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Would you buy a theft recovery vehicle?


PNWguy
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My sister showed me her new 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited that she and her husband bought for $25k.  15k miles on it.

She said they got it so cheap because it was a theft recovery.  

I personally would never buy a vehicle that was stolen and recovered due to no idea what kind of abuse it suffered while being driven by a criminal.

Anyone ever buy one?

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10 minutes ago, PNWguy said:

My sister showed me her new 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited that she and her husband bought for $25k.  15k miles on it.

She said they got it so cheap because it was a theft recovery.  

I personally would never buy a vehicle that was stolen and recovered due to no idea what kind of abuse it suffered while being driven by a criminal.

Anyone ever buy one?

They got ripped off.  Do they know about the net?

https://www.truecar.com/prices-new/hyundai/santa-fe-sport-pricing/

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45 minutes ago, AerynSun2 said:

They got ripped off.  Do they know about the net?

https://www.truecar.com/prices-new/hyundai/santa-fe-sport-pricing/

 

The limited is at $32,600 and the Limited 2.0T is at $34,200 according to the Hyundai website.

 

Either way, I would never buy a recovered vehicle. I got my recent work truck for $26k. Sticker was $37k. New with 13 miles on it. I had to fly out of state though.

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When my BIL and I were in the car business, wee bought many "stolen and recovered" in insurance lots.  

 

We were careful to examine them in detail, especially underneath and in the Engine compartments. But of the ones we bought, we never got a "bad one".

You have to check them carefully and look at the "liquids", and any indicators of high temperature or leaks.  

We came across one that we didn't want, that still had a paving block propped against the accelerator pedal.

 

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1 hour ago, crockett said:

 

The limited is at $32,600 and the Limited 2.0T is at $34,200 according to the Hyundai website.

 

Either way, I would never buy a recovered vehicle. I got my recent work truck for $26k. Sticker was $37k. New with 13 miles on it. I had to fly out of state though.

That's MSRP and does not account for 15,000 miles.

 

They got ripped off.  There probably was some damage to it that was repaired.   Insurance companies do not total a car just for being stolen.

Tell them to have it check out by a mechanic to confirm they are not driving a car with safety problems. 

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I noticed there was some damage to the interior that wasn't repaired that well.

Looked like someone had taken a knife to the dash panels.  When the light hit it just right, you could see where the vinyl had been repaired.

It is the top of the line model with every option, except tow package.  They said they had to go down to Utah to get it.

BIL said it was actually $26k.  

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1 hour ago, crockett said:

 

The limited is at $32,600 and the Limited 2.0T is at $34,200 according to the Hyundai website.

 

Either way, I would never buy a recovered vehicle. I got my recent work truck for $26k. Sticker was $37k. New with 13 miles on it. I had to fly out of state though.

My new 2014 Ram 1500 had a sticker of $37k and I paid $29k.  Was just looking at 2018 Ram 2500s for $34k that had MSRPs of $47k.

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**** no. Have a couple friends up here who got their vehicles stolen. Interiors were trashed. Looked and smelled like someone homless had been getting screwed by a dumpster, and there was trash and food debris all over the insides.Needles pushed into the fabric of the seats, dugs, bodily fluids all over the inside of the vehicle.

 

 

Doubt they did much major damage to the drive train, I just wouldn't risk the interior.

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i used to work at an impound lot.

most theft recoveries are beaten into the ground or stripped until there's not a whole lot left of them or shipped overseas in minutes.

normally the insurance Comp. pays out after a car has`nt been returned within 30 days.

$25k is a lot for a salvage car,usually 20%-40% of the vehicles value is reduced from a salvage title.

 

i would`nt buy one unless it was a screaming deal.

 

 

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14 hours ago, Bish1309 said:

Knowing my luck, I'd get the stolen vehicle with the hidden 15 lbs of pot stuffed in all the door panels.

 

And of course Flex would just happen to be nearby.

If he didn't catch you, you'd then have a cheap car AND the pot.  Drive to Colorado and you could make some money!

9 hours ago, Mike said:

Doubt it would be much different than buying a used cop car. Those have the hell beat out of them, and people line up to buy them.

I personally wouldn't but I bet there are plenty who do just to save a few bucks.

I'd rather have a theft recovery honestly.  Cop cars get the hell beat out of them for ~90K miles.

A theft recovery vehicle will get it for maybe 50-100.  If they can screw it up bad enough to break it in that timeframe, it will be obvious.

17 hours ago, PNWguy said:

My sister showed me her new 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited that she and her husband bought for $25k.  15k miles on it.

She said they got it so cheap because it was a theft recovery.  

I personally would never buy a vehicle that was stolen and recovered due to no idea what kind of abuse it suffered while being driven by a criminal.

Anyone ever buy one?

Honestly - not enough off the price of a new one to take the chance.  I'd need at LEAST 50% off of the KBB price for the car.

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It always mystified me why anyone would want to buy a seized vehicle in South Texas.  In one documented account, the dog handler missed a bundle of weed in a vehicle, after getting most of it out.  That caused some tensions.  About as bad as the Prosecution Team take a couple of van loads of illegals facing court dates and giving them a voluntary return of Mexico.  One of those days you were glad to be working out of the County Jail looking for Federal Crimes to put detainers on.  The County jail was set up badly.  The inmates had to go past you to the visitation area, and they would give you a stack to talk to at a large table.  I ended up doing the photos and fingerprints.  No matter how far you climb up the food chain there is always someone higher up than you.  The most annoying incident was the guard telling us after the fact that one of the inmates on visitation was rubbing one out, and walked by the table we were using with a female attorney and client and spooged all over the table.

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On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 1:58 PM, AK_Stick said:

**** no. Have a couple friends up here who got their vehicles stolen. Interiors were trashed. Looked and smelled like someone homless had been getting screwed by a dumpster, and there was trash and food debris all over the insides.Needles pushed into the fabric of the seats, dugs, bodily fluids all over the inside of the vehicle.

 

 

Doubt they did much major damage to the drive train, I just wouldn't risk the interior.

I've seen pics of recovered vehicles just as you describe. Need a hazmat team to clean them.

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On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 11:56 AM, PNWguy said:

My sister showed me her new 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited that she and her husband bought for $25k.  15k miles on it.

She said they got it so cheap because it was a theft recovery.  

I personally would never buy a vehicle that was stolen and recovered due to no idea what kind of abuse it suffered while being driven by a criminal.

Anyone ever buy one?

I bought one once back in the 90's. I used to work for a general contractor and one of our clients owned a junk yard, I got a small mid-80's 4 cylinder Dodge Ram 50 pickup from him that had the rear sliding window broken and the steering column all torn part from where they hotwired it. the guys at the junkyard fixed it and it was a good running little truck and I got it for a good price.

I don't know if thieves are automatically going to try to trash a car that they've stolen just because they can. Especially not something that isn't high performance and doesn't have a lot of power.

Edited by Borg warner
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