Used car buyers beware!!

[greenbuttskunk]

I just wanted to give everyone a head's up.
I've been in the market to buy two used cars and over the weekend I had yet another run in with
private parties selling a car with a "salvaged" title. I was looking at a Subaru Legacy wagon. Looked really nice, price was right. The gentelman had a heavy accent (I'll not disclose the nationality), so on a hunch I asked if the title was clean. I had been biten by this about 4 years ago. He said it was a salvaged title but the repair and damage was "no big deal", he laughed it off as a small fender bender. Guess he assumed I fell off the stupid truck or something.
After crawling under the car I was able to determine that it was really a "big deal". Many parts had been replaced. His apparent dishonesty turned us off and we politetly said goodbye and wished him luck.
The next car was looked as was the SAME situation exactly. This guy had a story about why the car had no tags, why the milage did not seem to add up, and what the damage was. Once again I found much more than he eluded to. I can't buy a car from anywone would is intentionally deceptive
like that. Now I'm not saying that a person of foreign decent is a crook. I've known a number of them and the are wonderful, hard working people who I am proud to know. Call it simple coincidence. I just want folks to be aware that
there are these scams out there. If you find a car that seems to be in super condition, but below blue book, the questions you ask seem to be side stepped or the answers are inconsistant, walk away. If a car has a salvaged title, it's most likely a totalled car with has had parts slapped together and a person is attempting to sell it off, possibly part of a car theft ring, who knows. Ovoid these cars, unless the price is so ridiculously cheap you can afford to go through tires because the frame is likely tweaked.
I'd hate to see someone taken advantage of, it just makes their cause that much more profitable.

[OceanBlue]

Be aware also that salvage titled (or "branded" titled) vehicles may show no apparent damage at all. Some of these are salvage titled due to being in floods.

Caveat emptor!

[greenbuttskunk]

snowball,
I hear what you're saying. Mine too has a salvaged title. It's been a good truck and I've had no problems. May be tough to sell though, as a salvaged title usually means you have to drop the price to get someone comfortable enough to buy it.

[PBR Streetgang]

The State of Oregon has been a dumping ground for these cars because they don't check the vehicle history of out of state cars. There is a new law either passed or about to be passed that would help close this loophole.

Tim

[speyfly]

If your buying a used car or truck it is a good idea to run CarFax. This will give you the complete recorded history of the vehical you are looking at. Oh, BTW even if you are buying used from a dealership make sure they run car fax for you. If you have a reconstructed (branded title) and you get into an accident, your vehical was deemed unsafe to drive and someone gets injured or killed you may be held liable. Just something to think about.

[SHLEPROCK]

The thing to remember is that the more value the vehicle has, the more damage was done to total it.
You should not pay over 70% of Blue Book for a totaled vehicle.
I have seen cars with clean titles sold off lots with poor repair also.
One of the first things that I look at is wheel alignment by sighting down the rear wheels to the front wheels to check for twisted frames.
One thing to be cautious about is when you sell someone a vehicle they may not transfer the title and years later you may get letters from the courts demanding money for violations against the vehicle.
When you write a Bill of Sale be sure to keep a copy for yourself.

[snowball]

greenbutt, sorry to hear about your situation, title to my truck is "salvaged".. it was not totaled-- however my insurance company totaled it out,as the cost of repair exceeded the value of the truck- So they totaled it, i bought it back and had to have the title set up as salvaged--so the moral of the story is you can get a good deal out there.. but know the facts-- here i am 5 years later, 120,000 miles, driving my "salvaged" truck, with very little in maintance cost over that time--

[ 06-24-2003, 01:05 PM: Message edited by: snowball ]