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DON'T BUY A CHARLIE! Over the last few months, helped by a favourable exchange rate, the number of US vehicles imported here has increased dramatically - these vehicles are arriving both from the US and from other places such as Japan and the Middle East. Whilst there are plenty of genuine vehicles and honest sellers out there, unfortunately some of those transatlantic "bargains" are turning out to be not quite what they appear, and a number of our customers have been reporting some very unhappy experiences with vehicles purchased from unscrupulous traders and individuals on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact some of the information we discovered when running CARFAX reports for them was downright scary. It just shows you need to be extra careful when making that purchase of a lifetime, as in some cases it may be more than your wallet at risk! Remember, your local Trading Standards can help if you are sold something, by a UK trader ,that turns out not to be what they said it was. If it was a private sale or if you buy a vehicle over in the US that turns out to be not what they said, then you may, unfortunately, be stuck with it... What to look out for It does not matter if the truck just got an SVA test - you could still be buying a lemon! MOT and SVA do not check the mileage or history of the vehicle, just that it complies with certain UK standards. The MOT, which might pick up other faults on a vehicle, does not need to be done until they are 3 years old. So we suggest you get the vehicle inspected by an independent engineer before you buy. If you are going to the USA to buy a vehicle, there are similar vehicle inspection services available there for a reasonable fee. Clocking - High mileages on vehicles such as trucks are common in the USA due to the large distances travelled - eg the average mileage in Texas can easily be 25,000 to 30,000 a year (yes, everything is indeed bigger in Texas!) and, as in the UK, this significantly affects the value of a used vehicle. Some traders are taking advantage of the fact that very high mileage and salvage write-off vehicles can be purchased cheaper than the official book price. So if they can reduce the mileage shown on the odometer back to a low or more average value, they can make a lot more money on it whilst being able to undercut legitimate dealers selling genuine vehicles. In most US states, rolling back the mileage (clocking) will earn the perpetrator a jail term so it is less likely to be a problem - but in the UK, mileage declaration is voluntary so imported vehicles are registered with a clean history (as far as the UK is concerned) and no real checks are made on the mileage or history other than what is apparent when the vehicle is presented for SVA or MOT. It is difficult for the average person to find information on an imported vehicle's previous life especially if the vendor gives little or no information on its history. So, thousands of miles are being taken off high mileage vehicles that add thousands of pounds to their resale price here in the UK. For example, we heard of one Dodge Ram that mysteriously lost 200,000 miles between being seen by a prospective purchaser at the UK docks and the trader's advert appearing in the Classifieds a few weeks later! Now, maybe it had a broken speedometer that had to be replaced - but maybe not! Fortunately, if the vehicle has come from the USA a CARFAX type check does give some idea of mileage at various points in a vehicle's life - typically it is recorded when it changes owner, which is a useful guide, but you may need to cross check with other sources, such as the manufacturer, if you are suspicious. Unfortunately US vehicles coming from places like Japan were often exported new from the US so do not appear on any US databases - you would need to use your own judgement on these. Don't buy a "Charlie" or a KATRINA - so named after the recent Hurricanes - a problem illustrated by the 2002 Dodge Ram listed below. Typically this is where near new or new trucks & cars which have been written off by insurers after hurricane or storm damage (typically floods), and are "junk titled" with a "certificate of Destruction" (similar to the UK Category "B" write-offs) as being beyond repair, then sold at auction to US Salvage yards, supposedly to be broken for parts. Instead of being broken up, some of these vehicles, which often appear externally undamaged - are trucked out of the area into another state. What actually happens to them is that they are superficially cleaned up and re-registered in another state (which has different laws regarding registering rebuilt/written off vehicles). Con-artists (known as Curbsiders in the US) then park these vehicles up on the roadside back down in Florida or wherever they are likely to get a quick sale, with a very tempting cash price on them to sell to an unsuspecting punter - who only finds out he bought a Charlie when it breaks down 20 miles down the road with a gearbox full of saltwater , electronics full of toxic silt or worse, by which time the vendor is long gone with his money. This has been a big problem in the US this year, especially with hurricane damage to many new vehicles that were unregistered and written off dealer's inventories by the insurance companies - they reappear several months later with a new title (issued hundreds of miles from where they started out) which, because they were new when written off, does not say anything about their previous history. It's a loophole US authorities are working on closing but be warned, some of these vehicles are now appearing on this side of the Atlantic as people flock to the US in search of a bargain and some vendors are taking advantage of this. In US Car dealers have to have a license to trade - if you buy a car in USA from a Curbsider then you are not buying from a legitimate dealer - and you will most likely be buying a heap of trouble - simple as that! Crash Damaged Vehicles - There's nothing wrong in buying a properly repaired salvage vehicle of course, as long as you know what you are