Bulldozer
free ice cream sandwiches
yeah my charger is a **** box
Reconstructed, salvaged, rebuilt, titles
- Thread starter Penstarpurist
- Start date
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we see these reconstructed cars in our service dept all the time and quite often they are nightmares ! mostly due to shoddy workmanship and fraud. Things like cracked blocks or tranys patched with JB weld that finally fail a year or two down the road... or electronics/sensor glitches.
If he knew what the original damage was and the character of the guy rebuilding it he might be ok... but he better plan on keeping it for a long time because the average buyer wont touch it.
If he knew what the original damage was and the character of the guy rebuilding it he might be ok... but he better plan on keeping it for a long time because the average buyer wont touch it.
ramenth
Gratis persona
Some guys don't follow the KISS method. And some guys rely on the "it's always ________ that goes and that's what this car needs." Too many dealer techs rely on TSB's to do the diagnostics for them.
Had a service writer who used to sell a lot of parts over the phone. "The TSB...!"
Yeah, well the TSB doesn't apply to every fix and it still has to be diagnosed. And just because you put "this" part on the last 10 cars doesn't mean car #11 needs the same part.
Had a customer with a '99 7.3T F250 convinced he needed a turbo when all the experts told him it needed a turbo. Took it for a test drive. Turbo was spooling then the truck would fall flat on it's face. I was laughing before I even got back to my shop. It was obvious. Opened the air cleaner and the turbo had the old dirty air filter pulled into the inlet tube. $45 later and the truck was running like new.
Good thing I'm honest. Would have been easy enough to keep the truck for a week, clean the hell out of the turbo, spent the money on an air filter, and charged him $2k for "new" turbo.
I knew a tech that poured oil down the throat of a Chevy 4x4 Shortbox (Super nice) while he was inspecting it for the used car dept. Then told the owner the engine was shot. He offered to buy it for a song and he would rebuild the engine.
Owner was an asshole and I was glad to see Frank get the better of him. lol
this was the late 80s
Owner was an asshole and I was glad to see Frank get the better of him. lol
this was the late 80s
ramenth
Gratis persona
There's a local multi-make dealership around here that was notorious for buying grey market and wrecked cars and pawning them off as quality used.
They'd knowingly send these cars to the surrounding dealerships to mess with, so we'd have to chase issues with crap work or tell the customer that since their car was actually Canadian we couldn't fix it under warranty.
Several fines for fraud from the AG and they stopped these practices.
The guys at local lumber yard knocked the crap out of the back of cab and bed on my 23 yr old Ram 3500 cummins. Their ins. co. totaled it at $6500, gave it to me for $500 I fixed it, ( body shop wanted $6500 to fix it! HA),and they never touched my title!!! Oh well.
Penstarpurist
Well-Known Member
That's an impressive price so far. I sent the link to my son. We do have a trailer to haul it home. Though, I bet it would be driven home if he bought it. Thanks for sharing that link.
Cope
Fusing with fire
That's the shitty engine, it WILL crack heads and blow the head gaskets...
Penstarpurist
Well-Known Member
Oh. I wasn't aware of that. My son said the same thing. I guess you can teach an old dog something new. Lol. That's probably why the price is so good. But still thank you ssvdp for thinking about me.
You’re welcome
I've had an 02 WRX for the last 10 years and it now has 177,000 miles. Still running strong with no head gasket issues or head problems. I passed it down to my son and now have a 2015 WRX. The 2015 was burning oil and I just had the short block replaced under warranty. They have great traction in the snow and when you turn off traction control they are even more fun to drive in the snow.
I currently own 2 vehicles with salvage titles. My 2011 Hemi Ram 1500 4x4 had 659 miles on it when purchased for less than half price. A carport had fallen on it and it needed a new box side, windshield, hood and mirror. I also did a little work on the roof, (very minor). I have been driving it ever since without a problem. I also have a 2015 Cadillac SRX Luxury (loaded) that I picked up for about 1/3 of the value. It needed a rear carrier, driveshaft,strut, wheel and a minor dent fixed in a front fender. My wife drives it everyday and loves it. The car that it replaced was a 2015 Cadillac ATS that my wife hit a deer with. That car was also a salvage title and was written off by the insurance company after the body shop screwed up the electronics on it. The insurance only wanted to pay out about 2/3 of the value of a car with a clear title. My wife handed me the phone and the negotiation lasted about 30 seconds. I said they charged me full price for the insurance so they had to pay full price on the value of the car otherwise we were going to court. The insurance rep got back to me about 2 hours later with a much better offer which was $55 more than the lowest that my wife and I had agreed on and because it didn't involve going to court, we took it. So this idea that the insurance will pay out less than what the car is valued at is hogwash. It comes down to what you pay premiums on. Personally I will never by another car unless it is at an insurance auction. The monetary savings are just to high to do otherwise. For the most part I only buy cars that are unbolt, bolt-on fixable for the most part though.
Jack
Jack
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