Buying a salvage car will enable you to realize your dream of owning a car within a pre-defined budget. One of the preferable options that you have is to participate in online car auctions.
Regardless of where you purchase your vehicle, you should always keep your eyes and ears open when buying a salvage car. Most providers upload various pictures of the vehicle onto their website. Browsing through pictures only gives you half-cooked information regarding the general condition of the car. Going through such pictures will enable you to run a visual check, but you would still be in the dark about the history of the vehicle. This is an important piece of information as a vehicle may have been awarded a salvage title for many reasons. For instance, vehicles that incur damages due to a natural calamity such as a flood, or ones that have been involved in an accident, are also given salvage titles. Remember, the car could also be stolen and the seller may conceal this information in order to trick you.
You should therefore leave no stone unturned in gathering as much information as possible to unearth the past history of a vehicle. The vehicle identification number (VIN) can help you in this regard.
About the VIN
The VIN can be used to ascertain various details such as:
• The year in which the car was manufactured
• The location at which the model was built
• The vehicle features
The VIN number consists of 17 alphanumeric characters imprinted above the dashboard on the driver’s side, so locating it should not be a problem. The character strength of a VIN number located on older vehicles (those manufactured before 1981), varies between 11 and 17. However, providers only offer detailed reports of vehicles whose VIN number consists of 17 characters.
You can also log on to the websites of different providers like CARFAX and Auto Check in order to get a detailed report regarding the past history of the car. These websites use the VIN number to provide useful data such as:
• Why the vehicle was awarded the salvage title
• The past repairs and maintenance procedures that the vehicle has gone through
• Past emissions and inspection results
Once you get access to useful information, take a printout and go through all of the data thoroughly. This will help you decide whether or not you should purchase the salvage title cars.
Checking the VIN number should be your foremost priority when buying a salvage vehicle. This will help you in ascertaining the safety aspects of the vehicle. As a result, you will arrive at a detailed, prudent and informed decision, which enables you to squeeze the maximum return on investment.