Hi,

I live in the UK, and have just bought a Le Mans Coupe C5. Unfortunately, my dream car is turning into a nightmare!

I've had the car a couple of days and started to notice the panel alignment was quite far out. The drivers door is tight and the gap on the other side is big consistent with a chassis twist. I spoke to the previous owner about this and he put it down to the plastic panels.

Eventually, I found the Carfax website and checked the VIN - it is a salvage title. The title was issued in Pennsylvania and the car was exported to the UK shortly after.

The seller found a guy who claims to have imported it in 2005, he says it had light panel damage to the drivers side front and no chassis damage whatsoever, the airbags did not go off.

I called the seller again tonight (or this morning over there!) and he is going to pay for an engineers report by a decent bodyshop.

I have a couple of questions, and would really appreciate your help:

Would a 2004 car be issued a salvage title for a light crash when it was only a year old? The mileage is 9600.

Is there anyway I can find out exactly what happened to the car? Perhaps the Pennsylvania motor department might know?

I'm torn between telling him to take it back, or keeping it if it only had a light crash. I got it for a good price, but am concerned it is either dangerous or that i'll never sell it again.

Thanks, and sorry for the depressing first post. It hasn't put me off Corvettes

Tom

 

Hello, and welcome to the forum. First off, I would make the seller take it back. He evidently did not tell you about the mishap with the car before you bought it. Second, I don't think it would have a salvage title for a minor fender bender, no matter what the mileage is. If you decide to keep it, I would have someone reputable go over the car very carefully.

 

Thanks,

I believe the seller didn't know about the title. He has only had it 6 months and hardly drove it - he didn't like the targa and is going back to a convertible.

We both ran a HPI check, which is the UK equivelent of carfax and it showed up clear. When I told him about the salvage, he sounded genuinely shocked. He is looking into getting his deposit on a C6 back and taking the car off my hands.

I am just having problems believing that a nearly new car was given a salvage title from a light fender bender. If anyone is lying, it is probably the guy that exported it.

I don't know about the US, but car dealers here are not exactly trustworthy

 

In order to qualify for a salvage title there had to be enough damage to the car that an insurance agency declared it totaled (i.e. the cost of the repair is higher then the value of the vehicle). So there is no way light fender damage would constitute a salvaged title. I would return the vehicle and continue looking.

Good Luck

 

If the guy offered to take it back, DO IT NOW. Do not wait, this is not the way to start a Corvette relationship, you will HAVE heart ache.

If CarFax has the car listed as salvaged, it is not minor damage.

I would look for another Vette. you will regret buying this one.

 

Why would you believe that.....?

Is that what he told you....?


If it were me, I'd have already demanded the seller return the funds on a salvage title.......

There are plenty of low mileage C5 garage queens available, why mess with something an insurance company gave up on.......?

Get your money back........

 

In my state, and laws vary state to state, if the cars damage is equal to 60% of the cars value = total the car and salvage. That would call for extensive damage to a 2004. About $18,000-20,000 worth of damage.

THAT ISN'T LIGHT DAMAGE

 

i work in the car industry and have seen nearly brand new cars with very light damage(sometimes as light as a bumper cover) come to us with salvage titles. many things other than the damage is considered when a car is wrecked. if he had accsess to the title he would have known if it had a salvage title(its placed somewhere on the title). at least the owner is working with you, i dont think he is under any binding law to refund your money.

 

Something fishey here
Is it possible it got a salvage title because it has been in a flood, that would account for very little obvious damage showing. If in a flood you DO NOT want this car.

 

Also, it could be a recovered stolen car.

 

My .02
I also work in the car biz and sell cars on salvage titles.
Sometimes a car is stolen and not recovered and the insured is paid off. Then the car is recovered later and the insurance co. has to sell it on a salvage title, even though there is slight or no damage.

 

Sorry to hear of your situation....

Prior to the finalization of the sale you should have:

A: Taken the VIN and called a US Chevrolet Dealer to check its history
B: Ran the VIN on Autocheck
C: Ran the VIN on Carfax

NEVER EVER buy a car without checking the history....

