The lesson I learned when I was shopping for a used RX350 was to look for the car with the vehicle history report that had regular service at a Lexus dealer.
David P. Pretty much saying "this is going to be interesting".... Just like the disclaimer "Graphic language and adult content....viewer discretion advised" Even Homer Simpson knew that..... One of my favorite quotes from him "That's how you know it's GOOD!"
Or the person who hit it said "Hey, I got a buddy who can fix this for you, let's not call insurance" A friend agreed to that, the filler and paint repair on his car suuuucked! Never trust the person who hit you to repair it right!
I find those reports close to useless .... my 2011 Ranger I bought new: with 10,000 miles on it a pheasant took off in front of me in ND - grill broken into 100 pieces so I bought a new one from Ford, then at 120k in the UP of Michigan a deer ran into the RF fender and I bought a perfect same color used one and bolted it on. Two "accidents" but no report to the Fox.
This is probably my favorite video of yours. I bought an ES300 at auction last november; couldn't tell from the photos that the dogleg was damaged. Door was untouched though. Car was totaled because the 22-year one-owner appeared to have blown a tire out and it folded up parts of that quarter. Between that and the faded paint... totaled. I replaced the steering wheel, radio, front struts, sway bar links, window regulator, driver visor (for one with a garage opener), and trailing arm bushings all for less than $500. Started to pull the dog leg out; saw it was too far gone, and left it alone. Took two hours to sell on Craigslist and made a little profit. Even included photos of the damage and that it had a "Salvage" title. ...and as a former 2V 4.6L F150 owner... yeah; don't you put water in that engine bay. Ever. Don't even look at the front of the truck when it's raining. Okay; mine wasn't that bad, but plenty were.
This car has a odd history like our “3 owner” Kia Sorento.. purchased it off marketplace Vehcor style crunched the numbers repairs and maintenance vs actual car value and it came out as possible did find some terrifically horrible bodywork that will be a “down the road” thing but we got a pretty dang nice car with a amazing history of maintenance down by dealers in 5different states.. the damage when we purchased was just mangled bumper covers and inner liners 8,000 miles later she is going great.. previous owner gave up when the 1900 dollar quote for a timing belt came up..about 350 bucks and oil changes and tire rotations.. my car is a Vehcor inspired car.. thanks for what ya do my friend!!!
Thank you for posting this video as it was extremely informative. Funny (not) how that truck had no record of the rear accident and that is where the most damage was located. Sad that people do this as I know first hand the headache one of these hack jobs can create. Gf purchased a used 92 Camaro 25th anniversary edition many years ago (from a shady dealer who ended up going out of business)and it turned out to have an R title. It was her first car and she did not know any better, nor was she told by the dealer it had an R title up front. Sadly she spent a ton of $$$ on it fixing issues as she loved the car only to find out in the end it had frame damage to boot. With that being said thank you for doing the job right!
Duct tape rocker panels are a "thing" at auction. The scary part is, sometimes they look GOOD. So, you have to walk up and try to poke your fingers thru every old truck you look at...
Just an FYI: sometimes people can't afford to fix it "right" so they do what they can. Not everyone has a couple of grand to throw into a repair. Specially one that is purely cosmetic. I am driving a beater 2006 F150. I paid $700 for it. The cab corners, rockers and rear fenders were rotted out. I fixed it with spray foam and some bondo. I am NOT going to put thousands into it. Now the "right" way would be to buy rockers ($400) rear fenders ($600) and cab corners ($200, sometimes included with the rockers but those are more money). To get this done "right" at a local body shop would be around $4000.00. Do it myself, probably over $1000.00 and would have taken me a LONG time to get done. Not to mention since I run my own business, while I'm working on it, I'm not earning a living. Sorry, I didn't have the time, or the money, or am an idiot, to put that much money into a vehicle I paid $700.00 for. Hell, just changing the oil was 10% of the value of the vehicle. Hell, filling it with gas increased the value 25%.
I worked at a body shop back east and you would be surprised how easy it is to get a clean title for a totaled vehicle. Always do your homework, great points in the video
Great content, Scott. I've been watching all your old uploads until i got caught up. A 1000 thank you's for not using horrible YT music. Much better with just your (or the PM Crew's) commentary. :)
Bondo over duct tape? Yikes. Thank you for cleaning that stain on the carpet. I think, deep down inside, that stain was bothering you a little also. Great video.
haha, they repaved the lot next to my shop and tracked a line of loose asphalt gravel...it was bugging the piss outta me so after a week I went out and swept it up hahah *yeah I can get anal about some things too haha)
That bondo job reminds me of some of my old customers when I worked the parts counter at the salvage yard, could have even been the guy that called (several times) asking for a used head gasket set
I was thinking I'd never seen an adjustable console right when you said I bet you didn't know it was adjustable. Great video, especially the info about the Fox
Heck yes another build Friday! Always excited what the new weeks video is going to be. Keep doing what you do @vehcor, we appreciate the time and effort you put in for these videos.
