Would you buy a repo car?

drypowder

drypowder

Les Deplorables
Joined
Dec 17, 2016
Messages
4,565
Location
behind enemy lines
Rating - 100%
15   0   0
Stumbled across a user car dealer's site that has a bunch of repo'ed cars. So these must have been bought by the dealer at auction.

Upside is you might get an ostensibly good deal relative to similar car being sold by owner or that was traded in and now being sold by a dealer.

Downside is if the prior owner couldn't make his/her car payments, odds that the car was well-maintained seem low. And since lenders typically try to work out payment arrangements, it could be months before the car gets repo'ed and thus potential for months of neglect and even abuse as it becomes clear to the owner that they will lose the car.

Anyone here have experience with repo cars? Do our resident techs have stories about customers buying repo cars and bringing them to you only to discover the hidden problems?
 
Last edited:
Cars get repo by the lenders. Get stored on a lot somewhere. Once a month or so, an auction is held. Used car lot, buy here pay here types usually, but not exclusively, show and start bidding. They then get bought. Only obvious repairs generally get done by the cheapest means. Then a state inspection by their friendly inspection station. Then put out for sale.

Its truely boils down to luck of the draw.
 
Last edited:
Run the vin on CarFax. Perhaps a forum member has an account and will run it for you.
Look for any bullet holes from the previous owner as the car was repo'd.
 
Last edited:
Low mileage yes.

High mileage no.

They aren’t necessarily bad cars. But the higher the mileage the more likey you’ll get a bad one.
 
Out of curiosity, is this the sort of auction that takes place over off of 85 near High Point?

I went YEARS ago (like, 2001 probably). I remember you needed a 200$ deposit, which would be refunded on your way out if you'd not bought anything, and you got to walk the lot before the auctions started.
I remember looking at a MKII MR2, it was yellow...but it was a poor respray over the torquise green color...you could see the green underneath. And the paint runs.

Anyway ,you got me thinking of going back now, sort of forgot about auctions to the public
 
Don't let anyone tell you they used yellow primer.
It was a taxi cab from NY City.;)

Given all the flooding, avoid all salvage cars, not worth the risk.
 
Last edited:
Grits said:
Repo car? Have a drug dog walk around it. I wouldn't want to take a chance.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Not only on a repo, but maybe any used car.. Had a guy come into the shop saying that he just bought this car and it had a rattle in the drivers door when you closed it. When I removed the inner door panel, I found two glass crack pipes laying in the bottom of the door. The new owner was about 70 years old and asked me to dispose of the pipes , which I did. Over the years I found lots of drugs hidden in peoples cars that just bought them..Tough situation to be in,, ask the cops to check your new to you used car and lets say they find drugs,,Its in your possession, legally those drugs are yours..
 
I would buy a salvage car before a repo but either one, I’d want to buy directly from the auction rather than from a dealer. Buying from a used car dealer doesn’t buy you much protection but obviously they’re going to mark up the car, sometimes significantly.

Go buy directly from the source.
 
Personally I would stay away from the repo cars.. Ive been in the car business for many and many years and from experience I have to agree with many responders mentioning lack of maintiance at best.. A lot of the times , they just abuse the vehicles horribly. The auction company's like Adesa and Mainhiem, tow these virtual wreaks to my dealership, just to fix it just enough to drive thru the line. Then send it a body shop for a minimal repair and a quick shine.You might get lucky to find yourself a good low mileage repo car, but I gotta tell you,, its rare..
 
Consider the rental car used car lots, Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, etc. cars PM'd and any recall work done,
the shop were I worked actually was a profit center, we had anywhere between 2,000-3,000 cars on the road.
You can even look at the car history on most sites with a CarFax or similar. Lots of TSB recalls in the day.

Salvage cars can be 'sanitized' and paper registered a few times and you will not know that it was a salvage,
I recall one young lady died because the car was a sanitized salvage, whoever welded the car back together had
no clue how to do it by the book, the car broke in half when impacted.
 
Jerzsubbie said:
I would buy a salvage car before a repo but either one, I’d want to buy directly from the auction rather than from a dealer. Buying from a used car dealer doesn’t buy you much protection but obviously they’re going to mark up the car, sometimes significantly.

Go buy directly from the source.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing you don't get a chance to really look the car over at auction. I'm talking about having a long checklist of items to inspect, including getting under the car and taking it for a test drive. So yeah, you can buy it much cheaper at auction, but you have less of an idea of what you're getting. If you wait for a used car dealer to buy it, then you can inspect it, test drive it, have your mechanic check it out. You pay more, but you have a better idea of what you're buying.
 
I say go for it. Just be ready to go ahead and do all the miamtance on it when you get one

Isn’t much worse than buying a used car anywhere else.

I worked for a dealership, done more used car inspections than I care to remember.

They still cut corners on things.

Yes they got oil changes, wipers, air filter, cabin filter.

That’s it. No other service was done unless absolutely needed.

Oil these days are beyond greater than anything previous. Oil changes these days can go 5k on conventional, 7500 on semi synthetic and up to 10k on synthetic. Least according to chrysler And their stuff.

Oh and even brand new cars sit on the lot for a long time. I had to move a Jeep that was sitting on the lot for over a year.
 
