recovered vehicle advice
 

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone had any hints of what to look out for when you are buying a car that was stolen and then recovered.

Thanks,

Tim

Get it checked through bcaa or even better if its a honda get the dealership to do an inspection.

Before you do this examine the entire car, underneath included, the thief could have jumped a curb ect.

If there is nothing obvious, spend the $80 and get it checked by the dealership.

check the glove box for some white stuff...and the seats...

- see if the ignition is sitting in place. and if the key can be pulled out other than in the OFF position

- door handles loose? or if the key core has been punched through. blemishes or rusting around handles.

- if all the glass around the car matches. Whether if the window seals look off or tampered with. Some use oem as glass replacement so that would be hard to tell.

- with windows down, or half down, do they sound solid. Or does it sound like it's off its track. Do the doors close well and are aligned with rest of the frame.

- mini cubes of glass in door sills or other narrow reaches

- electronics work? If the car was driven into a river.. things can go wonky. Then leading onto half-done rewire jobs.

- any weird mold or film on the interior/seats

THanks everyone...

If it went through ICBC, they should have SOME info on where the damage was. IE. hit (where and to what extent, rated 1-4), stripped interior, etc.....

When any write-off or stolen recovery gets processed through ICBC for auction, they asess the damage, document it and put the info on the auction listings. So the info should be in their database - just have to call them to get it. There might be a service charge but at least it'll narrow down where you have to look for damage, if at all.

BTW somthing that hasn't been mentioned. Depending on the car or reason it was stolen (AR, property theft), could very well have been driven the living piss out of. So DO have it inspected.

unless there is something special about this car i would look for something else.

my friend bought an integra with theft recovery history and he only took it to a private mechanic to do inspection because he was trying to be cheap (idiot)... nothing but trouble afterwards. replacement side window keeps sticking... broken glass rattling around in door cavity that always seems to keep coming out of the drain holes no matter how hard he tries to clean it out... electrical harness poorly patched back together after stereo was ripped out in theft... steering column cover dosen't fit well... ignition key sticks... the bottom of the car was all scratched and dented up from being dropped on the ground after wheels were taken and someone covered up the damage with spray-on undercoat... it goes on :(

when he tried to sell it to end his misery no one would touch it because of icbc records... finally i think it went to miracle auto i'm not sure.

Obviously, the quality of the repairs hold a lot of weight.

fucked car + fucked repairs = garbage
fucked car + good repairs = 50/50
reasonable damage + good repairs = decent car
quality, thorough inspection = uber cheap insurance.

I've seen almost new cars at the ICBC auction that were only missing the leather interior and had damaged ignitions. Insert cloth and repair the cylinder and you have a de-valued new car - possibly cheap.

It's always a crapshoot when buying used. Going rebuilt, just raises the stakes.

Check the frame isn't bent or damaged in any way. Make sure you have a mechanic (someone that you trust) look over the engine and transmissions. Just look everywhere, inside, outside, and anywhere in between ;)

TTT - In usual cases, does ICBC change the VIN number on the car before they can resell it on auction?

Isn't it highly illegal to tamper with the VIN number?

And if its tampered with it can't be insured, no?

That's what I thought, I'm lookin at this car from a dealer in surrey who say they bought a car off of an icbc auction that was a stolen vehicle recovery. He said that ICBC replaced the VIN with a new VIN prior to them being able to sell the vehicle at auction. But it sounds really damn shady. The car seems to drive fine, there's a few things weird about it like the airbag sensor light is on but I would get it inspected if I wanted to look at this car further. It just seems strange about the VIN being replaced.

/End Thread.

I wouldn't touch that car with a 10 foot pole.

If the Airbag light is on, it's not a Do it yourself type of thing to fix. It will either deploy randomly someday, or it will not deploy at all in an event of an accident.

http://www.icbc.com/registration-lic...d/inspect-used

http://www.icbc.com/registration/reg_vin.asp

hahah get the hell away from that dealership. There is no reason to ever change the vin of a vehicle. Why would they say that anyways?

Yup, don't even waste your time. I'd laugh so hard if it wasn't even an ICBC assigned VIN.

Holy crap this thread is old.

Post the vin, I wanna look it up :p

Dealership inspection... full bumper to bumper inspection... if its a car worth it...

i had a vehicle that was stolen recovery.. it shows up no accidents.. but holds a rebuild title because of the length of time it was missing

it's a hit or miss...

but in my opinion, why risk it? Just look somewhere else unless that is your dream car/

No, not if you do it officially. Car written off, will need to pass safety inspection and get a BC prefixed VIN.