Yeah....."clean title".....mmhmm

"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce)
04/14/2015 at 09:34 • Filed to: None

This is !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that has been hit pretty damn hard.How hard?

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Yeah......those panel fitments would be unacceptable at GM. Those panel fitments are punishable by death if it rolled off a line like that. But basically the car got hit, frame got bent, and now not even the trunk lines up properly. Edit - The bumper appears to be a different shade than the hood and fenders! Oppo top tip - Avoid.

Sadly the car has a good carcheck score and a clean title so someone is going to get suckered into this who might not know better...

DISCUSSION (19)

Alex from Toronto > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/14/2015 at 09:39

The trunk seems fine to me.

The rest not so much.

Moves-Like-Senna > Alex from Toronto
04/14/2015 at 09:45

Look at the spacing difference on the right and left, especially below the taillights

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Alex from Toronto
04/14/2015 at 09:49

Check the gaps near the bottom corner on the sides. The left looks like I could fit a decent sized nail in that gap. The right side? You could only get maybe a pencil lead through. Doesn't sound like much but a visible difference in panel gap is NOT how a 60k German car leaves the factory.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Moves-Like-Senna
04/14/2015 at 09:51

The front bumper is also a slightly different shade of paint.

crowmolly > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/14/2015 at 09:55

Looks like a definite front end and strongly probable rear end collision, but how can you tell it was a serious accident? Could have been in the middle of a 3 car fender bender.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > crowmolly
04/14/2015 at 09:58

The body panels having misalignments that bad means the mounting points for those parts are not where they were before. On a unibody car, this means frame damage that was not touched. It could still be perfectly serviceable but the way I see it

1) It was still in an accident serious enough to misalign body panels yet it is being sold as a clean title

2) If the repair was simple or easy, it would've been done.

3) If the shop who did the work is the type to not report accidents, then what other shady practices have they done?

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/14/2015 at 10:04

I think you're confusing the definitions of Clean Title and No Accident History.

My car was rear ended and repaired, looks fine. But it still has a clean title.

to get a rebuilt/salvage title you have to get a car that was totaled out by the insurance. Which means more than half the vehicles value was done in damage.

With how expensive of a car this is, 5-10k worth of damage wouldn't be enough to total it, so even that much damage would result in a clean title.

If these aren't appearing on carfax it could be carfax being crappy (we all know it is) or they are being shady.

Either way it wouldn't change the status of the title.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
04/14/2015 at 10:08

The car is showing zero accidents. And worse than that, the autocheck score is showing 88 out of 100.....for a 9 year old Audi due for a timing belt service that's been hit...It is possible all the reporting agencies are dropping the ball but in any event, the car is going to be bought by someone who thinks it's perfect when in reality it isn't....

crowmolly > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/14/2015 at 10:09

Not trying to start a big argument, but I've seen plenty of cars with no frame or unibody damage that have been assembled by hacks leading to ridiculous panel gaps. Like doors and hoods that barely close or chip paint.

1) They probably mean clean title as in "no liens". It's the same BS as "numbers matching", which is crap as we all know. Accidents = 0 is a flat out lie.

2,3) Could have been a hack body shop being paid cash to fix a car in an unreported accident. These days that's pretty common. If they wanted to do it "on the cheap" that could explain the poor paint matching and if they used aftermarket body panels that could explain the poor fit.

Just speculating though, since I'm bored this AM.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/14/2015 at 10:12

ok zero accidents is a problem. That front bumper looks like hell. I'll give the back a pass.

One of the biggest problems with autocheck or carfax is they don't look at the cars, they look at data.

Say the original owner of this car drove it home drunk. Smashed into the garage when they got home because drunk/stupid. Get's the car repaired themselves without claiming insurance and pays a small body shop cash asking them to not report it.

boom, big accident, poor repairs and zero reporting.

That's the big problem with autocheck and carfax.

Also, autocheck most likely sees a timing belt as regular maintenance and it wouldn't effect it's overall vehicle score.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > crowmolly
04/14/2015 at 10:15

It's entirely possible that the frame is fine, they just mounted the panels like orangutans. But the car is still represented as zero accidents. And even if that is possibly somehow somewhat true......panels were replaced very very poorly. The new wheels look like cheap aftermarket ones too, which is another sign that leads to an accident diagnosis. I don't think OEM wheels have multiple bolt patterns.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
04/14/2015 at 10:19

Yep. That's about what I was trying to vent about here. The car might even align just fine and have fully working electrics for years. But that's much less likely on a car that has suffered an unknown amount of damag. And the buyer should be able to take that into consideration of the value here. Sadly, I bet this is going to get sold to someone who spends more thinking they got a perfect example when it will very likely not be the case.

Again, could be perfect....likely won't be.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/14/2015 at 10:35

Oh I agree. I think we all just got a little lost in the terminology. Like I said, focusing on "clean title" doesn't mean much.

Also, you're right those wheels aren't stock.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
04/14/2015 at 10:41

If this car has ever been in the northern states, I can imagine someone being overconfident, hitting some ice, and then BAM! jump the curb and smack a sign. Crack a rim or two, ruin the bumper, need a new radiator and fan etc.....

Juan Tawn > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
04/14/2015 at 10:45

The cleanliness of the title notwithstanding, the auto check says not accidents lol. So, if anything this is a PERFECT example of how attentive eyes are worth more than the typically garbage auto check and carfax. That said, I agree with your above point.

Random complaint about auto check and carfax: I once bought a car that had clean reports from both. Thought about selling it a year later, still clean. Sold it a two years later, suddenly the vehicle had two accidents reported, with a parenthetical about how the carfax only began reporting the accidents in 2014. The accidents were listed as having happened in 2007 and 2012. I noticed no such gaps in the bodywork, so either the accidents were not as bad, or the shop did a more convincing job with the repairs. Either way, I'll never know.

crowmolly > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/14/2015 at 10:58

Or in the case of the front end, hit a deer head on.

There's no question that this car is being misrepresented.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Juan Tawn
04/14/2015 at 11:15

Yeah it's tough to believe those things whole heartedly.

I told another theoretical of what could have happened,

guy crashed this car while drunk into his own garage obviously doesn't call the cops or insurance, has local body shop do work for cash so they don't report it either.

done no carfax but an accident. Carfax and Autocheck don't actually LOOK at the cars so they work with what they're given.

Alex from Toronto > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/14/2015 at 11:44

ah, I see it now.

TJDMAX > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/14/2015 at 13:59

Also a red flag...It has Georgia Plates and a "clean Georgia Title" but the seller is in Santa Maria and says that it has had all its service done at Audi of Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara may in fact be the closest dealership to Santa Maria....but still...seems like something is up to me..