Buying a car declared a "Total Loss" on CarFax?

chairmanxiao · 2012-05-25T06:16:44.349063+00:00

From what the current owner knows, the vehicle had its battery pulled and then towed. It does not appear that it was driven in the month that it was missing, but you can never be sure.

Pretty much all I had the mechanic check was the chassis/subframe for damage. The car is aligned nice and good, so no problems there. I then brought it to my own shop and basically stripped it to check for problems. Dropped the transmission, mostly disassembled the interior, and scanned the ECU for any problems (I'm surprised the owner consented... I guess he really wanted to sell it) None of my friends and I could find any major problems. The driver's side door and rear quarter panel appear to have been replaced. I'm assuming they were damaged when the car was stolen. The electrical system doesn't seem to have any problems. I'm still somewhat suspicious, though, and probably won't end up getting it.

chairmanxiao · 2012-05-25T06:08:52.073349+00:00

To be fair, it was recovered after a month. But I had similar thoughts. Thanks for your input.

chairmanxiao · 2012-05-25T06:08:03.899174+00:00

The automatic problem has really sucked. There are so many nice Z's around here, but way too many of them are automatics for some godforsaken reason.

chairmanxiao · 2012-05-25T06:06:43.866829+00:00

Thanks for the info! What sorts of weird things would the gauges do?

chairmanxiao · 2012-05-25T04:47:23.106462+00:00

It's an 03 with about 82k miles on it. The car has no accidents on it. It was declared a total loss after it was stolen. When it was recovered, the insurance company assumed the title. I ran it through CarFax's stolen vehicle checker tool and there aren't any issues with it right now. Literally the only issue is that it shows up as a total loss because it was stolen and then recovered.

chairmanxiao · 2012-05-25T04:21:06.299575+00:00

I checked that with my insurance company earlier, and they said it shouldn't be an issue. Rates, however, are another story... I'll have to look into that.

mdd423 · 5 days

Cool! New team, I take it?

mdd423 · 6 days

Aw :(. Funny story. I'm actually working with Penn State's driver who was in the car when it caught fire. He sits in a desk two rows away from me.

chairmanxiao · 6 days

I wish someone would do that with me...

I would kill for a bowl of mac and cheese with some tomato soup. I had a pickle and beer for dinner. 30% due to laziness, but still :p

chairmanxiao · 6 days

Ah, if only I had cereal...

mdd423 · 6 days

I see one picture of our team car in there. Go U of M! What team are you on and how did you guys do?

mdd423 · 6 days

Our team was also there. How'd you guys do? We took 1st in accel and 3rd in endurance for an overall 5th place finish. Go blue!

Nolano · 10 days

I'm very jealous of how good you are at welding. Awesome bikes. Recumbents aren't my cup of tea, but those are badass.

h0me5killet · 13 days

I've hit about 60mph on a long descent, but that was probably a poor decision as I was running carbon wheels. Poor braking surface...

Battletooth · 19 days

Seeing as my current salary is exactly $0.00... maybe

rickdanko · 21 days

I'd totally buy a nice print of this if it were to ever become available.

chairmanxiao · 23 days

It's a nationwide chain, but yeah. I'll try retightening all the lugnuts and see if that fixes it. It doesn't seem to be happening much anymore for some reason.

chairmanxiao · 23 days

Hm. I'll disassemble my rotor assemblies later today and check them with a dial indicator on a lathe later. Fingers crossed that's not the problem.

chairmanxiao · 23 days

Belle Tire.

Xenoo · 24 days

No need to read too far into it. I've just been so used to seeing animated gifs everywhere that I half expected this one to do something interesting. Twas a poor attempt at humor.

condirice · 24 days

Love M119. My friend used to own a cottage up in Harbor Springs and we would spend all summer there riding all over the place.

chairmanxiao

TROPHY CASE

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