Ebay ad for a testarossa is misleading?

How can ebay allow the car under the highlights secton to say "no accidents", then when you click on the score assigned by AUTOCHECK based on age,milegae etc it was low; so I look further and it says "branded title" which means "salvage"...little more digging and the AUTOCHECK report which is posted says the car was a salvage title.....BTW I think the car and its interior is stunning but how can it be listed as such?

I know that a theft recovery can be listed as salavage even if no damage is reported based on my own experience. The seller makes no mention of it in the ad. I have emailed him to ask some questions.

I would think that the price of "starting bid" at $60K is high for the title issue but I am no expert on pricing. I do know you generally CANNOT get financing on a salvage title car, just thought it was an interesting ad to share and to remind folks to look deeper than the surface ad. dogdoc

The car is in Huntington beach; Red, I TRIED to copy the link but it says :image not available"...I am no computer guru, sorry!

 

It's a wild week out on the Left Coast, Doc.

All the auctions going off...at $60K I'd
"pass" on that TR....you still shopping??

 

I believe this is the link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ferrari-Testarossa-Red-Ferrari-512TR-Testarossa-Red-/180956294214?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2a21d5ec46

 

Wow!

That's some interior.....

At least the mechanic is happy.....looks like a nice guy.

 

Oh No! I have to buy that car! A 512tr is on my wish list and that one is our Mondial's sister ship! Sequential serial numbers 92215 and 92216...

But then reality, I ain't got the $75k it will probably take to get it.

But I can get those photos...So, where is 92217?

dave

 

Only in La La Land.
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Apropos your post. It's on eBay because it attracts all the right potential buyers. P.T.Barnum lives!

 

A bit "gheto" for my tastes.

 

Anything reminding me of my prison stripes is a real turn off....

 

The car could have been stolen too giving it a salvage. I'd want to look into why it was titled in OR in May '97 then retitled a few months later in August of '97 in PA, where it was subsequently salvaged? It could have been wrecked just prior to that point and picked up at auction?

 

That interior is ugly enough to consider it totaled.

 

I like it except for the red on the dash and steering wheel...

The chrome doesn't bother me either and thank goodness it has stock wheels...

dave
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Didn't look at the eBay add but "branded title" has many different meanings other than a vehicle that has been totalled in a wreck. Could have been a theft recovery, abandoned, mfg buy back ect.... Just saying.


Edit: could also mean grey market vehicle as well.

 

Yes, I mentioned theft recovery as well; yes TEX, still looking; I do have a buy IF I can get my Lotus sold soon, Looking at Casey Johnson's 355 Berlinetta; he is the F mechanic at Foreign Cars Italia in Carolina....dog

 

I know nothing of this car so take what i say with a grain of salt but eastern states often issue certificates of destruction or basically title cars so they cant be "rebuilt" but only parts or crushed. Oregon on the other hand will allow any car to receive a rebuilt or salvage title. so often times people will take a car from a state that it cant be titled or registered in and bring it to one it can. As a dealer this is something I have come across a few times. A car has a legit salvage title but carfax says it was to be crushed and dismantled in another state... A little scary to say the least.

 

I had a Caprice that insurance totaled in a rear end accident. I bought the car back from them, repaired it and drove it many more years with a New Mexico Salvage Title. Arizona would not let me license it when we moved there with a branded title so insisted on verifying the repairs and serial numbers. After inspection they issued a clear title. Oregon only checked the AZ title when I licensed that same car here and called it a clean title.

When it was time to dispose of that vehicle--I donated it rather than have to tell the story as above.

What this really means is that titles alone will not tell the whole story of any vehicle. INSPECT CAREFULLY in all cases or build in room for contingencies.

-sc

 

That must have been awhile back huh? As far as I know most the loopholes for getting clean titles have been closed, there used to be a few states that would give a clean title after coming to that state but should no longer happen due to the potential fraud. scary! Most states will just give you the same type of title you came in w/ thats why Oregon gave you a clean title because AZ did. If you came to Or w/ the rebuilt or Salvage you would have got the same. Thats why Carfax is a good place to check, it might not always tell the whole story or miss accidents but you will at least know if it had been issued a bad title. At least on modern cars since they started reporting that type of stuff.

 

I moved to Oregon in 2000. Both a long time ago, and not so long ago in the world of older cars like some of us on this board tend to purchase.

-sc

 

Am I missing something? It sounds like he tried to explain the salvage issue. He mentioned that it was either under insured or some kind of insurance scam, and they totalled the car because the "minor" repairs were higher than what it was insured for. I don't know how truthful that is, but at least he made an attempt to explain the issue. If I was buying, I wouldn't buy it without seeing the pics of the accident before the repairs. If it is as minor as he says, he would have definitely taken pictures of the damage before repairing it.

 

Under insured doesnt make sense, if it was under insured then insurance wouldn't be paying the value of the car if it was totalled. He would have just got as much money as he was insured for and either fixed it himself or sold it wrecked. A car only gets totaled when the damage is going to cost a certain percent of what the car is worth, each company has its own equations. Just an example if the car is worth $100k but only insured for $50k then the insurance co. would only pay $50k regardless so it would make no sense to total it because your not going to get the $100k to write the whole car off, it would make more sense to take your $50k and keep the title clean and do whatever makes the most financial sense to you either fix it or take your $50k and sell the car wrecked for whatever you could get and walk away. A little fishy either way, I dont know these cars but unless its a great deal I would stay way away from wrecked and especially totaled exotics. These cars are hard enough to sell when perfect, ad some negative history and your dealing w/ a very small crowd that will be interested and have the money to do it.

 

I was under the impression that what you wrote above was what the seller was describing. Just like you said, I figured they gave him 25K for a car worth 55K, considered it totalled, then he fixed by himself. Maybe I'm not understanding the titling part of it....Thankfully I never totalled a car!
Like you said, I would always be suspiscious of a car that was in an accident. An accident was a deal breaker when I bought my 360 used.
If the car had minimal damage, as he described, he should have before and after photos, or I would assume he is not being 100% truthful with me.

 

A salvage title can be issued for anything including a theft recovery. You must be the judge of that, now a Salvage title is given a good title with salvage history after it has been repaired and inspected by a Authorized inspector in the county you live in, Now every state is different.