A repossessed car is just a used car for sale. You have to use your discretion when buying it the exact same as any other used car.
Would you buy a car that had been repossessed?
- Thread starter Elkins45
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Depends on year, mileage, maintenance records, and price. If it's a steal of a price, take it to a mechanic you trust for a good look over.
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This.
I’d never buy a rental car, but I might buy a repo. It’d have to be priced well below clean value. I’ve had plenty of cars with warts. I save a lot up front and since I keep them for 10+ years, the warts aren’t much of a resale price penalty vs clean. To me cars are like toilet paper. Use it up then get some more. I’ve been through a lot of both and there will be more before I’m done.
No if you have to time time/post any question “….would you buy?”
Definitely pass.
Most likely neglected
Lots of no's on here however if the price is right I don't know why a person wouldn't buy a vehicle for a huge discount. Lot's of people on here know the right people to get vehicles repaired if needed. With risk comes profit (sometimes).
Being a repo would not matter to me.
My coworker/friend bought a repo pickup 3 years ago, and its been ultra reliable since.
The only person I know who had a vehicle repossessed, she couldn't afford the payments any more after getting very sick, losing her job, and having to pay for expensive medication. It was a good vehicle, well taken care of, but life dealt her a blow.
Whoever ended up with her used suv got a great vehicle.
My coworker/friend bought a repo pickup 3 years ago, and its been ultra reliable since.
The only person I know who had a vehicle repossessed, she couldn't afford the payments any more after getting very sick, losing her job, and having to pay for expensive medication. It was a good vehicle, well taken care of, but life dealt her a blow.
Whoever ended up with her used suv got a great vehicle.
GON
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Your post triggered a thought. I would much prefer to buy a repossessed car than a foreclosed home. The scenario you posted is real life, a person who has a bad life event has their care repossessed. Repos don't take years to execute.
A foreclosed home often takes years to execute, and the damage/ condition is many time unthinkable. With such a strong housing market, it is quite easy to instantly sell a home when one is in grave financial duress. So the homes that are foreclosed end up most often being real, real bad.
In a "Trust Deed" state foreclosures can be done very quickly. Mortgage states not so quick.
Many states allow either. So, because of the ease of foreclosure, many lenders prefer a deed of trust over a mortgage. If you are going to use one or more of these instruments, it is important to know which should be used in the state where you are intend to use it. The chart above shows which state uses which document and which states use both.
www.companiesinc.com
Many states allow either. So, because of the ease of foreclosure, many lenders prefer a deed of trust over a mortgage. If you are going to use one or more of these instruments, it is important to know which should be used in the state where you are intend to use it. The chart above shows which state uses which document and which states use both.
Mortgage States and Deed of Trust States
Which states are mortgage states and which are deed of trust states including a table showing this information for each state.
www.companiesinc.com
Lots of assumptions here. Most rentals get maintenance exactly by the book. Are they ok? How about a leased vehicle? Stolen vehicle?
The bottom line to me is price/value compared to what I'm getting. Which goes for every purchase I make I suppose.
The bottom line to me is price/value compared to what I'm getting. Which goes for every purchase I make I suppose.
But a lot of the worst home problems caused by neglect can be seen with just a careful walkthrough. You often don’t know a car has been driven with low, dirty oil until a rod starts knocking three months later. I know houses can have unseen plumbing or electrical issues but those are more likely caused by actual abuse than by simple neglect. A home shows its lack of critical maintenance more easily than a car IMO.
My feeling is that I wouldn’t rule one out automatically but the less time the owner had it before it was taken back the better I would feel about buying it.
Case by case I guess- my thought is if they cannot afford the payments, they definitely aren't concerned about maintenace.
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Former Repo agent here.
Short answer for me....not unless someone I really trust was able to inspect the vehicle very thoroughly.
Most repossessed vehicles that I dealt with were not taken care of very well....if at all.
Yeah, once in a while there would be a really nice car getting repossessed due to some acute financial hardship or something but the VAST majority of the cars were terrible
Most of these people didn't have the money for maintenance/repair (obviously) and most of these cars were driven very hard for the previous 3-6 months because the person knew their vehicle was going to get repossessed, anyway.
Something else not often talked about is that there are a decent number of cars that get repossessed because they were simply not in good mechanical condition and were too expensive to fix. Like flood cars.
And those car fax reports only show what was reported to insurance. Theft, fire, flood, collisions can all go unnoticed by them in certain situations.
Don't forget that with a little elbow grease and small investment a seller can make a neglected /beaten car look like it was well taken care of. At least to most people and for long enough to make a sale. I saw tons of that in my area
Also don't forget that a lot of Repo guys also don't care about the car. They will drag it, drop it, push it, break parts trying to pop it into neutral, dent/scratch/ break something trying to break into it, or just flat out tow it wrong.
Short answer for me....not unless someone I really trust was able to inspect the vehicle very thoroughly.
Most repossessed vehicles that I dealt with were not taken care of very well....if at all.
Yeah, once in a while there would be a really nice car getting repossessed due to some acute financial hardship or something but the VAST majority of the cars were terrible
Most of these people didn't have the money for maintenance/repair (obviously) and most of these cars were driven very hard for the previous 3-6 months because the person knew their vehicle was going to get repossessed, anyway.
Something else not often talked about is that there are a decent number of cars that get repossessed because they were simply not in good mechanical condition and were too expensive to fix. Like flood cars.
And those car fax reports only show what was reported to insurance. Theft, fire, flood, collisions can all go unnoticed by them in certain situations.
Don't forget that with a little elbow grease and small investment a seller can make a neglected /beaten car look like it was well taken care of. At least to most people and for long enough to make a sale. I saw tons of that in my area
Also don't forget that a lot of Repo guys also don't care about the car. They will drag it, drop it, push it, break parts trying to pop it into neutral, dent/scratch/ break something trying to break into it, or just flat out tow it wrong.
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A BMW or other euro car may have had the factory maintenance done via the free programs they offer. If so that should be on the carfax. Yes, if properly maintained. No if not.
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