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

[D60]

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.

There was a great one on a circa 2019 GM truck where the entire right framerail had lost ground. Caused all sorts of electrical gremlins.

 

[JTK]

There was a great one on a circa 2019 GM truck where the entire right framerail had lost ground. Caused all sorts of electrical gremlins.

Was that the one where the braided ground strap in the front left wheel well had turned to dust?

 

[John105]

I wonder if there are more obvious and visual signs as well.

If a person can see a vehicle, clean, and in the bright sun, I don't think too much body work will be overlooked by the human eye.

For example, in 2016 I was looking for 2006 LS430s.

One great deal was at a Lexus dealer, only it was a 2005. Clean CarFax, great price, let's go see it.

Dealer emailed me a pdf of all the things they did to recondition for sale, incl 4 OE tires (no such tires [Dunlop SP--listed the OE part numbers] were on the vehicle, they were cheap aftermarkets), right front strut, right rear shock, hmmmm....

It was in the shop and could not start. That was the first red flag.

There was all kinds of overspray on the left rear, and complete right side.

I told the salesman I think this car has been hit, odd it's not on the carfax. He didn't try to deny, he said on cars this old, the accident is often missing on the carfax (even at times lying about a $12k car isn't worth a salesman's time when he's selling brand new ones too).

 

[Doc8404]

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.

Any updates??

 

[14Accent]

Any updates??

Oh lord no, I'm not even with that shop anymore. Last I heard, the customer was going to talk to the guy he bought it from.

 

[PimTac]

Oh lord no, I'm not even with that shop anymore. Last I heard, the customer was going to talk to the guy he bought it from.

I have the feeling that he won’t find his friend.

 

[E150GT]

Emotions get some people. A guy at work bought a used dodge ram 2017 I think. When I took a look at it I can see the front fender and bed are one shade of color and the body is another. Close but you can see it. He has never noticed that I know of. He says he loves that truck.

 

[Doc8404]

Emotions get some people. A guy at work bought a used dodge ram 2017 I think. When I took a look at it I can see the front fender and bed are one shade of color and the body is another. Close but you can see it. He has never noticed that I know of. He says he loves that truck.

Yeah. I was years into a relationship before realizing the difference in size and shape between her left and right.

We stayed together for a bit.