My first thought as you were pulling that 4" thick chunk of bondo out was "it's so thick it still hasn't set up!" What a mess. Also, my anxiety was high knowing that you wouldn't clean that stain in the passenger side floor. Thank you for making my weekend :-)
This is why i have stated in the past that you are the only rebuilder i would ever trust. People in my area do this same shit day in and day out. It's so bad that, at least here, i would never buy a rebuilt/ salvage title car from Tennessee.
Never understood why people used the car fax as a tell all report. Both of my vehicles reported accidents but it was obvious their was more done to them then what was on the car fax after a simple once over. Car fax doesn't report the small body shops that don't report it or the diyers. Great video proving this!
We had a earthquake this morning in North Carolina I thought it was the washing machine on spin cycle with some tennis shoes till the windows started rattling, looking forward to your next video. Have a good week.
We bought a Terrain from Carmax that had a clean carfax. After we got it home I started seeing what looked like paint work near the hood. Opened it up and found some wrinkles. Took it back.
It is unfortunate that there are so many fly by night hacks when it comes to the rebuilder community. I love your videos mainly for the attention to detail when it comes to doing the job right. It always saddens me to see a relatively new car with wavy body lines and tons of orange peel. Keep up the good work sir!
haha that adjustable centre console, kind of reminds me when I build kitchen cabinets. I drill 100's of holes for shelf pins and 99 times out of 100, when I put the pins in and install the shelves, the home owners never change them lol.
I bought a Grand Cherokee from a lady who bought it new (had original bill of sale in her name). But, since she had moved states 3 times in her 22 years of ownership, the CARFAX report listed 3 owners in 3 different states.
Wow, that was insane. Bondo over paint AND duct tape, and the sheer volume of the stuff...that was more of a sculpture than bodywork. The rule breaking line was gold.😂
I'm happy that in the UK we don't declare writeoffs as easily as in the states, they even don't record stolen recovered vehicles as writeoffs anymore (lightly damaged ones not chopped up specials) as soon as they leave Copart or other auctions they are clean on the V5c document
Scott, I love these videos, no bs sponsored content, no paid for by co-part stuff, straight forward facts, “someone’s been here before”, and “in the pile” are new phrases I use all the time. 👍🏻😎. Scrawny arms my ass.
The not so truthful truth of vehicle history reports. I was in a pretty bad wreck, my truck was rear-ended with $3500 in damage. Never showed up on Carfax. Traded it in, I'm sure no one ever knew about it after that.
Interesting video showing how to bodge up a vehicle and then how to fix it correctly. If only everyone had the scruples that you do, there wouldn't be anything like this happening. Not everyone does the right thing, but whoever gets this vehicle from you can be rest assured that it will be done right, just like everything you pass on to others. It will be interesting seeing the rest of the repairs. I don't like doing timing belts on East-West engines. (We have two of these) It's bad enough doing one on a regular engine, but on the E-W engines, there's no room to move. The best thing about Saturday morning here in Australia, is that there's a new video from you and I always watch it first. Stay safe over there and keep your great videos coming. All the best from Queensland Australia.
Wow, you've got some pretty lax safety inspections if they passed it with a deployed air bag. Hell, up here, my 4 x 4 wouldn't pass because the 4wd wouldn't engage.
I was looking at an 06 Pontiac GTO, manual transmission with 30k miles (2010ish). Low miles, dealer claimed they bought it from another dealer whose owner's wife drove the car. Stories are stories, but in buying I came across a video of it at a famous driving school.... his wife needs a shave, and not the type to cast negative aspirations, but wow was she ugly. Took the video to the dealership, got 5k off the price AND a certified used car warranty.... under which they replaced the motor, the trans (3x), the rear end, and a bunch of other stuff. Through the grapevine I heard that dealer can no longer independently certify cars ;) .... at 36k miles (warranty was done) I sold it to another dealership and explained the history and talked up the car because it was basically new.... made 10k on the trade.... love carfax.
Be sure to check the trim on the right and left sail windows. My 06 RX400h lost both of them without me realizing it. The adhesive tape (at least on my Japanese assembled car) failed and they broke and flew off on the highway. Maybe the US cars didn’t have that problem. It was a known problem. In true Lexus form, you can’t just buy the plastic trim, you have to buy a complete window assembly. Some guy on the internet made replacement parts but my RX was totaled before I got around to buying them. Oh well. Addendum: Yeah. I found out the console was adjustable the day I turned it in to the insurance company. Cleaning it out when I discovered that.
