You have to be fairly knowledgeable
about automotive technology and
repair if you want a decent deal on
a repossession or an auction car.
Years ago I used to help repo
on the weekends ( before the dealers
started staying open on the weekends)
There's lots of people that are up
for repossession that sabotage the
vehicles that are up for recovery.
I've seen people drain the oil, poke
holes in the transmission pans and
gas tanks, cut up all the underhood
wiring harnesses, run the engine with
the oil drained, vandalize the interior,
etc. etc.
There was a nice fishing barge
we were picking up, and the owner
had taken a knife and slashed the
whole interior upholstery and the
wiring. I'd put a bid in on it myself
until I saw the vandalism that had
been done.
There's also the unseen damage
that you might not know to look
for if you're just a driver and not
mechanically inclined.
The general manager of one of
the places I worked at fancied
himself as a wheeler dealer as
far as buying big time deals that
he thought he could buy low
sell high. While I was there he
bought more than a few in online
auctions that were crap.
He bought one truck that was really
good looking with a good looking
interior and a loud stereo.
When the technician got it up
on the lift in the shop, the frame
had been pieced together from
being totaled out, and everything
had been bent up and straightened
and welded up and was a different
color of paint underneath.
A junker in other words that couldn't
be sold as a certified used vehicle.
Obviously unsafe POS that was a
ghetto body shop jigsaw puzzle
truck
