Has anyone ever bought a 3rd gen maxima at a police auction or property seizeure?? If so can you give me some specifics of how they run, and if you can actually check the cars out. I know sometimes you can luck out and find a nice car at some of these, and I was just curious. Thanks

 

In NY you can go the day before the auction and check out the cars. It's basically a 'buy at your own risk' deal, no guarantees, no warranties..etc. If you have a mechanic friend, it would be best to take him along to check out the car first.

It's a risk, if you don't know about cars or you're not mechanicaly capable of fixing potential problems, i would say save your money until you have enough and buy from a good used car dealer.

 

yeah, but i mean if i somehow ever found a maxima with some mods done to it allready for a somewhat cheap price i'd probably consider it. I have some friends who could show me around some police auctions too, so it is doable. Thanks

 

Pre-Modded cars = big no no

 

God knows what type of gremlins the car has

 

better yet..

Pre-Modded cars at a police auction = absolutely not

 

if you're buying for a police auction, you have to figure the person who owned the car probably had a fair share of problems and wasn't focusing on maintaining their car. I'd pass, but for other stuff like stereos or items like that, no problem.

 

Well...I bought a 3rd gen max from the police auction in new york...it looked pretty good on the day of the inspection....NO you CANT test them in ANY WAY other than visual inspection.

So heres how the story goes...I got an 89 SE from the auction and got a real good price for it...yea it looked a little used, but i figured i'll put like 500 on it and it'll be good to go...That was a bad day of my life.

The ENTIRE brake system needs to be changed (calipers, rotors, pads u name it) for more than a 1000 bucks (and the ABS doesnt work either), The manual tranny turned out to be wrecked, and the engine turned out to have been replaced from a 91 maxima, the radiator and the AC condensor has a 5 inch hole in them as if something had gone through them, The flex pipe needs to be changed along with the muffler, and it also needs all 4 new tires.


yeah maybe i should have inspected the car a bit better.



so if you ask me if police auctions are good for buying a car for your personal use..i say HELL NO!!!!

but yeah if you're looking for a car for parts, then u may go for it.

hope that answers your question...

 

It seems like alot of the things wrong with that car you could have found out before hand simply by gettin the VIN the night before and looking at the car more closely.

why is it bad to buy a semi modded car?? Just curious

 

Yeah i did the whole carfax check the night before...nothing came up in the carfax records either
anyhow, i'm gonna make this thing run now...atleast the engine is pretty strong.

 

people who like to modify their car like intake exhaust.. like to drive the car hard = more wear and tear

but it really depends on the owner.. like my car for example i drive WOT almost every day every chance i get.. but it doesnt mean my car is going to break. b/c i maintain it very well.. replace motor oil way before its time so on so on

if you bought the car from a old man who doesnt drive the car hard.. doesnt mean that the engine is in good condition he could of drove the car with old oil for months and car fax wouldnt know that so on so on....

try to find a stock car if its modified find out what he has done.. b/c most of the time stock car is better to have than a pre modded one

 

Carfax is good for knowing how mnay people owned the car previously..etc. As for the condition of the car, carfax won't tell you sh*t.

drstillpatient,
In your case i don't think the police auction was at fault. You were. Most of the problems you described could have been easily seen on the day of the inspection. Being that it had a number of visual defects, it would be sure to have other damages also.

you guys dont have to go to police auctions, there are regular car auctions too a bit more safe, but the same deal.

 

http://www.crownvic.net/ubb/ultimate...=014209#000000

Good thing I remembered my freind going to this one.

 

yeah Sudesh, i really shoulda looked closer.