I recently purchased a locally owned car from a chp yard auction. Installed/replaced some OEM parts during servicing it, detailed it and now it's on all of the usual sites for sale. Luckily it was a one owner car requiring very little work. There is a guy in San Bernardino that does insurance work and he is known as "Bondo King". His bondo work rivals artesians...
Excellent video! If I ever have an accident I’m having it worked on at your shop. We had a body shop around get it’s “preferred body shop” pulled from the Farm Bureau list because of shoddy work and over pricing of parts.
I once checked out a used car for a customer. It was being sold by a dealer and the car fax said it was a one owner Hertz car. The first thing I was suspicious of is why Hertz would liquidate a 2 year old car with 2800 miles on it. No reported accidents. The tie down holes in the rails were elongated from pulling and there was body shop dust where you could put your hand on the tops of the front aprons. The problem with vehicle history reports is that if the car is owned by a major corp or a municipality, they are self insurers and thus no insurance report is made to the data collectors. The car business was so much simpler years ago.
Is it bad I've referred to the grab handles as "oh shit bars" my whole life? Is it just me or is that used elsewhere? (I swear people would call them that as a child)
Wish I would have had this info earlier. Just bought a truck in December of last year. Quickly found out the frame had been filled with bondo in several places. One place was where the hitch bolted to and another is where the cab meets the bed. The truck is currently broke in half in my driveway. We also just found out that the fuel tank is held up with fence wire. Yes, it was inspected. Yes, it was checked over by the dealer and the local GMC dealership. Yes, it has a clean one-owner carfax. I'm still having to make payments and there's nothing I can do about it because I signed the "as-is" paper and NC is not a "frame state". Still trying to figure out how to fix it.
i've never seen red bondo. maybe they smeared the bondo on first and then smeared the hardener over the top LOL. Musta been the same rocket scientists that got caught with the fake license plate
About 15 years ago, a guy i worked with bought an aveo for $500 at auction. It was 1 year old with 1500 miles. It was hit so hard in the front that it broke the end of the crank off and needed an engine. It had a clean title and carfax.
Sooo glad you shampooed and vacuumed the carpet. I was getting very itchy watching you work around the mess and was about to make a regrettable comment, but then you made good. Above and beyond! This neat freak is happy. Keep up the great content. 👍
Salvage title only means one thing.. the owner didn't want to hand over the title. So the tow company, shop, or whomever had to get the reconstructed title. Family has gotten many vehicles with salvage titles due to deadbeat owners not paying for work that was done. They sat for 3 months (per state law)and then could apply for it. Good video and information as always. Be safe and have a great weekend.
Most airbag modules can be reset just by using a diagnosis tool (OBD2 scan tool) but I have found mostly here in Australia that the only ones that need reprogramming are GM units.
Is there a car that you DON'T know the exact disassembly order for? lol Christ, interiors are puzzles and you seem to have done every one already. Great video as usual!
I look at craigslist vehicle ads a lot and one thing I have noticed is that a lot of vehicles with clean titles have front ends that have obviously been repainted with a slightly different shade of paint from the rest of the vehicle. My conclusion is that these vehicles have all been in front end collisions and had the work done by a backyard body shop and the insurance company was never notified. So, just because a vehicle has a clean title doesn't mean that it has never been wrecked.
I switched to the Atomic Dewalt series, stubby and accepts the small 18v batteries. Really appreciate this video man.. just purchase an 09 RX350 so this should help tons. Thanks brother
Ohh and any thing I need to PM the motor/tranny, my es330 lasted 313kmiles. Hoping to keep the rx to last that long. I work for Cat so I should have the tools.
you are absolutely right i just sold a car that car fax had little history on it . i my sled replace transmission and new paint job .replaced almost all suspension and car fax no idea i did tell owner what i did ..
I'm a little late, but late is better than nothing. Thumbs up and thanks for sharing this build. Missing the afternoon crew and George. The tape watcher -!!!
