Picked up a Copart vehicle

Why guys buy this stuff that an insurance company said is not worth fixing is beyond me....
 
Why guys buy this stuff that an insurance company said is not worth fixing is beyond me....

Because you can often fix a car for significantly less than the damage estimate from an insurance company. Seems like common sense to me. With older vehicles, insurance companies will total them over even the slightest damage. As was the case with my '96 Maxima, they wrote me a $1700 check over a fender that cost me $50 to fix. Even at a commercial body shop, it would have been significantly less than their estimate.
 
Why guys buy this stuff that an insurance company said is not worth fixing is beyond me....

This wasn't an insurance company salvage/ Came with a clean title. No risk- no reward. I have a good time doing what I do, sometimes it is tragic, sometimes it is magic. I have a $105,000 original sticker price Mercedes in my garage with 50k miles right now that I paid $350 for, and documented it on BITOG. And have given multiple friends in need of a reliable vehicle cars I have rebuilt for free- that are still in service today. I am not on the sideline complaining about others- I am in the arena (Teddy Roosevelt).

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
 
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I honestly think picking over these auction deals and bringing home a project vehicle every now and again would be a fun hobby... Like OP said, you're not going to quit your day job doing it, just have to be careful about what you buy.
 
This wasn't an insurance company salvage/ Came with a clean title. No risk- no reward. I have a good time doing what I do, sometimes it is tragic, sometimes it is magic. I have a $105,000 original sticker price Mercedes in my garage with 50k miles right now that I paid $350 for, and documented it on BITOG. And have given multiple friends in need of a reliable vehicle cars I have rebuilt for free- that are still in service today. I am not on the sideline complaining about others- I am in the arena (Teddy Roosevelt).

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Your really showing your age there GON.
 
This wasn't an insurance company salvage/ Came with a clean title. No risk- no reward. I have a good time doing what I do, sometimes it is tragic, sometimes it is magic. I have a $105,000 original sticker price Mercedes in my garage with 50k miles right now that I paid $350 for, and documented it on BITOG. And have given multiple friends in need of a reliable vehicle cars I have rebuilt for free- that are still in service today. I am not on the sideline complaining about others- I am in the arena (Teddy Roosevelt).

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
No you don't have a $105,000 vehicle. You have a Mercedes with a clouded title -here in UTah I guess that would be a"salvage" title. ANd then it's worth whatever someone else thinks it's worth with said title. Not what you think it is. But you are in luck-because Utah is the capitol of salvage titled and odometer rolled back vehicles.
 
I brought 7 cars from Copart this past summer. Only 2 of them have gone as expected.

2016 GMC Sierra SLT HD Duramax - wheel fell off because someone decided to not only swap out the factory chrome wheels for base WT steelies, they also left 6/8 lug nuts off the front wheels and put the lug caps back on. Wheel falls off on the highway lol. Still haven't gotten into it yet but I'm sure I'll find some surprises.

2016 Porsche Cayenne. Moderate front end damage in pictures. Get the car only to find out the driver knee airbag was deployed but hidden in the pictures. Car was listed run & drive but the accident shifted the subframe a hair and cracked the block where the motor mount connects. I paid over half of clean retail to get the car after fees, NOT including replacement parts, only to find out I need a new engine block because cast iron is a PITA to weld. Nobody's selling blocks for a 16 cayenne and complete engines are 10k+. At the end of this ordeal it would cost close to what a CLEAN retail Cayenne costs.

2013 Nissan Frontier. Driver side damage. "Runs & drives". I fix the body then find out head gasket is blown. Fix the head gasket and find out the tranny is slipping when you get into high gear.

2006 Mazda 6 needed more work then it was worth. $450 after fees with side impact. High mileage so it's only worth $1200 tops ended up parting it out.

2004 Toyota Highlander. Every light on the dash is on. Needed more work than it was worth. Scrapped it.

2018 Toyota Corolla rear end damage, pulled the tub, brought a new trunk lid and it's as good as new
2003 Honda Accord, light rear end damage. Fixed with a dent puller and new bumper.

Copart is sleazy AF. I would be careful if I ever buy another car off of them.
 
I send vehicles to Copart all the time; I work for a towing company. I know they have a buyer that bids out to insurance companies on what they have; they either will split up a vehicle that is a total, or it has an repair that exceeds the value of the vehicle.

IAA is another good one too; I would say we send more running cars to them. Copart for some reason likes rollover cars from us...
 
