Is there any way to spot a repossessed car? I did a search on the forums and on google but didn't get any solid hits.

I went to go see a car yesterday that I highly suspected was repossessed (the saleswoman on the phone kind of gave it away by saying they buy a lot of repossessed cars from the bank). So during negotiations I asked the sales manager if the car's repossessed, and he points to the end letter on the car's stock number and says, "see this 'A' represents it's a trade in." Pretty boogus IMO.

The carfax has a lien reported, but I don't think that necessarily means that it was repossessed. It's an 06 model with 5k miles on it that's not being sold at its own dealer. I feel like if I could shove a piece of paper that shows it's repossessed, he'll give me the price I want.

I brought my ***** yesterday and asked for 6k under the asking price to the sales person. I ended up negotiating with the sales person, the sales manager, and the general sales manager all at one table. It was great. I think they ended up semi-committing to 3k under the asking; I believe they trying to get me to make a new offer. I decided to wait it out til maybe the weekend.

 

if the lein reported on the carfax states the lein holder you could probably call the lein holder with the vin and see if they'll tell you if it's been repo'd. honestly, i don't know how a repo affects the value of a vehicle and if it does- by how much...

 

repo should have no de-valuation

it just means the previous owner didnt make there payments
its a used car thats about it

its not like it has a Salvage title

 

The "hunger" is usually at it's greatest at the end of the month...

(monthly and quarterly numbers to make with the decision makers)

Lay low for a week, just keep in touch with the sales person....

They might just meet your price.

 

I agree. I wouldn't worry about buying a repo car. I'd worry about buying a flood car. I saw a newspaper article saying the market was littered with cars from the New Orleans/Mississippi floods from the hurricane last year. That's something to woory about, not a repo.

 

no2faber iam a licensed recovery agent shoot me a pm with any questions you may have (so its off the record)

 

well the salesperson is right if it has a stock number of "A" at the end, it usually means the owner traded the car in so they took the stock number of the car he bought and added the "A" at the end.

don't worry if a vehicle was reposessed, it doesn't mean/devalue anything. Remember now if you finance a car, you don't really own the car, it's the banks car. so if it got repo'ed that means the buyer didnt pay his monthly payment and the bank took back what is rightfully theirs.

 

wow. thanks for all the advice guys. So I guess the car sounds like a trade-in, and i guess with the warrantly almost completely intact, I doubt I'll be able to argue on the repossessed car.

I've heard about the New Orleans cars, which I think is a scary prospect if I was looking into older cars out of warranty.

Just on an unrelated sidenote, I think carfax is such a sham (I bought a one-month pass anyway). It provides the absolute minimal information. Anyone have any opinions? Also, has anyone read the undercover salesperson story on edmunds. I read it a few weeks ago, and I thought it was very interesting. I would recommend to anyone that has some free time and wants to see how some dealers work.