You might just be stuck with a lemon...

Dont mean to pi$$ on your parade today ...

Good luck !

 

Like I said, he was as shocked as I was about the title. I am usually a good judge of character and do not believe he is lying to me.

As a private sale, he does not have to give me anything back unless he mis-sold the car - if he didn't know about the damage, he didn't mislead me.

Basically, he could of just put the phone down when I told him it was a salvage car. Instead, we were talking for nearly an hour about what to do. He pretty much offered to look into giving me my money back, but saying and doing are very different

I might have a chance to sue if the car is deemed unroadworthy, not 100% on that.

I'm sure someone along the line has lied, whether it was the importer or someone in the US, I don't know. It was exported out of America two months after being given the salvage title, maybe all the damage wasn't disclosed.
Correct, he isn't liable to give me anything. So far, he has mentioned a refund and is paying for an inspection and engineers report.

I am hoping it is only light damage, is there any way I can get the details of the title? This would settle it either way.

I was under the impression that pennsylvania does not do give salvage titles to stolen cars - I think I read that on CarFax.

Thanks, can you clarify whether this applies in PA? Also how do I find out why the car was given this title?

Thanks for the advice everyone, it has been an experience! My last car (Supra TT) was a grey import and never gave me one problem in 5 years. Maybe I used all my car luck up

 

If you have the opportunity to back out of the deal, do it. As someone else said this is no way to start your relationship with the car.

Also sounds like a good way to take a salvage car here in the states and export it and end up with a clear title. If the title is wrong then you have to ask yourself what else about the car is not as advertised. Has the mileage been altered, Was the accident worse that disclosed.

If you decide to keep it I would defiantly have it checked out by a competent mechanic and then re-negotiate with the seller for a lower price.

Good Luck

 

I know, hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I ran checks on this side, nothing showed. Now I know to dig a lot deeper

 

try to get a copy of the title when he had it in the states or even from the person who sold it to the person you bought it from.

 

If you can take it back do it. No telling how much it could cost to fix all the problems that may come up

 

Not sure if it applys to PA. I only deal in CA.
However PA motor vehicle dept. could sure tell you that info.
Good Luck with it...............

 

Post the VIN number on the forum with a statement regarding your dilemma and I'm sure someone on here has the capability of doing some GM and/or other research to determine the past history of this car.

Good Luck in getting your money back if possible!

 

Some good advice is listed by other forum members.

Couple of points:

1. First of all, your gut feelings are that the car was hit bad. Probably correct.
2. You can examine ALL of the bolts and all of the metal parts and the plastic. You will definitely see signs of how much damage was done. Be very meticulous. Also, run your fingers along the edges of the body panels. Factory paint is extremely smooth on all the edges.

Repainted panels have rough edges.

Look for paint on bolts where paint should not be. Look for scratches and dents under the car. Use a good flashlight and spend 30 minutes with a good body man under there.

In regard to salvage titles, here is some history. In the old days, ins companies provided a salvage title for serious damage. In the last couple of years, salvage titles are passed out right and left. Car does not need much damage. Some ins companies are issuing salvage titles to almost all of their cars. I suspect that might be the result some ins companies getting caught selling "previous damage" and flood cars and providing a clean title.

When the ins co provides a title with something as small as previous damage, they somehow notify the manufacturer who then pulls the warranty on the car. You can quickly end up with no warranty from manuf.

Run the VIN through GMs system. If seller promised "balance of warranty," you might have a good legal case.

You absolutely cannot get the ins co or the state to re-issue a clean title. Just won't happen. No one wants the liability.

Sometimes ins cos will issue a salvage letter instead of salvage title, but you will not be able to get a title for that car either. Basically, same situation.

Ins cos are also doing this: Sending most or all of their cars to crusher. One ins co just sent 6 2006 DTSs with LIGHT hail damage to crusher. A friend of mine was trying to buy them. He said you could hardly see the damage from the pea-sized hail.