First off: THANK YOU for a new video and NO it does not matter what it is of. Actually, I enjoyed this one because I agree with everything you said and SALVAGE TITLE has SUCH a bad taste in my mouth. In our state, if an insurance co was listed on a title as an owner of the car, DMV brands it SALVAGE. AND like you showed, there was no record of the plastic attempt to turn the Lexus into a vette. (O Lord why are there so many rules?) Anyway, I'm glad you showed this one so people can see what really lies inside what they're buying. Soft Bonzai and duck tape - well beyond HACKERS! Thank you again, Scott for all the work you do showing all who view HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE DONE! Regards. Sonny (CT)
So you mean to say that history reports of cars get scammed with? I can't believe it, I won't sleep tonight.... I got in an accident, not my fault, my car was rebuild - horrible job!! - told the insurance they need to come take a look.... Adjuster came, told me I was crazy, so I took him on a little ride, where we almost crashed because the frame was completely crooked and the shock tower in the front was in under a wrong angle... I showed him, with the square tool, that the front was at least 1/4 of an inch off on the side the car was hit and that the rail had to be replaced. It is something that I have to do the work of a body shop! I traded the car in that same weekend, guess what? Those asswipes already had everything logged in the history of my car. Some suing and months later I got the difference paid out by the insurance because of the shoddy body work. My trade in would have been 18k if there had been no accident (Kelly - who the hell is this person - blue book value) and the trade in ended up at 12k - thanks insurance... and history fox...
Can make a video with detail tip tricks welding in new panel.....mig or flux welding please...i like to learn the tio and trick tk welding autobody sheet metal..in detail
My current car had a clean report but clearly had damage repair work when I went to check it out. It had the tell-tale one faded headlight and one clear headlight, plus a missing...mudguard? Whatever you call that plastic liner in the wheel well
22:00 There's a good chance this was a company car. When driving one and you have an accident it's best to get it fixed yourself on the DL and not telling the company. You won't have to do a drug test, breathalyzer, and answer many questions that could lead to losing your job.
My 08 Yukon was the same deal, bought it from my boss in the tow yard at the back of our body shop. Lady couldn't pay the tow fee for the impound. Filed for the title with the state of Ohio, came back salvage
One of... If Not... Your Best Video Yet!! Very Informative From to the Individual who knows Nothing about Cars to Respected Professionals; Such as Yourself! Just When You Thought You Saw It All... Never a Dull Moment Here.
I agree use caution when looking at reports I have seen a few that did not look right and I am sure they were they were wrong , looking forward to part 2
Somewhere in Illinois: "Aww man, I gotta fix this dent before mom and dad get home"...lol.
No, that was some scumbag dealer. Cash job, no report!
@@darrenbutland2056 For sure.
Unlikely, that side impact is what set off the curtain air bag.
Your lack of BS in your channel is refreshing 😂🍻
The lesson I learned when I was shopping for a used RX350 was to look for the car with the vehicle history report that had regular service at a Lexus dealer.
"We're going to...piss off some people." I feel at home now.
In my family that's called sarcasm,love and encouragement.
I love that line, it reminds me of someone!
I love Scott's sense of humor and lack of 'give a f***'. lol
David P.
I love buying insurance theft recoveries.
Salvage titles, nothing whatsoever wrong with the car.
40 to 60 percent devaluation.
David P.
Pretty much saying "this is going to be interesting"....
Just like the disclaimer "Graphic language and adult content....viewer discretion advised"
Even Homer Simpson knew that.....
One of my favorite quotes from him
"That's how you know it's GOOD!"
That looks and sounds like they did the repair in the back yard and not wanting to report it?
I'm gonna guess that it happened while in the care of one of the previous dealers, and they 'repaired' it themselves.
Or the person who hit it said "Hey, I got a buddy who can fix this for you, let's not call insurance" A friend agreed to that, the filler and paint repair on his car suuuucked! Never trust the person who hit you to repair it right!
I find those reports close to useless .... my 2011 Ranger I bought new: with 10,000 miles on it a pheasant took off in front of me in ND - grill broken into 100 pieces so I bought a new one from Ford, then at 120k in the UP of Michigan a deer ran into the RF fender and I bought a perfect same color used one and bolted it on. Two "accidents" but no report to the Fox.
Looks like they spent more in bondo than what a used door would cost... 😳
"We're going to blow a few myths and piss off a few people..." My favorite two video topics.
This is probably my favorite video of yours. I bought an ES300 at auction last november; couldn't tell from the photos that the dogleg was damaged. Door was untouched though. Car was totaled because the 22-year one-owner appeared to have blown a tire out and it folded up parts of that quarter. Between that and the faded paint... totaled. I replaced the steering wheel, radio, front struts, sway bar links, window regulator, driver visor (for one with a garage opener), and trailing arm bushings all for less than $500. Started to pull the dog leg out; saw it was too far gone, and left it alone. Took two hours to sell on Craigslist and made a little profit. Even included photos of the damage and that it had a "Salvage" title.
...and as a former 2V 4.6L F150 owner... yeah; don't you put water in that engine bay. Ever. Don't even look at the front of the truck when it's raining. Okay; mine wasn't that bad, but plenty were.
Did I see mr dotty going to live behind the A pillar cover forever ?
I saw it to
I'm sure if you took apart all the cars he's done on youtube, you would find a Mr. Spotty or two on each one!
