The criteria under the FAQ pricing for a "B" rated car states:
"Very good condition. Average to lower miles. Little or no deferred maintenance." Whereas the "C" criteria states:
"Average condition and higher than average miles. Shows wear. May have some deferred maintenance."
NSXTASY is partially right in saying the impact of extensive deferred maintenance (ie timing belt, etc and reg. sched. fluids) should impact on one's perception of a "B" rated car. Such analysis should, however, consider several other factors before considering a car to be out of the "B" range.
As an example, my '96, giving as neutral an assessment as I can give, I considered to be a solid B rated car under the FAQ criteria because the physical condition of the car, exterior and interior, were in the very good, if not better, category. In addition, the car had lower than average miles (@24,000). Maintenance records showed that all regularly required fluid changes were performed. The big "defect" was, however, the failure to change the timing belt. Given this deferred maintenance I still considered this car to be in the B category since all other criteria met or exceeded B criteria, yet the timing belt issue, IMO, was below B criteria. In this case, the average of all criteria seemed to render this car as a B level car. I then used the info from the FAQ on pricing and considered the acceptable purchasing point to be in the range of 37,500 to 42,500, with negotiating room based on the cost of the timing belt repair.
