold it (or worse, fixed it in Manitoba, drove it back and rolled back the odometer). The final 3 registrations at 6 month intervals might be people who bought it, discovered it's a lemon and dumped it.

My decision... quietly walk away. Severely disappointed, but hopefully better off without a possible lemon.

It's disappointing that the DMV registrations don't provide a name (initials would be fine). In this case I have no idea who was registering it so often, 1 owner or many???

So what?

If the vehicle has a clear title its all about the condition its currently in and what its worth to you.

Check the vehicle out, look it over like any other, and then see.

I did, here's what I found...

Exceptionally rusty underside, way more than my non-under sprayed '04. My wife (who drives the '04) doesn't go out of her way to keep the '04 clean outside (inside it's brand new). She might take it through a car wash twice a year (even with the salt laden Canadian winters). So it suprised me how rusty it was. I wouldn't climb under that jeep without a set of coveralls and a good hat of some sort or else you'd be washing rust out of your hair for days. Kind of suprised me.

Rear glass was unopenable, or more correctly, the latch wasn't working so if you opened it, it couldn't be closed again, or so I was told. As they were attempting to fix it, the plastic panel on the rear gate was off and sitting sort of attached.

Power mirrors did not work at a all (I suspect the defrost option on the mirrors was also a no go). Could be a fuse, could be something else.

Auto dimming rear view looked aftermarket it had Bluetooth connectivity and also used the radio display for read outs. It was daytime, I don't know if the dimming feature worked. Neat, but not what I was expecting. (Is this really a "problem"??)

Plastic cover for the engine was all smashed up in the front right. Probably not installed correctly when the hood was shut.

Hood struts broken, hood wouldn't stay up. I could deal with that, my '04 is same.

Said factory tow pkg, but hitch didn't look like any Jeep accessory I've ever seen before (owned 2 Liberty's, looked at many, never seen that hitch before)

Wrong size tires (245/75R16) and it rubbed just before full lock. I'd have to switch them anyways, they're not in great shape.

The problems are mostly acceptable for a used vehicle, the major turn off was the "broke in Manitoba, showed up 9 months later 2000+ kms away with only 2 additional kms on it" that right there says "major problem that went unreported". I've had enough in life of other people "making their problems my problems". I certainly am not going to do it to myself.

Only one bonus point... It had front hooks. First jeep I've looked at that already had them. No need to swap them from my broken Jeep.

Exceptionally rusty underside

Rear glass was unopenable, or more correctly, the latch wasn't working so if you opened it, it couldn't be closed again, or so I was told. As they were attempting to fix it, the plastic panel on the rear gate was off and sitting sort of attached..