This car has a odd history like our “3 owner” Kia Sorento.. purchased it off marketplace Vehcor style crunched the numbers repairs and maintenance vs actual car value and it came out as possible did find some terrifically horrible bodywork that will be a “down the road” thing but we got a pretty dang nice car with a amazing history of maintenance down by dealers in 5different states.. the damage when we purchased was just mangled bumper covers and inner liners 8,000 miles later she is going great.. previous owner gave up when the 1900 dollar quote for a timing belt came up..about 350 bucks and oil changes and tire rotations.. my car is a Vehcor inspired car.. thanks for what ya do my friend!!!
Thank you for posting this video as it was extremely informative. Funny (not) how that truck had no record of the rear accident and that is where the most damage was located. Sad that people do this as I know first hand the headache one of these hack jobs can create. Gf purchased a used 92 Camaro 25th anniversary edition many years ago (from a shady dealer who ended up going out of business)and it turned out to have an R title. It was her first car and she did not know any better, nor was she told by the dealer it had an R title up front. Sadly she spent a ton of $$$ on it fixing issues as she loved the car only to find out in the end it had frame damage to boot. With that being said thank you for doing the job right!
Sucks that someone would make a “fix” like that, but good for you for doing it right. Your customers will trust you and keep coming back.
Duct tape rocker panels are a "thing" at auction. The scary part is, sometimes they look GOOD. So, you have to walk up and try to poke your fingers thru every old truck you look at...
Just an FYI: sometimes people can't afford to fix it "right" so they do what they can. Not everyone has a couple of grand to throw into a repair. Specially one that is purely cosmetic.
I am driving a beater 2006 F150. I paid $700 for it. The cab corners, rockers and rear fenders were rotted out. I fixed it with spray foam and some bondo. I am NOT going to put thousands into it. Now the "right" way would be to buy rockers ($400) rear fenders ($600) and cab corners ($200, sometimes included with the rockers but those are more money).
To get this done "right" at a local body shop would be around $4000.00. Do it myself, probably over $1000.00 and would have taken me a LONG time to get done. Not to mention since I run my own business, while I'm working on it, I'm not earning a living.
Sorry, I didn't have the time, or the money, or am an idiot, to put that much money into a vehicle I paid $700.00 for. Hell, just changing the oil was 10% of the value of the vehicle. Hell, filling it with gas increased the value 25%.
I worked at a body shop back east and you would be surprised how easy it is to get a clean title for a totaled vehicle. Always do your homework, great points in the video
Did mr spotty get left behind the A pillar trim panel😢
When that A pillar next gets taken off, that person can say, "Someone has been here before, and they're still here!!"
FWIW, 15:54 : - )
Great video, Scott. Informative. Appreciate the candor and no nonsense approach. Looking forward to next video as you address the rest of the issues.
Same thoughts here, straight and simple 👍
Sure is nice to see someone with your honest work ethic!
I’d buy a used car from you anytime.
I appreciate that!
Your right Jerome. I’d buy anything Scott fixes, sight unseen.
great video, and great work :)
btw, When you bought the car, didn't you check with magnet over the doors ? (to see if there is a bondo or a metal?)
Great content, Scott. I've been watching all your old uploads until i got caught up. A 1000 thank you's for not using horrible YT music. Much better with just your (or the PM Crew's) commentary. :)
You are a master of your craft and it's always an honor to watch you work.
Bondo over duct tape? Yikes. Thank you for cleaning that stain on the carpet. I think, deep down inside, that stain was bothering you a little also. Great video.
haha, they repaved the lot next to my shop and tracked a line of loose asphalt gravel...it was bugging the piss outta me so after a week I went out and swept it up hahah *yeah I can get anal about some things too haha)
I love this guy. Oh so "snarky" yet so skillful. Our 05, LXE camery has over three hundred thousand miles on it and still going strong. Thanks Toyota.
We part out vehicle and I have seen 2x4s in a quarter panel with bondo over it.
That bondo job reminds me of some of my old customers when I worked the parts counter at the salvage yard, could have even been the guy that called (several times) asking for a used head gasket set
It’s determined that’s a lie... where’s Maury when you need him?
I wish the rest of world take notice of your work ethic. Great job.
I was thinking I'd never seen an adjustable console right when you said I bet you didn't know it was adjustable. Great video, especially the info about the Fox
Your video helped me fix my center console. It wouldn’t shift, but now it does! Thank you so much!!!
Always amazed of your professionalism and how attentive you are to details. Thanks so much for sharing.
Heck yes another build Friday! Always excited what the new weeks video is going to be. Keep doing what you do @vehcor, we appreciate the time and effort you put in for these videos.