getting. But as in the picture on our CARFAX page, salvage or repaired damaged trucks are routinely offered for sale on the internet by US dealers and we've also seen these offered in the UK. Although, as with high mileage vehicles, unless repaired properly, the reliability, safety and value may be adversely affected, There are unfortunately still a lot of "Bondo Bandits*" on both sides of the Atlantic ready to take advantage of you! (*so called from their creative use of Bondo Bodyfiller in slapping wrecks back together) Often these vehicles are sold for salvage or export (typically going to a third world country where safety standards may not be a primary concern); sometimes they are offered with panels or half another vehicle to patch them back together. What they don't tell you is that one important reason these vehicles are written off in USA is due to chassis damage, which is of course very expensive to fix. Recent US safety legislation makes replacement of a damaged truck chassis MANDATORY in many states (and that includes those that apparently just need a bit of pulling straight) ...this is for good reason as it has been found dangerous to attempt repair on late model hydro-formed chassis which are built of different materials and designed differently to the traditional type of chassis found on, for example, a 1980s' truck. In fact most manufacturers do not sell parts to fix a damaged chassis - you have to buy a complete unit which costs thousands. Outstanding Factory Recalls - It is also worth checking the US Government NHTSA website or the vehicle manufacturer for information on factory recalls. Believe it or not, a recent survey showed that on average some 28% of vehicles that have a recall issued in the USA never get fixed as, for example, the owners just never get around to going to their dealership. CARFAX and other VIN checking services often tell you this information for free without having to buy a full vehicle report. Getting recalls done is important for your own safey and that of others. For example a manufacturer may recall a vehicle due to a faulty batch of parts (eg Dodge are doing this with the 2000 up Durangos & Dakotas many of which have been found to have defective balljoints on the steering), and if the vehicle has had all of its safety recalls done, that is some indication that it has at least been cared for previously. However US safety recalls are not issued outside of USA/Canada - so it is usually up to you to check if a recall has been issued or was done on your vehicle before it was exported. Unless there is the same problem with an equivalent European spec model (eg as occasionally happens with Jeeps) you would not be automatically informed in the UK. Unfortunately to get a US recall done in the UK you would normally have to buy the parts yourself and pay to have the work done - which can be expensive. In the US it would be done for free at a main dealer, though some manufacturers here may be willing to help with costs if the work is done by a franchised dealer- most won't. So it's a very good idea to get any outstanding safety recalls done in the USA BEFORE the vehicle is exported. Internet Scams - unfortunately common on auction sites (eg eBay) - be very careful bidding on vehicles that you cannot actually go & see. There are some serious frauds happening for example with criminals hijacking legitimate eBay user accounts, especially if they have a great positive feedback rating. What you will see is an expensive US vehicle like a classic Corvette, Hummer H2 or upscale Truck (eg Lincoln Navigator. Escalade) 2005 Mustang etc offered at a real bargain price - not silly cheap, but perhaps 1/2 - 2/3 of the regular price - with maybe a "buy it now " option which is just low enough to tempt you to reach for the chequebook. The scammer may limit the bidding to pre-approved bidders only, and usually run the auction for just a day to create some urgency. They will usually offer a real vehicle for sale (which comes up good on CARFAX) with the details simply lifted from somewhere else on the internet - like another auction listing or a dealers webpage. There may be a lot of sales waffle like they have been exporting for years and "just look at all my feedback" - and "I just want to export this nice vehicle overseas and will even include the shipping costs to the lucky winner ." Even if they are supposedly based in the UK, you will probably find they make some excuse like the car being parked over in Spain or similar place that you can't easily get to. The winning bidder is told to wire the funds or a substantial deposit to a UK bank account or perhaps send the money using Western Union - and that's the last they ever hear of the money or the car. The UK Bank account when traced will usually turn out to belong to some person who was employed as a "financial consultant" or some other grand sounding title by a bogus overseas company run by the scammers. The "financial Consultant" is duped into using his legitimate bank account to forward the money received from the winning bidder, on to the bogus overseas company for small percentage. The rest of the money will have vanished forever along with the scammers bogus company! .Real examples of problems with customers' vehicles that we have recently discovered using CARFAX
What can you do about it? Before parting with any money - even a deposit - check your prospective purchase carefully - there are other VIN Check systems out there, but we find CARFAX the most comprehensive. You can also check the VIN with FORD, GM or DODGE dealers or direct with the manufacturer for recall & possibly some service history - sometimes you can also get a mileage reading from them that will verify the history or reveal a reading that may be suspicious even if the VIN Check report is apparently OK. Go to our CARFAX page at www.americanautobarn.com/CARFAX to find out more, get help with using it, and see links to other useful sites. ALL VEHICLES OFFERED FOR SALE BY THE AMERICAN AUTO BARN LTD HAVE A CLEAR CARFAX REPORT Copyright 2004 All rights reserved |
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