The Mercedes Gullwing was actually direct injected one of the first vehicles.
Another example of how still crazy high the used car market is- especially for cheap used cars
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GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
That is a good question.. the pick n pull in urban areas have high rent, assume high insurance, and of course a lot of labor. Might be a tougher business than meets the eye
Doesn't it have like 66k miles? You could probably get closer to $4k.
77K. Mechanically it runs great with ice cold a/c and the interior looks great, but the previous owner did a rattle can paint job on the roof. Looks ok from 10 feet so not sure it's worth painting.
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I love rebuilt salvage. I bought both my kids totaled 2 year old Chevy Cruze Eco's for college. They were between $2500-$3500 + fees. All in including taxes less than $6000 each. It's really not worth it most of the time now. If you watch the actions, there are lots of foreign bidders, but they mostly bid Hondas, Toyota's, and Euro cars. I did a Duck tour in Boston and was shocked by how full the port was with US salvage cars headed abroad. A lot of them had repair parts quickly slapped on.
For me I always tried to buy for 1/3 of clean value and have them done for less than 1/2 of clean value. While there are still deals to found, they not as common as they once were. The internet has kinda made it harder to find deals.
For me I always tried to buy for 1/3 of clean value and have them done for less than 1/2 of clean value. While there are still deals to found, they not as common as they once were. The internet has kinda made it harder to find deals.
No visible rust on the body. Will have to take a look underneath at the frame.
Is it possible that a pick and pull bought this car in question, and think they can part it out for more? Presumably the price of parts has gone up too, meaning they can charge more for parts. So you can afford to pay more for carcasses.
I'd think a pick and pull would want to buy for less, but who knows.
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I would say this is absolutely possible. With the increased value of scrap steel, aluminum and the CAT, the vehicle might be worth what they paid in scrap alone for a recycler. Any parts they do sell is extra.
They offer something FBM and trading a car in cannot-- the ability to get rid of a car without dealing with sleazy people. Junkyards still pay $50-100 for complete cars even if the catalytic converter itself is worth $300! Plus you get people like my dad who think, "If I can't fix it, nobody can, it must be junk!"
We just got back from Georgia yesterday, and riding around Tbilisi in Bolt cars, their Uber or Lift equivalent, it was amazing how many US market cars there are on the road there. Chevy Cruises are common and there were many Fusions and Malibus as well. The Prius may well be the national car of Georgia. Out in the countryside, you do see many Fiat 124 era Ladas as well as Gaz trucks, but driving around Tbilisi you could almost be in a large US city based upon the cars that you see, although you also see some RHD JDM cars as well as some Keis. There are also a surprising number of Teslas running around. Looking at some of these cars, they have inspection stickers from the US and Canada in many cases.
My point is that there is a substantial overseas market for cars sold new in the US, even though it must cost a pretty penny to ship them the six thousand or so miles to Tbilisi and parts availability can't be easy.
My point is that there is a substantial overseas market for cars sold new in the US, even though it must cost a pretty penny to ship them the six thousand or so miles to Tbilisi and parts availability can't be easy.
Due to the trade imbalance and the negative value of empty containers the shipping costs are toploaded to the US,
Return shipping is effectively nothing (at least if you know what your doing)
16m used cars leaving the US is extremely damaging to consumers and the used car market.
If it gets much worse a broken mirror will total the car
Return shipping is effectively nothing (at least if you know what your doing)
16m used cars leaving the US is extremely damaging to consumers and the used car market.
If it gets much worse a broken mirror will total the car
I really don't understand this logic of "used cars leaving US is extremely damaging to the consumers and the used car market".
You buy a house and you would be happy that it is worth more value when it is done and you can sell for a good price. You buy a car then you hope that it will not be worth much when you sell it later? Do you want your cars to be worth nothing like a used PC in the 90s? Or do you want other people to take the new car depreciation so you can get it for next to nothing?
Residual value being high means they will be less likely to be totaled, instead of being scraped and smelted because it is cheaper to total it. The labor cost to repair is the same, the repair part cost is based off manufacturing cost instead of residual value of the car so it remains the same.
Selling used car oversea also means US trade, we are exporting stuff, good for our trade deficit.
I really wish this means manufacturers would build longer lasting cars so they have higher residual values when you sell them used to oversea market, so we can expect a car to last 30 years if we want to, instead of 10-15 because "nobody repair a used car when they depreciate to scrap value".
If we had more old used cars here, old used cars would be cheaper. By reducing the supply but not the demand, cost goes up. Those shopping the low end of the pool now have to wade into the deeper end, since car ownership for most in NA is not nicety, it's a requirement (car wreck, not worth repairing, unsafe due to rust).
You do know if "used cars would be cheaper" means new car buyers are losing more money in depreciation right? So you are increasing the cost of new car buyers to subsidize the use car buyers if you ban export.
A lot of cars can be fixed but are not fixed, because it is cheaper to just crush them and buy something less broken. Do you know why I crushed my 95 Corolla and 93 Escort? Because they are not worth fixing and it is easier to just get rid of them by crushing them. If they are worth something people will try to repair it and sell it for a better price.
Everything you said is artificial market manipulation and it is done in Communism.
GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
PB, maybe you should have kept that 95 Corolla........