I've never done body work but i know for a fact I can do a better job on that hack job they did.
My first thought as you were pulling that 4" thick chunk of bondo out was "it's so thick it still hasn't set up!" What a mess. Also, my anxiety was high knowing that you wouldn't clean that stain in the passenger side floor. Thank you for making my weekend :-)
This is why i have stated in the past that you are the only rebuilder i would ever trust. People in my area do this same shit day in and day out. It's so bad that, at least here, i would never buy a rebuilt/ salvage title car from Tennessee.
Thank you kindly for shampooing the rug. I was surprisingly agitated about it!
Never understood why people used the car fax as a tell all report. Both of my vehicles reported accidents but it was obvious their was more done to them then what was on the car fax after a simple once over. Car fax doesn't report the small body shops that don't report it or the diyers. Great video proving this!
A man with integrity! Thank you sir for the education.
You got to be the world's best puzzler champion.
Replacing all those interior parts would drive me crazy.
We had a earthquake this morning in North Carolina I thought it was the washing machine on spin cycle with some tennis shoes till the windows started rattling, looking forward to your next video. Have a good week.
Which supermarket parking lot that door got fixed at?
We bought a Terrain from Carmax that had a clean carfax. After we got it home I started seeing what looked like paint work near the hood. Opened it up and found some wrinkles. Took it back.
It is unfortunate that there are so many fly by night hacks when it comes to the rebuilder community. I love your videos mainly for the attention to detail when it comes to doing the job right. It always saddens me to see a relatively new car with wavy body lines and tons of orange peel. Keep up the good work sir!
The air bag module was burred so deep, I forgot what you were doing!!!
haha that adjustable centre console, kind of reminds me when I build kitchen cabinets. I drill 100's of holes for shelf pins and 99 times out of 100, when I put the pins in and install the shelves, the home owners never change them lol.
That just shows how good you are at estimating the best spacing for shelves :D
@@be5952 haha, that's what I tell myself! :-)
I bought a Grand Cherokee from a lady who bought it new (had original bill of sale in her name). But, since she had moved states 3 times in her 22 years of ownership, the CARFAX report listed 3 owners in 3 different states.
Wow, that was insane. Bondo over paint AND duct tape, and the sheer volume of the stuff...that was more of a sculpture than bodywork. The rule breaking line was gold.😂
I'm happy that in the UK we don't declare writeoffs as easily as in the states, they even don't record stolen recovered vehicles as writeoffs anymore (lightly damaged ones not chopped up specials) as soon as they leave Copart or other auctions they are clean on the V5c document
Scott, I love these videos, no bs sponsored content, no paid for by co-part stuff, straight forward facts, “someone’s been here before”, and “in the pile” are new phrases I use all the time. 👍🏻😎. Scrawny arms my ass.
Thank you for having integrity and making them better the new!
The not so truthful truth of vehicle history reports.
I was in a pretty bad wreck, my truck was rear-ended with $3500 in damage. Never showed up on Carfax. Traded it in, I'm sure no one ever knew about it after that.
Similar thing happened to me, rear ended someone in my car, got the repairs all done legit, never showed up on CarFax.
You could have called this episode, "Bedtime for Bondo". In New Zealand bondo is called 'bog'. It's probably the same stuff.
Bondo is a brand name for body filler. Someone did some killer marketing and now it is a household name here. Kind of like sawzall. 😂
I LOVe your channel, man. You are a good mechanic and honest guy!
Every time I watch your vids, I’ve got to have a laugh... you left Mr. Spotty under the A pillar! Poor Mr spotty or was it his mother in law..lol
Interesting video showing how to bodge up a vehicle and then how to fix it correctly. If only everyone had the scruples that you do, there wouldn't be anything like this happening. Not everyone does the right thing, but whoever gets this vehicle from you can be rest assured that it will be done right, just like everything you pass on to others. It will be interesting seeing the rest of the repairs. I don't like doing timing belts on East-West engines. (We have two of these) It's bad enough doing one on a regular engine, but on the E-W engines, there's no room to move. The best thing about Saturday morning here in Australia, is that there's a new video from you and I always watch it first. Stay safe over there and keep your great videos coming. All the best from Queensland Australia.
Wow, you've got some pretty lax safety inspections if they passed it with a deployed air bag. Hell, up here, my 4 x 4 wouldn't pass because the 4wd wouldn't engage.
