Buying a car with rust
- Thread starter Klutch9
- Start date
- Status
Originally Posted By: rshaw125
Why bother? Buy a rust free example and go pick it up. Make a vacation out of it.
I saw one for $2900 on ebay. Florida car.1996 I think.
Stay away from Florida cars. What happens is someone finally gets sick and tired of dealing with snow and ice during the cold winter months up north. They move to the Sunshine state, bring their northern car with them. They live here a while and buy something new or newer. They put their northern car up for sale as a "Florida car." It's rusty from several winters living in the "rust belt."
If you're going to buy a "southern" car, check out places like Central or Northern Alabama or Mississippi. I lived in Northern Alabama for 12 years and even though we would get ice storms every year, they never salted the roads and there were very few rusty cars.
Why bother? Buy a rust free example and go pick it up. Make a vacation out of it.
I saw one for $2900 on ebay. Florida car.1996 I think.
Stay away from Florida cars. What happens is someone finally gets sick and tired of dealing with snow and ice during the cold winter months up north. They move to the Sunshine state, bring their northern car with them. They live here a while and buy something new or newer. They put their northern car up for sale as a "Florida car." It's rusty from several winters living in the "rust belt."
If you're going to buy a "southern" car, check out places like Central or Northern Alabama or Mississippi. I lived in Northern Alabama for 12 years and even though we would get ice storms every year, they never salted the roads and there were very few rusty cars.
Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
If you're going to buy a "southern" car, check out places like Central or Northern Alabama or Mississippi. I lived in Northern Alabama for 12 years and even though we would get ice storms every year, they never salted the roads and there were very few rusty cars.
Yes, we do have an abundance of rust-free cars down here. It's not uncommon at all to see unrestored, very original cars from the 1960s and 1970s down here with basically no rust, or just light surface rust in areas where paint has worn off. Rot is non-existent on cars originally sold in the state.
Sometimes though, people do bring rot buckets down here. I saw a '99 Sierra in our local Pull-A-Part that was junked due to cracks in the frame on both sides from rot. The body was pretty shot too. I saw a Silverado at a wrecker's out in the country that was missing literally half of each bedside due to rot. No idea how those two ended up down here, but I suspect some vehicles that will fail inspection in other states are brought here because we do not have vehicle inspections of any kind. A running car or truck that is bound for the crusher in another state can be brought down here, sold for $500-$2000 depending on how presentable it is, then someone down here runs it until it splits in half going down the road.
I wouldn't rule out states a little further to the north that are more likely to have inspections, but don't use tons of salt. For example, North Carolina. My truck spent its first 10 years in NC and has no rust anywhere, despite being driven on salted roads every year of its life. Roads that get salted a couple times in a year won't kill a vehicle, it's the places where roads are salted for months on end that have real rot bags. One good thing about the inspections in NC is that a lot of junkers and unsafe vehicles are weeded out. In AL a vehicle can be driven with major looming problems for years.
If you're going to buy a "southern" car, check out places like Central or Northern Alabama or Mississippi. I lived in Northern Alabama for 12 years and even though we would get ice storms every year, they never salted the roads and there were very few rusty cars.
Yes, we do have an abundance of rust-free cars down here. It's not uncommon at all to see unrestored, very original cars from the 1960s and 1970s down here with basically no rust, or just light surface rust in areas where paint has worn off. Rot is non-existent on cars originally sold in the state.
Sometimes though, people do bring rot buckets down here. I saw a '99 Sierra in our local Pull-A-Part that was junked due to cracks in the frame on both sides from rot. The body was pretty shot too. I saw a Silverado at a wrecker's out in the country that was missing literally half of each bedside due to rot. No idea how those two ended up down here, but I suspect some vehicles that will fail inspection in other states are brought here because we do not have vehicle inspections of any kind. A running car or truck that is bound for the crusher in another state can be brought down here, sold for $500-$2000 depending on how presentable it is, then someone down here runs it until it splits in half going down the road.
I wouldn't rule out states a little further to the north that are more likely to have inspections, but don't use tons of salt. For example, North Carolina. My truck spent its first 10 years in NC and has no rust anywhere, despite being driven on salted roads every year of its life. Roads that get salted a couple times in a year won't kill a vehicle, it's the places where roads are salted for months on end that have real rot bags. One good thing about the inspections in NC is that a lot of junkers and unsafe vehicles are weeded out. In AL a vehicle can be driven with major looming problems for years.
Awesome vehicle buying tips in this thread.
Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
also will never buy a rust vehicle. it hurts every [censored] day when you can look at the spots and notice the spread, slowly but surely.
I dunno, this weekend I sanded some rust on the hood of my Jetta, primered it, and now it just doesn't seem the same...
also will never buy a rust vehicle. it hurts every [censored] day when you can look at the spots and notice the spread, slowly but surely.
I dunno, this weekend I sanded some rust on the hood of my Jetta, primered it, and now it just doesn't seem the same...
Miatas were made in huge numbers over many years. For that alone they are not rare or expensive. Add to that, few were really winter drivers and up north most were put away until spring. I'd buy a no rust 'no winter' car=lots of them out there-good luck Dan Mpls. Mn.
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I wouldn't buy another car with rust on it unless I get it for dirt cheap.
I agree with the above statement.
I wouldn't buy another car with rust on it unless I get it for dirt cheap.
I agree with the above statement.
Kestas
Staff member
Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Stay away from Florida cars. What happens is someone finally gets sick and tired of dealing with snow and ice during the cold winter months up north. They move to the Sunshine state, bring their northern car with them. They live here a while and buy something new or newer. They put their northern car up for sale as a "Florida car." It's rusty from several winters living in the "rust belt."
That is more the exception than the rule. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in GreeCguy's post.
Stay away from Florida cars. What happens is someone finally gets sick and tired of dealing with snow and ice during the cold winter months up north. They move to the Sunshine state, bring their northern car with them. They live here a while and buy something new or newer. They put their northern car up for sale as a "Florida car." It's rusty from several winters living in the "rust belt."
That is more the exception than the rule. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in GreeCguy's post.
Originally Posted By: rshaw125
Why bother? Buy a rust free example and go pick it up. Make a vacation out of it.
I saw one for $2900 on ebay. Florida car.1996 I think.
This...you'll spend the cost of a one way plane ticket and cheap hotel on chasing a disolving car.
Why bother? Buy a rust free example and go pick it up. Make a vacation out of it.
I saw one for $2900 on ebay. Florida car.1996 I think.
This...you'll spend the cost of a one way plane ticket and cheap hotel on chasing a disolving car.
- Status
Similar threads
