$70k for a 06' Gallardo with a salvage title - should I buy?

jdoria said:
Who is hiding?



Its on the title!!



The banks wont finance them either, they are cash deals!



Shady? I'd call it opportunistic.







Are you sure you are in the car business?
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In the last few years I've inspected dozens of vehicles(that I ended up re-totaling again) that had branded titles and not 1 darn owner knew it! The people that sell these cars (retail) are some of the shadiest humans on the planet. They're no better than Bearnie Madoff IMHO. You know as well as me that if something is printed on a title (or on a purchase contract for that matter), any decent salesman can work around that.



I'm as far away from the car business these days as you are. :rolleyes:



jdoria said:
Who do you think bank-rolls those B-lots and shady body shops? They all call you 5 times a day with a "great deal".



It takes someone with balls, brains, and cash to buy those turds and put them back together. You know what body work costs!





We didnt sell the cars on site, we couldn't. We would risk losing the franchise as they would have to run through our books. We would have to cover them for 90 days also.
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"Bank-roll" refers to a person financing some deal or enterprise. Is that what your dealership did? Or did you sell these wholesalers/rebuilders your wrecked turn ins? Or did your store's Certified Body Shop rebuild cheap train wrecks? You lost me in the jargon?
 
David Fermani said:
In the last few years I've inspected dozens of vehicles(that I ended up re-totaling again) that had branded titles and not 1 darn owner knew it! The people that sell these cars (retail) are some of the shadiest humans on the planet. They're no better than Bearnie Madoff IMHO. You know as well as me that if something is printed on a title (or on a purchase contract for that matter), any decent salesman can work around that.



I'm as far away from the car business these days as you are. :rolleyes:







"Bank-roll" refers to a person financing some deal or enterprise. Is that what your dealership did? Or did you sell these wholesalers/rebuilders your wrecked turn ins? Or did your store's Certified Body Shop rebuild cheap train wrecks? You lost me in the jargon?
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They dont have the cash, but had the cars.



We didnt get wreck turn-ins, the insurance companies did. The salvage yards is where you could find the merchandise to fix. The world is full of them, you populate them as an adjuster.







Yeah, I used Sikkens and Glasurit, and two down-draft booths to paint train wrecks! Come on bro, Im no monkey.



You are getting way too into this. Looking for a new career?
 
jdoria said:
As I'm out of the business, and the business is deader than dead, Ill let you in on a little secret.



Through the police books of the store license, we never ran anything other than what was sold on site, no shenanigans ever. Too much at stake.



I populated car lots all over the Bronx and Queens with salvage, 907a, and re-titled TMU cars for almost a decade. The target buyers don't care what the title says, or where the cars came from, they only wanted to drive a Mercedes or BMW for a cheap price. ( or a Volvo, Pathfinder,or Montero) (RX-7's and Hondas went to Puerto Rico by the container full)



If you could keep $350k per year pay at the store and make another $15-20k per month from working the salvage yards and junk yards a few days per week, why wouldn't you? It pays to know all angles of your business.



Would I put a friend or family member in one? Only if I didn't like them and they were dead broke. You cant resell, they aren't worth toilet paper.
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I just wanted to commend you for your honesty - this type of **** goes on all around us, but no one in the know ever talks about it.
 
I heard of a used car salesman who made $36,000 in one month selling used cars. I was told this by a friend who worked with him. The guy was just incredible.
 
wannafbody said:
I heard of a used car salesman who made $36,000 in one month selling used cars. I was told this by a friend who worked with him. The guy was just incredible.
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If you figure a typical 30% commission on a gross, that would mean this particluar gent is selling:



40 cars per month with a gross profit of $3,000 per vehicle.



OR



24 cars per month wtih a gross profit of $5,000 per vehcile.







I do remember a handful of really good saleman making $20,000-$22,000 consistantly per month. But these guys didnt go home, they were at the store 7 days pere week. Most days for 12 hours.



I know someone who is still in the business and claims to be making $15,000 per month.



You not-so-average, well-managed new car store sells between 40-60 used per month.
 
wannafbody said:
I heard of a used car salesman who made $36,000 in one month selling used cars. I was told this by a friend who worked with him. The guy was just incredible.
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Wow, and I thought I was a bad a$$ with the $14,000 that I made one month when I was selling cars...
 