I was looking at an 06 Pontiac GTO, manual transmission with 30k miles (2010ish). Low miles, dealer claimed they bought it from another dealer whose owner's wife drove the car. Stories are stories, but in buying I came across a video of it at a famous driving school.... his wife needs a shave, and not the type to cast negative aspirations, but wow was she ugly. Took the video to the dealership, got 5k off the price AND a certified used car warranty.... under which they replaced the motor, the trans (3x), the rear end, and a bunch of other stuff. Through the grapevine I heard that dealer can no longer independently certify cars ;) .... at 36k miles (warranty was done) I sold it to another dealership and explained the history and talked up the car because it was basically new.... made 10k on the trade.... love carfax.
You area 100% right about washing the inside of a Ford engine bay. Cleaned the inside of my 2010 Escape and fried the engine temperature sensor.
Be sure to check the trim on the right and left sail windows. My 06 RX400h lost both of them without me realizing it. The adhesive tape (at least on my Japanese assembled car) failed and they broke and flew off on the highway. Maybe the US cars didn’t have that problem. It was a known problem.
In true Lexus form, you can’t just buy the plastic trim, you have to buy a complete window assembly. Some guy on the internet made replacement parts but my RX was totaled before I got around to buying them. Oh well.
Addendum: Yeah. I found out the console was adjustable the day I turned it in to the insurance company. Cleaning it out when I discovered that.
I recently purchased a locally owned car from a chp yard auction.
Installed/replaced some OEM parts during servicing it, detailed it and now it's on all of the usual sites for sale. Luckily it was a one owner car requiring very little work.
There is a guy in San Bernardino that does insurance work and he is known as "Bondo King". His bondo work rivals artesians...
Excellent video! If I ever have an accident I’m having it worked on at your shop. We had a body shop around get it’s “preferred body shop” pulled from the Farm Bureau list because of shoddy work and over pricing of parts.
I once checked out a used car for a customer. It was being sold by a dealer and the car fax said it was a one owner Hertz car. The first thing I was suspicious of is why Hertz would liquidate a 2 year old car with 2800 miles on it. No reported accidents. The tie down holes in the rails were elongated from pulling and there was body shop dust where you could put your hand on the tops of the front aprons. The problem with vehicle history reports is that if the car is owned by a major corp or a municipality, they are self insurers and thus no insurance report is made to the data collectors. The car business was so much simpler years ago.
Is it bad I've referred to the grab handles as "oh shit bars" my whole life? Is it just me or is that used elsewhere? (I swear people would call them that as a child)
They've always been oh shit bars to me.
Every time he says “that was a lie” reminds me of the Murray show when he reads the results of the lie detector test.
I wonder how damaged that left rear suspension was from the wheel getting blown apart when they tagged that corner?
Wish I would have had this info earlier. Just bought a truck in December of last year. Quickly found out the frame had been filled with bondo in several places. One place was where the hitch bolted to and another is where the cab meets the bed. The truck is currently broke in half in my driveway. We also just found out that the fuel tank is held up with fence wire. Yes, it was inspected. Yes, it was checked over by the dealer and the local GMC dealership. Yes, it has a clean one-owner carfax. I'm still having to make payments and there's nothing I can do about it because I signed the "as-is" paper and NC is not a "frame state". Still trying to figure out how to fix it.
Scotty! Hope youtube is writing you some fat checks because they stuffed like 6 commercials into this video when I watched it. 😂
i've never seen red bondo. maybe they smeared the bondo on first and then smeared the hardener over the top LOL. Musta been the same rocket scientists that got caught with the fake license plate
About 15 years ago, a guy i worked with bought an aveo for $500 at auction. It was 1 year old with 1500 miles. It was hit so hard in the front that it broke the end of the crank off and needed an engine. It had a clean title and carfax.
Happy Friday Vehcor.
Sooo glad you shampooed and vacuumed the carpet. I was getting very itchy watching you work around the mess and was about to make a regrettable comment, but then you made good. Above and beyond! This neat freak is happy. Keep up the great content. 👍
Salvage title only means one thing.. the owner didn't want to hand over the title. So the tow company, shop, or whomever had to get the reconstructed title. Family has gotten many vehicles with salvage titles due to deadbeat owners not paying for work that was done. They sat for 3 months (per state law)and then could apply for it. Good video and information as always. Be safe and have a great weekend.
So you can't always believe a fox, but they're nice to look at. Got it.
Only the red ones.
Most airbag modules can be reset just by using a diagnosis tool (OBD2 scan tool) but I have found mostly here in Australia that the only ones that need reprogramming are GM units.
Is there a car that you DON'T know the exact disassembly order for? lol Christ, interiors are puzzles and you seem to have done every one already. Great video as usual!
Did you really leave “slim” inside the driver side A-pillar trim!? 😂😂
o come now , that was not bondo on the door , a lot of bubblegum yes , love to watch you work it is like going to school !
Great work and attention to detail. That botched repair would have bothered me also. Awesome videos.