Sold the Park Avenue. Broke even after expenses (didn't make anything- not lose anything except time). Sold the first day I listed it. It will be a nice car for the new owner. He is a body man.

He's going to go to a junkyard get a quarter panel paint the whole car for less than you ever thought a car could be painted for, make it look brand new and sell it in about a couple of weeks for $3,500. The supercharged Buick super absolute rocket ship.
 
Sometimes you get lucky. My coworker got a newer v6 Cherokee cheap because of some moderate hail damage. A new windshield, 0 cares given about the dents, and he has a perfect work beater.

The 4.0 was always better than the 5.2. No idea how the 4.7s (V8s yes?) were.. or, what current Pentastar engines are.

There is a difference between buying a car at auction for one's own self, and buying it to flip it. Usually, even one thing needs to be repaired and the profit just is not there.

Seen dealers buy 1998 Lincoln Continental very very good condition car.. all options, heated rear seats !! for $500. They did try to stop the auction and run it through for a thousand after virtual, but. Dealer could sell that car for around 2 grand. Probably more.

They make money, and some of the totaling by insurance company simply does not compute to the mere mortals like ourselves that know exactly the ins and outs of the desired model, probably have a lot of spare parts maybe even a parts car at home, and just know what to do. Maybe even sell it. Or keep for one's self.

It's when the car is either Biohazard, fire damage, or possibly flood damage (water in the engine, silt line,) things like that is where things get fun and the equivalent of put all your chips on red.

I still think that Buick is going to sell for almost 4 grand because.. Supercharged 3800. That alone...
 
The 4.0 was always better than the 5.2. No idea how the 4.7s (V8s yes?) were.. or, what current Pentastar engines are.

There is a difference between buying a car at auction for one's own self, and buying it to flip it. Usually, even one thing needs to be repaired and the profit just is not there.

I’m not a fan of the magnum 5.2 or 5.9, sure they’re hard to kill but that’s about the nicest thing I have to say about them lol. The Cherokee never got those though, or the 4.7 V8, that was the Grand Cherokee.

The 3.2 Pentastar in the Cherokee is just a slightly smaller version of the 3.6, buttery smooth and great power. But I agree, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy something for myself from Copart or wherever that had some damage, but I’d never try to get into the business of flipping them.

Which reminds me of my other coworker who bought an Altima for a work beater from Copart. It had bullet holes in it... no biohazard, written off as vandalism, but multiple bullet holes. Nicknamed it the “murder-mobile”
 
Sometimes you get lucky. My coworker got a newer v6 Cherokee cheap because of some moderate hail damage. A new windshield, 0 cares given about the dents, and he has a perfect work beater.

Yea-one in a thousand you may get something serviceable. Otherwise CoPart is a junk yard-that's what they are.
 
I’m not a fan of the magnum 5.2 or 5.9, sure they’re hard to kill but that’s about the nicest thing I have to say about them lol. The Cherokee never got those though, or the 4.7 V8, that was the Grand Cherokee.

The 3.2 Pentastar in the Cherokee is just a slightly smaller version of the 3.6, buttery smooth and great power. But I agree, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy something for myself from Copart or wherever that had some damage, but I’d never try to get into the business of flipping them.

Which reminds me of my other coworker who bought an Altima for a work beater from Copart. It had bullet holes in it... no biohazard, written off as vandalism, but multiple bullet holes. Nicknamed it the “murder-mobile”
I had a rental car, Dallas late Eighties, bullet holes noted on pre-rental walk around. They noted it like it was no big thing.
 
I watch the youtube channel samcrac

The guy buys mostly copart cars, mostly sporty or exotic cars, and rebuilds them on his Florida ranch.

Pretty interesting, I think he makes his money mostly on youtube revenue and ad sponsors, not actually flipping the cars.

His word of advise, don't buy a range rover.
 
I watch the youtube channel samcrac

The guy buys mostly copart cars, mostly sporty or exotic cars, and rebuilds them on his Florida ranch.

Pretty interesting, I think he makes his money mostly on youtube revenue and ad sponsors, not actually flipping the cars.

His word of advise, don't buy a range rover.

Well he has egg on his face Sam Crac ing the front bumper getting it off the trailer. That should not have happened.
 
That car is too nice for 24 Hours of LeMons - the amount of work to make it race worthy is significant and puts you over the $500 limit for cars(not including safety stuff like racing seat/harness/roll cage).

It’s good for parts - if the engine/trans is in good shape, there’s someone out there who will buy it.
 
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