Buyer beware: may have saved a customer $65k today

[14Accent]

Here's a good one for the community:

I had a good customer of mine pull in today with a beautiful '19 Silverado 1500 High Country sitting on a 3" lift. 39k miles. He bought it from a "friend" down in TX (I'm in MN) and drove it back. He paid $65k, or so he claimed.

His issue: the truck would randomly not start. Hit the button, nothing. Sometimes it was fine, sometimes it would start but the cluster would remain dead, sometimes it would start and flash warning after warning, Scanning all systems reported just about every comm. code one could imagine.

Before jumping into a long, drawn-out diagnostic process, I decided to locate and disconnect the rear harness for the parking sensors. History has proven time and again that the rear park assist modules on MANY GM vehicles fail and pull down the GMLAN bus. I located the connector on ProDemand, and slid underneath....

What did I find? A truck that had quite obviously been rear-ended and repaired in a way which rivals any salvage vehicle I've come across in my career. From the missing bed-to-frame bolts, to the crushed exhaust, to the damaged left hand shock. After some investigation, it became apparent that whoever "repaired" the truck did nothing but paint a used box, pull the frame just enough to mount said box, and Bondo the LH C-pillar.

The worst part? The truck had a CLEAN Texas title. I ran a Google search on the VIN, and immediately found the auction listing for the truck. It was sold last June in OK for $21k. The pieces all fell into place once I saw that: bought in OK, transported to TX, repaired, then inspected and issued a clean TX title. Thankfully, my customer hadn't signed the title yet. I don't know if he handed over any money, but either way he was beyond thankful for our help.

 

[atikovi]

I had a good customer of mine pull in today with a beautiful '19 Silverado 1500 High Country sitting on a 3" lift. 39k miles. He bought it from a "friend" down in TX (I'm in MN) and drove it back. He paid $65k, or so he claimed.

Thankfully, my customer hadn't signed the title yet. I don't know if he handed over any money, but either way he was beyond thankful for our help.

What's the fact that he hadn't signed the title yet have anything to do with it? I assume if he drove it back, he owns it. And who in their right minds pays $65K for a 4 year old pickup?

 

[eljefino]

Texas being a plates-stay-with-car state might have something to do with it. The deal isn't "consummated" until the title gets turned in for the new owner.

Though for a ripoff of this caliber I can understand if the seller doesn't answer his phone.

Dude handed the money over, and under the sunken cost fallacy will probably just eat the mistake vs admitting he doesn't know how to inspect a vehicle.

 

[atikovi]

The deal isn't "consummated" until the title gets turned in for the new owner.

Don't think so. The deal is done when the buyer hands over the funds and the seller hands over the title. You think if the buyer had wrecked the truck before turning in the title, he could just ask for his money back and undo the deal?

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Texas has no auto purchase buyer's remorse laws, so the buyer is pretty well stuck, due to lack of prepurchase inspection that probably would have caught the issues.

 

[dishdude]

Did the repair fool you until you got under it? Usually a repair this poor you can tell from across the parking lot.

 

[GON]

What's the fact that he hadn't signed the title yet have anything to do with it? I assume if he drove it back, he owns it. And who in their right minds pays $65K for a 4 year old pickup?

It has a three-inch lift. People lose their mind over lift kits and black Chinese rims, and AT tires.

 

[spasm3]

You could buy a new Ram 2500 Tradesman for that or less. I paid less for my 21 2500 tradesman.

 

[LDB]

And who in their right minds pays $65K for a 4 year old pickup?

Well, 3" lift kit and only 39k miles. Duh.

 

[Fla]

Did he buy it through E-bay? I've seen a lot of crap vehicles on there like that. Years ago my neighbor patched up two old rust bucket Jeeps and put a fresh coat of paint on them and then sold them to somebody in Texas via Ebay for over $20,000. When the buyer got them them he was LIVID! My neighbor eventually sold his house and moved else where because the buyer was very literally, hunting for him!

I don't take a car seller's word for anything. A buyer should always check the vehicle in person before buying and if they don't think they're competent enough to judge the condition then they should take to a competent mechanic and have them check it.

 

[Fla]

It has a three-inch lift. People lose their mind over lift kits and black Chinese rims, and AT tires.

Any time that I look at a hopped up car or truck I immediately start looking for damage. In my experience, a LOT of the people that do those kinds of mods tend to abuse their vehicles and also ignore basic maintenance.

 

[Redright9]

Still crazy to me that people will spend this kind of money without understanding or barely looking at something. People will spend obscene money for a vehicle they just saw, kinda like marrying a person within the first ten minutes of meeting them.

 

[Pew]

Would that come up on a carfax/autocheck? A friend bought a vehicle last year without checking the carfax and when he showed me the car, we found suspicious things that made him realize the car was in a collision. Of course prior to that he told me he'd never buy a car without looking at the carfax or under it.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

Still crazy to me that people will spend this kind of money without understanding or barely looking at something. People will spend obscene money for a vehicle they just saw, kinda like marrying a person within the first ten minutes of meeting them.

Agree 100%. In fact I would do a thorough inspection for 1/4 that amount of money.

 

[repairman54]

Eyeballs are the true verifier. I had a '89 S10 Blazer that got hit when parked. Ins. repaired it and after I put 250k miles on it I gave it to my brother. I had a Carfarce subscription when shopping for a new vehicle and ran it through them. No report of any accident yet it was Ins. Co. repaired with 2 Ins. Co. fighting it out between them with police reports also.

 

[nthach]

It has a three-inch lift. People lose their mind over lift kits and black Chinese rims, and AT tires.

Dealers are broing up trucks and adding on phat addendums if there is a market for them. And there’s people with bad credit who can still get a loan for one, though with high interest rates. Subprime lending, be it for a high-mileage bucket or a brodozer is lucrative to both the lender and dealer(spiffs and bonuses).

The dealer spent very little to bro it up - their costs are less than what you and I can pay Les Schwab or the local brodozer shop for that.

 

[Hootbro]

He bought it from a "friend" down in TX

Another example of friends and family that will screw you quicker than a stranger will.

 

[robertcope]

Texas being a plates-stay-with-car state might have something to do with it. The deal isn't "consummated" until the title gets turned in for the new owner.

Legally, in Texas, the plates can stay with the car, but any intelligent seller will take them. Too much risk in letting a buyer keep them.

Not a lawyer, but I don't think signing the title is significant in terms of a legal deal having been done.

robert

 

[D60]

@14Accent so did you pursue the no-start?

 

[JTK]

I barely got past the $65K for a 4.5yr/old 1500 pickup, then it got worse!

I've watched a few south main auto videos where he goes right for the GM truck under-body mounted modules as well. The rust belt turns them into swollen green globs of corrosion and as you say, a shorted module will pull everything down, that's downstream of it on the bus.