I usually avoid salvage anything - Bikes Cars etc etc -having said that, when it came time to buy a work truck, I ended up with a theft recovery Nissan Frontier. It was stolen 5 years ago in Nevada. -Personally, I think I got a great deal $4100 and since it's a truck, who gives a shit?! Would I buy a daily driver car: NO Motorcycle: NO -but something for work that is going to get beat up anyway?!,hell yes.



I don't know about Lambo -but I know that after a benz is in an accident that the frames MUST be xray'd for any frame damage before the insurance company could make a call. In Pennsylvania (as of 2006) there were only 2 places in the entire state that could do that. If Lambo has similar protocol I would seriously stay away. - were talking microscopic frame damage can be MAJOR down the line. -and in car with that kind of power....

There are few dealers who I trust - I mean NO dealers.



by the way

I used to live in Pitt and go to the Butler (manheim owned) auctions...



Fun facts:

1. I knew dealers who bought out the auctionears



2. Auctioneers ignore dealers they didn't like and shilled for others ( we all know this one)



3. dealers would try to steal the car mats/ shift knobs/side markers out of my cars sometimes (I swear dealers would slit each others throats for a damn percentage)



4. The post auction mechanics could be bought out -ie you bought a car, and decided you don't like it. You hand the mechanic 20/30 bucks to say the car is not safe for driving (brakes) and the seller HAS to take the car back.



5. I can think of at least 1 motorcycle dealership that was founded on drug money. It is one of the most reputable looking dealerships in Pittsburgh
 
HappyWax said:
I don't know about Lambo -but I know that after a benz is in an accident that the frames MUST be xray'd for any frame damage before the insurance company could make a call. In Pennsylvania (as of 2006) there were only 2 places in the entire state that could do that. If Lambo has similar protocol I would seriously stay away. - were talking microscopic frame damage can be MAJOR down the line. -and in car with that kind of power....
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Huh? Sorry, but there's no x-raying done on frames (full frames or uni-bodies). The info you're hearing is wrong. Frames that are made of alloy can get checked with a special dye to show cracks, but that's about it.
 
David Fermani said:
Huh? Sorry, but there's no x-raying done on frames (full frames or uni-bodies). The info you're hearing is wrong. Frames that are made of alloy can get checked with a special dye to show cracks, but that's about it.
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I don't like to spread mis information or BS - so today I called my bodyshop guy just to ask -after all it had been a couple years since I remember the conversation and my memory sucks.



Anyway, here is what he told me - it all has to to with certain benz models that have aluminum sub frames -motor mounts - very internal and nothing that could be damaged from minor accidents on the outside of the sheet metal. He said these are cars that take a hard "slap" in the front.

Anyway, he said that the frames are measured on machine set up specifically for Benz and movement has to fall "within millimeters". why? Because of the bond between steal and aluminum -I forgot his exact wording but it was something about "Galvanic corrosion" -and it can make the car worthless apparently...



At any rate- he is HAS to ship the cars to a place in Philly that specializes in this type of high end repair. - He is Pittsburgh on the opposite side of the state.



He said he would avoid high end salvage cars for that reason. -It's not just benz it's all the high end cars that have aluminum frames and sub frames. Newer (manufactures last 5 or 6 years) BMW and Audis
 
Thanks for looking into this, but it sounds like your body shop friend isn't certified to do late model Benz structural repairs? At any rate, most of these vehicles that suffer from *significant* uni-body misalignment are required (under MB recommendations) to be realigned via a dedicated bench system called Celette bench Celette North America Fixture Benches There's actual holes cast into each unibody control point and the technician pulls each misaligned point until it fits/goes into the peg fixture. Once completed, it's totally corrected. Galvanic corrosion isn't relavent to this operation with frame straightening so I don't quite understand the that point. Audi, Ferarri, Lamborghini, BMW, Jaguar and other higher end cars also recommend their vehicles to be repaired on "dedicated" frame benches. But again, I'm not clear on your statement about X-Raying frames?
 
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