Are they Salvage Title Vehicles ?

chico bill said:

You see a lot of recently imported cars for sale in the DR lately with the yellow port tags in the window.

How many of these do you think are salvaged title cars (wreck or flood) brought to DR to try to "offload".
Of course a person should be able to do a Car Fax and check but too many cars have suspicious mileage and "only one owner".
Gorgon I know you have knowledge of the business - anyone else know if this is the case ?
Any recommendations on where to buy a decent camioneta (4 door pickup) used less than 85K miles - from a reliable dealer - no further drive than Santiago from Sosua.
I expect some Houston cars may be headed this way soon ?

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Ley 671-02 bans the importation of "salvage" vehicles into the DR.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

Ok that problem is solved then..

playacaribe2 said:

Ley 671-02 bans the importation of "salvage" vehicles into the DR.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

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Not entirely safe from cleaned up US salvage titles. It is possible to launder titles in the US by re-titling in another state. Thieves will even move a title a few times for a high end vehicle to hide the original title.
No Car Fax here.
Be very careful buying a car here. All the odometers are rolled back. Dominicans can take a hi mileage auction dog and make it shine like a new penny.
There is a poster here, Gorgon, who can help buying used cars.

Agree. If you live anywhere near Puerto Plata, I'd contact Gorgon, who knows both cars and the biz.

chico bill said:

You see a lot of recently imported cars for sale in the DR lately with the yellow port tags in the window.

How many of these do you think are salvaged title cars (wreck or flood) brought to DR to try to "offload".
Of course a person should be able to do a Car Fax and check but too many cars have suspicious mileage and "only one owner".
Gorgon I know you have knowledge of the business - anyone else know if this is the case ?
Any recommendations on where to buy a decent camioneta (4 door pickup) used less than 85K miles - from a reliable dealer - no further drive than Santiago from Sosua.
I expect some Houston cars may be headed this way soon ?

Click to expand...

We have a tons flooded out all over the streets of Houston. The water is still too high for the tow trucks to reach them.
Dealers have rows and rows of flooded vehicles then there are the used car lots all around town. Thousands and thousands of "good deals" ready for unsuspecting new owners.

zoomzx11 said:

We have a tons flooded out all over the streets of Houston. The water is still too high for the tow trucks to reach them.
Dealers have rows and rows of flooded vehicles then there are the used car lots all around town. Thousands and thousands of "good deals" ready for unsuspecting new owners.

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     Opportunity knocks in Central America and RD and Africa. Many benefits to economy

zoomzx11 said:

Not entirely safe from cleaned up US salvage titles. It is possible to launder titles in the US by re-titling in another state. Thieves will even move a title a few times for a high end vehicle to hide the original title.

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While that is possible with inside help in the RMV title division, those are now the exceptions to the rule.

What is more likely but also more time consuming and more expensive is the process of buying a "salvage" vehicle, repairing it and then getting a re-branded title.

A re-branded title has it clearly marked on it what the prior malady was. i.e., Prior flood, Prior fire, Prior Collision, Prior Theft, etc. Once those have been inspected and re registered for one year, they can then be imported into the DR.

No Car Fax here.

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True. However, many dealers in the DR gladly provide a car fax for their US imported vehicles and Dominicans are now becoming savvy concerning seeing/obtaining the car fax.

Be very careful buying a car here

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True, If you do not know your cars, know your dealer. If you know neither find a good mechanic who does.

All the odometers are rolled back.

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False. Lots of Dominican dealers do not roll back cars. Know your dealer.

Dominicans can take a hi mileage auction dog and make it shine like a new penny.

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True. But, this skill set is not confined to Dominicans only.

One of my clients is one of the largest buyers of salvage vehicles in the US. They have already been contacted by many of the major automobile dealer insurers regarding disposition of some of the thousands of cars that have been affected by Harvey.

Note that since Katrina, many of the new car manufacturers are now delineating their salvage vehicles as FPO (For Parts Only)


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

Husband of one of my wife's cousins works at aduana.

He told me the same playacaribe is pointing out regarding salvaged vehicles last weekend.

Fulano2 said:

Ok that problem is solved then..

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I'm going to mark this as unread so I can reply "Coffee out my nose" in the morning.

chico bill said:

Is it easy to roll back an odometer on newer cars? I thought that was close to impossible. It's not like the old cable type speedometers of our youth

Sent from my HTC One A9 using Tapatalk

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I wouldn't say easy, but building a house is not easy either and I can do that! and there are people who can roll back an odometer.

chico bill said:

Is it easy to roll back an odometer on newer cars? I thought that was close to impossible. It's not like the old cable type speedometers of our youth

Sent from my HTC One A9 using Tapatalk

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any kid with a laptop can do it.

chico bill said:

Is it easy to roll back an odometer on newer cars? I thought that was close to impossible. It's not like the old cable type speedometers of our youth

Sent from my HTC One A9 using Tapatalk

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Yes it is.............How easy............this easy;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmKkschfvq8

But it is almost as easy to detect..........if you know how.



Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

Scammers might be able to retitle a car in another state, but CARFAX will still show that the car was at one time titled in Texas - so, if you want to be cautious, just avoid buying any cars that were ever titled in Texas(and now maybe Louisiana, too).

Also, I would only buy from one of the large import car dealers like you see in Moca. They really have no more interest in buying salvaged/flood damaged cars than you. Small independent dealers or private owners - that's another story.

chico bill said:

You see a lot of recently imported cars for sale in the DR lately with the yellow port tags in the window.

How many of these do you think are salvaged title cars (wreck or flood) brought to DR to try to "offload".
Of course a person should be able to do a Car Fax and check but too many cars have suspicious mileage and "only one owner".
Gorgon I know you have knowledge of the business - anyone else know if this is the case ?
Any recommendations on where to buy a decent camioneta (4 door pickup) used less than 85K miles - from a reliable dealer - no further drive than Santiago from Sosua.
I expect some Houston cars may be headed this way soon ?

Click to expand...

If you can find a private individual with a maintenance history for the car this would be your best bet. You can see what is available out there going to supercarros.com

Flood damaged vehicles are not NECESSARILY a disaster. I bought a VW diesel truck very cheap from a UK auction because it has been an insurance write-off due to flooding. I changed the oil and it ran for about 100,000 miles without a problem before I sold it.

drstock said:

Flood damaged vehicles are not NECESSARILY a disaster. I bought a VW diesel truck very cheap from a UK auction because it has been an insurance write-off due to flooding. I changed the oil and it ran for about 100,000 miles without a problem before I sold it.

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True.

Flood vehicles are evaluated by the type of water and the level it reached in the vehicle.

Flood vehicles are generally classed by salvage buyers as fresh, salt or brackish (combination of fresh/salt usually found near where a river and ocean meet) water.....depending on where the flood took place.

Then the flood vehicle is categorized by how high the water rose into the car, level 1 being the lowest where water came in at the base of a door and may have gotten the carpet wet. From there the levels go up to over the seat cushion, level 2; mid way up the dash, level 3; over the dash, level four; and complete submergence, level 5.

As one might guess, a level 1 or 2 freshwater is a much easier fix than fresh water levels 3-5 and much less risky financially. After that, if not properly prepped (most buyers/dealers do not) you have a ticking time bomb of potential problems.

Lots of Sandy product (salt/brackish) never got reported as many smaller dealers who self-insured preferred to ship vehicles out of the country.....and yes the DR saw its fair share of those.....and salt/brackish are the worst to buy no matter what level....think electrical contact corrosion.

Levels 1 and 2 freshwater properly serviced will likely provide no issues..........beyond that it can become game of chance.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2