In the next few years, we plan to buy a late model suburban.
I am watching them now - just to see what they are going for.

This one is advertised with “drivable front-end damage”.

From the pics, it looks like the front cowl is cracked & the bumper may be damaged?
One (or both) fenders are damaged and maybe the hood is pushed in?

Why isn’t this an insurance repair & for sale at retail?
The damage looks minor to me

Repo maybe?
Or maybe someone who got tired of their payment?

'burb

LL, I looked at that web site and looks like all of the vehicles have some damage.

Is this some kind of insurance salvage dealer?

Some banks won't write a loan for a car with damage, have you looked into that?

Al, I hadn’t thought about that.
When we buy our next vehicle, the plan is to pay cash.
(but that is ~two years away).

The quick answer is that no, it's not a deal. And as I thought, Suburbans and GM trucks blow air bags easily when hit on the front bumpers. That truck has a deployed driver's airbag. So figure $2500 right there. And then if the passenger bag is in error, add another $800.

I'd have to see it in person, of course, but there could easily be $8000 in damage to that truck. Are you good at that kind of repair?

That's because no reputable insurance company will insure a vehicle with that kind of prior damage. No physical damage coverage means no loan.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is, and this seems too good to be true. The guy has a few newer damaged vehicles all priced between $13,800 and $14,800 - something fishy there.

I did a search on Ebay and found that you can buy a 2007 Suburban for a great price right now. There are probably 30 of them listed right now with Buy it now between $20 and $30K - I saw a nice 4x4 with DVD player for $23,900. Heck, if I didn't already have one, I would jump on it.

Indy, yes, there seems to be many 07's for around 20.
Similar perspective... I saw a clean, older Expedition (looked just like our '00) on the side of the road for $2500
It is a great time to buy a full-size SUV.

BillyB, Thanks for the expert advice
I missed the airbag...

And No, I am not good at that kind of repair.
I could cut a piece of plastic and silicone it over the hole in the steering wheel - that is about it.

Then again - I did a pretty good job on the trim and rear quarter of the Expy after a blowout...

Only because I knew to look for it, did I see it.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I have a question about BillyB's comments here and how they relate to a prior thread....



BillyB, I'm confused about something in your statements which I put above. When my BMW was in an accident and had about $5500 front end damage, I mentioned in a post at that time that I was going to see some money from the other guys insurance company for "diminished value" on my car. My thinking was that when I sold the car, I should disclose that the car had been wrecked, and at that point it would be worse less than a comparable BMW that had not been wrecked.

I don't have your exact wording from that post but you said that there shouldn't be any reimbursement for diminished value because the actual value of the car would not have been reduced by the accident. Now, in this post about the 'burb, you're saying that an insurance company wouldn't insure a car that had front end damage.

So I guess I'm confused about why my car would not have been reduced in value from the accident when a buyer might/would have trouble insuring it because no reputable insurance company would insure it. To me, that sounds an awful lot like diminished value that I should be compensated for.

Can you explain the difference between my BMW and this 'burb?

I think the answer is that an insurance company wouldn't write insurance on the Burb while it had front-end damage.

LL was trying to figure out if he could get a loan to buy the vehicle. To get a loan, he would need to get insurance, and he couldn't get insurance on a damaged vehicle.

If the damage is repaired, of course they will write insurance. They do it all the time.

I left out a word from this sentence:



It could have read That's because no reputable insurance company will insure a vehicle with that kind of unrepaired prior damage. I assumed you would all realize what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.

And I stasnd by my statements to you that properly repaired, any prior damage will not detract from the value of a vehicle.

The keyword being "properly repaired".

I remember my wife got into a wreck once with our Taurus - ripped the front of the car off. Well, at least all of the plastic on the front.

But it also bent the frame. Being unibody as it was, they stretched and bent the car back into square using one of those vehicle bending machines.

The result; while the 4 wheels were square, the body wasn't. if you compared the front wheel-wells, left-to-right, the left wheel was centered in the wheel-well, but the right wheel was further towards the back of the wheel-well, i.e. not centered. You could not tell unless you purposely compared the two sides.

With unibodys, I just wonder if it is really possible to do a 100% repair - or perhaps the body shop I used was not that good.

I were to buy a car that had been wrecked, even if it had no visible or mechanical problems, and even if it had truly been properly repaired, my bias is such that I would not pay as much for it.

While a repaired car in itself does not mean it isn't still a good car, there is a good chance I could buy an un-wrecked car for the same price, so why would I want to buy a known wrecked car - albeit repaired one for the same price?

Actually Indy, you are not even close.
I was just curious if it was a deal, we are still a few years out & we plan on paying cash – not a loan. (I didn’t bring up financing/loan, Al did)
Also... I am well aware that things need insurance when you finance them.

I must be coming off dumber than usual lately.

Yes, it's done every day.

I just brought up the loan topic for general discussion.