Another great Friday build can’t believe there are people out there that would do that anyway way to go that’s why I say you are the best !
Friday can't come fast enough what an amazing channel
I look at craigslist vehicle ads a lot and one thing I have noticed is that a lot of vehicles with clean titles have front ends that have obviously been repainted with a slightly different shade of paint from the rest of the vehicle. My conclusion is that these vehicles have all been in front end collisions and had the work done by a backyard body shop and the insurance company was never notified. So, just because a vehicle has a clean title doesn't mean that it has never been wrecked.
I switched to the Atomic Dewalt series, stubby and accepts the small 18v batteries. Really appreciate this video man.. just purchase an 09 RX350 so this should help tons. Thanks brother
Ohh and any thing I need to PM the motor/tranny, my es330 lasted 313kmiles. Hoping to keep the rx to last that long. I work for Cat so I should have the tools.
you are absolutely right i just sold a car that car fax had little history on it . i my sled replace transmission and new paint job .replaced almost all suspension and car fax no idea i did tell owner what i did ..
Great Job!!! Thank You... :) just picked up a 2006 RX400H yesterday!! Hope you show how to do the timing belt job in great detail :)
I'm a little late, but late is better than nothing. Thumbs up and thanks for sharing this build. Missing the afternoon crew and George. The tape watcher -!!!
I’ve used a small torch to release bondo. You gotta know where it ends tho too I guess so it doesn’t warp the metal and not get it too hot
Way to do it right! I'm sure whoever buys this will appreciate all the work you are putting into it.
Ah, Mr. Spotty makes an appearance. 🏁👍🍺
this why i enjoy watching your videos you do the job the right way
First off: THANK YOU for a new video and NO it does not matter what it is of. Actually, I enjoyed this one because I agree with everything you said and SALVAGE TITLE has SUCH a bad taste in my mouth. In our state, if an insurance co was listed on a title as an owner of the car, DMV brands it SALVAGE. AND like you showed, there was no record of the plastic attempt to turn the Lexus into a vette. (O Lord why are there so many rules?) Anyway, I'm glad you showed this one so people can see what really lies inside what they're buying. Soft Bonzai and duck tape - well beyond HACKERS! Thank you again, Scott for all the work you do showing all who view HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE DONE! Regards. Sonny (CT)
Great project video, did I see a clean center console base when you put it back in ? ?.....How could that happen ? ?
How long does it take you to film this? Must be pretty time consuming. Been watching your videos for a week, finally subscribed.
So you mean to say that history reports of cars get scammed with? I can't believe it, I won't sleep tonight.... I got in an accident, not my fault, my car was rebuild - horrible job!! - told the insurance they need to come take a look.... Adjuster came, told me I was crazy, so I took him on a little ride, where we almost crashed because the frame was completely crooked and the shock tower in the front was in under a wrong angle... I showed him, with the square tool, that the front was at least 1/4 of an inch off on the side the car was hit and that the rail had to be replaced. It is something that I have to do the work of a body shop! I traded the car in that same weekend, guess what? Those asswipes already had everything logged in the history of my car. Some suing and months later I got the difference paid out by the insurance because of the shoddy body work. My trade in would have been 18k if there had been no accident (Kelly - who the hell is this person - blue book value) and the trade in ended up at 12k - thanks insurance... and history fox...
Can make a video with detail tip tricks welding in new panel.....mig or flux welding please...i like to learn the tio and trick tk welding autobody sheet metal..in detail
My current car had a clean report but clearly had damage repair work when I went to check it out. It had the tell-tale one faded headlight and one clear headlight, plus a missing...mudguard? Whatever you call that plastic liner in the wheel well
I have a 400H with 200k miles....rides great and never had a problem.
Thanks for information about the car fax reports, I will be more cautious in the future. Another great video thanks
22:00 There's a good chance this was a company car. When driving one and you have an accident it's best to get it fixed yourself on the DL and not telling the company. You won't have to do a drug test, breathalyzer, and answer many questions that could lead to losing your job.
My 08 Yukon was the same deal, bought it from my boss in the tow yard at the back of our body shop. Lady couldn't pay the tow fee for the impound. Filed for the title with the state of Ohio, came back salvage
One of... If Not... Your Best Video Yet!! Very Informative From to the Individual who knows Nothing about Cars to Respected Professionals; Such as Yourself! Just When You Thought You Saw It All... Never a Dull Moment Here.
Local panel beater uses to do plastic repair by the tub like those hacks. On rare days when hell froze over they would replace the odd panel...
Whoaaaa, you sprayed the carpet, brushed it and vacuumed! You must be a great mood!
I agree use caution when looking at reports I have seen a few that did not look right and I am sure they were they were wrong , looking forward to part 2