[SidTheChamp]

Since this thread often comes into Google recommendations, one can understand how impact this thread has.

Buying a pre owned car always comes with that extra risk i.e I pay lesser than a new one. But am I getting the worth of what I'm paying for. There have been both happy customers and people who face problems.

My first car was a pre-owned Alto purchased from True Value. I had to pay a little premium but the ownership experience was good.

And finally, buying or selling on OLX has its own risk. In your case, you had a physically located dealer. But nothings more worse than paying for or losing money for nothing

[starlord]

Originally Posted by 07CR

He mentioned the car has been in some major accident and the car's structure and chassis has been damaged beyond repair.

What’s the harm in a well repaired vehicle? Can we not replace all damaged components and continue using the vehicle?

[ex-innova-guy]

Originally Posted by starlord

What’s the harm in a well repaired vehicle? Can we not replace all damaged components and continue using the vehicle?

There is no harm in a well repaired vehicle but if indeed the vehicle was well repaired why did s/he decide to let it go? Some owners would be happy to continue using it while others won't. To each their own.

Just for context- my car(Innova) was totalled and subsequently decided as a total loss. An individual garage owner bid the highest and bought our car from insurance. He repaired it and was even willing to resell it back to us. Just one test drive was enough to convice us to let it go. Sad part is that it is now sold to someone who might or might not know the history of the accident. From what I know, some cab operators don't mind purchasing accident vehicles since they get it at a lower rate and hardly are themselves going to travel in it.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by starlord

What’s the harm in a well repaired vehicle? Can we not replace all damaged components and continue using the vehicle?

It's a repaired vehicle! It's been structurally compromised and will never behave the same way as it used to be before the major accident it suffered. Like ex Innova guy mentioned above, such vehicles are merely refurbished products and are a strict no go considering they have just been merely bandaged cars. These bandages may fall off at any moment.

[ChargedGarage]

Originally Posted by 07CR

The dealer name is Happy Car World, and it is situated in Mira Bhayandar. Attached the OLX profile of the dealer.

https://www.olx.in/en-in/profile/10276560

This dealers seems to have made a habit out of trying to pawn off total loss cars onto unsuspecting buyers and seems to be present by many different names on OLX so buyers beware, it is better recognizable by the background which remains the same across most photos.

I was looking to purchase a Polo 1.0 TSI AT in the recent past and he had one listed that was priced lower compared to others. I took some details from him online and was able to get service details from a friendly SA at VW, where it showed that at the last service it came to the paint department at VW Pune where the customer refused the work to be done. The first red flag for me was that the kms in the car while it was photographed here in Mumbai were only 45 kms more than the last entry available at VW Pune which means it travelled here on flatbed or else it is a odometer rollback (but who would roll back only such a small amount?)

Luckily, the dealer shared the RC with me, which I used to do a basic Google search for the owners name. I was able to find someone with the same name on Facebook and sent them a message asking if they were by any chance the owner of the vehicle. Fortunately, I got a response 3-4 days later where the husband of the owner told me that he himself is an employee at VW Pune and was the past owner of the vehicle. The vehicle had been declared a complete loss and sold for scrap. He was aware of the dealer who had bought and spruced it back to looking as good as new.

I was looking for a good deal in the used market but no deal or discount is worth compromising the safety for which I was searching for a VW Polo and not considering any other hatch. Attaching some pictures of the car so that people can appreciate how good dealers have gotten at bringing back a total loss car back to shiny new.

Originally Posted by starlord

What’s the harm in a well repaired vehicle? Can we not replace all damaged components and continue using the vehicle?

A vehicle is declared a total loss when the insurance company decides that a car is not worth repairing and it has either been damaged beyond repair back to an acceptable level and it cannot be revived or the cost of repairing it back to normal is so high that you're better off buying a new car instead. For cheap commuter cars it is usually the former case. People have built whole Youtube channels repairing Supercars off of the second case.