I'm kinda sorta in the market for a beater truck to run around the hunting lease in. Let's say I went to one of these auctions....could I whip out a Visa and drive away with it? Bring cash? Some kind of letter of credit? 3rd party post-dated check?
 
drypowder said:
I'm guessing you don't get a chance to really look the car over at auction. I'm talking about having a long checklist of items to inspect, including getting under the car and taking it for a test drive. So yeah, you can buy it much cheaper at auction, but you have less of an idea of what you're getting. If you wait for a used car dealer to buy it, then you can inspect it, test drive it, have your mechanic check it out. You pay more, but you have a better idea of what you're buying.
Click to expand...
You are correct, no test drives at auction but you do get a chance to look it over. Of course it’s a matter of opinion, but for me I’d rather buy a salvage vehicle, repair it, and end up with a vehicle that is 50% off market value. I can’t imagine the savings is worth it when buying from a dealer.
I’ve actually been casually looking at doing this with a C6 corrvette for a weekend/fun car.
 
My first job out of college was working collections at a finance company. I’ve seen first hand just how crappy repo cars are taken care of. Trust me when I tell you the term routine maintenance is not in the vocabulary of a dead beat that has their car repoed.

Their are a few exceptions to this rule, there are a few decent people out there that encounter a bad situation and turn their car back in, in good shape, but that is very rare. Even good people skip the basic stuff when times are tough.

I’m in the car business now and am friends with a lot of lenders that would love to sell me their repos or put them on consignment for them. Just not worth it.
 
Tim said:
I'm kinda sorta in the market for a beater truck to run around the hunting lease in. Let's say I went to one of these auctions....could I whip out a Visa and drive away with it? Bring cash? Some kind of letter of credit? 3rd party post-dated check?
Click to expand...
I think you have to be a dealer, atleast that’s the way it works at the one in High Point.
 
Tim said:
I'm kinda sorta in the market for a beater truck to run around the hunting lease in. Let's say I went to one of these auctions....could I whip out a Visa and drive away with it? Bring cash? Some kind of letter of credit? 3rd party post-dated check?
Click to expand...

At a public auction, cash is king. More than likely no driving it off unless you have a dealer transport tag or tow truck. Titles usually are not on hand and get mailed to you.
 
Just comb the local classifieds and find a nice local used car. May take awhile but it's worth it.
 
SPST said:
Just comb the local classifieds and find a nice local used car. May take awhile but it's worth it.
Click to expand...

Or he could hang around the nearest convalescent center and get a killer deal on 20-30 year old vehicle with less than 30,000 miles on it.
 
Mike Overlay said:
Or he could hang around the nearest convalescent center and get a killer deal on 20-30 year old vehicle with less than 30,000 miles on it.
Click to expand...
I'm going to assume you're joking about convalescent centers, but for sure the elderly are a great source for lightly used older cars. Once my father stopped driving, we sold his lightly used Lincoln (that boat was awesome for long road trips). The elderly don't drive a lot, are driving relatively slowly and decent chance they follow the maintenance reminder and bring the car in for regular servicing.

How to get to those potential sellers before their adult children get involved (raising asking price) and post up on Craigslist?
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
SPST said:
Yep. My 91 yo mom has a 2000 Chevy Tahoe with 80k miles. She bought it new. I took her keys from her last summer. Everyone I know wants to buy it.
Click to expand...
How much?

:p
That would be one to keep.
 
SPST said:
Yeah, if it was only 4wd! It is a LT model with leather and pretty much everything you could get on it in 2000.
Click to expand...
That might be even better, how much time does anyone spend in 4x4?
I have a 2005 4x4 and put it in 4x4 a couple times a year to lube everything except for maybe twice a year when I think I need it.
 
My 89yr old aunt gave up driving and gifted me her 2003 Saturn Ion in 2014 it has 33K on it, my daughter used it after graduating college, it has 71K on it now.
 
The CU I work for gets a fair amount of repos. They fall into two categories: voluntary and involuntary.

The ones voluntarily turned in are generally in decent condition, maybe 75% of the time. Often we'll have them checked out, detailed, and put out front for sale. We can recoup most of our money on those.

The ones we have to go get are almost always beat to absolute shi#......dirty, unmaintained, crashed, mismatched wheels (had to get their $7000 rims off!), floorboards full of tobacco and fast food wrappers.....you don't want those cars. Those go straight to auction and we lose our "ah-noose" on those.
 
Brian K said:
The CU I work for gets a fair amount of repos. They fall into two categories: voluntary and involuntary.

The ones voluntarily turned in are generally in decent condition, maybe 75% of the time. Often we'll have them checked out, detailed, and put out front for sale. We can recoup most of our money on those.

The ones we have to go get are almost always beat to absolute shi#......dirty, unmaintained, crashed, mismatched wheels (had to get their $7000 rims off!), floorboards full of tobacco and fast food wrappers.....you don't want those cars. Those go straight to auction and we lose our "ah-noose" on those.
Click to expand...

Be in the auto business long enough, one learns that there is a reason most of the cars end up at an auction lot.
 
Mike Overlay said:
Be in the auto business long enough, one learns that there is a reason most of the cars end up at an auction lot.
Click to expand...

We had one involuntary come back with a huge piece of the dash SAWED out... with a hand saw. Seems the owner was a huge fan of the band Seether and had one of the band members sign his dash. He needed to keep that part. :confused:
 
drypowder said:
I would assume that an experienced automotive tech can spot signs of flooding. And there's no way I'd buy a used car, much less a salvage car, without a pre-purchase inspection.
Click to expand...
A good tech can spot one but the problem is most shops have their good techs doing other things besides prepurchase inspections. That like oil changes and tire rotations go to the general service guys while the problem cars are given to the good techs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom