...with the nuttiest Carfax ever. Was this car EVER new?

https://www.porterchevy.com/VehicleD...93757133#close

 

Of course it was ‘new’ at one point, but has only been owned by car dealers, never by a real person.

 

This is the "cheap" way for the owner of a car dealership to be able to drive one of his own vehicles in inventory without the need to register it nor pay any taxes on it.

He puts x,xxx miles on it, and then sells it as a CPO "used" jag.

 

Figured, as such, but doesn't he (or someone) take the hit on selling it as a used car as opposed to new? My understanding is that dealers actually owe the manufacturer invoice price on the car new. But it's still crazy:

December, 2013: Car leaves England. We lose track of it for almost a year until...
September, 2014: Shows up at a dealer in Maryland, where it's "Offered For Sale." Mileage reported as 10. Six months later...
March, 2015: The car is "serviced." Nothing else. (?)
April, 2015: Battery is replaced, mileage reported as 11. Car has been driven ONE MILE IN EIGHT MONTHS?
Between May 30 and June 1, 2015, crazy stuff happens: First (?) owner reported, titled as a personal vehicle (with a loan), then immediately offered for sale as a CPO vehicle.
Two weeks later: serviced (?) with 680 miles. Now we're talkin.
November, 2016: over a year later, and at a different dealership, the oil's changed. 5600 miles.
Last week, at 8800 miles, the car offered for service. At a random Chevy dealer.

I think it's a relatively rare low-mile XKR. But also why isn't it on a jag lot? WAIT IT'S A CHEVY DEALER HE TRADED IT IN ON A NEW CORVETTE

 

Guess he just paid about the equivalent of $115,000 for a shevvie then.

 

We could all wish that the resale value was over $100 K but unfortunately we all know these values drop like a rock. Bad for the seller but great for the buyer.

 

The possibilities of the route this car has taken are simply endless. Just as an example I will give you some scenarios.

That "lost year": The car was possibly damaged in transit, either on/off the boat, or perhaps on a car-carrier to the dealership. The legal wranglings of who was responsible and which insurance company ultimately had to pay for the repairs could have taken many months to sort out. (And since the car has not yet been registered in any jurisdiction, there may be no record of any repairs.) If you knew how many cars get damaged in shipping every year you may be very surprised. I once lived near a rail yard which off-loaded new vehicles from train transport and every month there were 2, 3, and sometimes more damaged vehicles sitting in a back corner for a few weeks before being moved out. Then the next month a few more would appear.

Now by the time the dealer finally gets this car ready to sell (09/2014) this model has been out of production for two months already! As we all know, the manufacturer will offer large incentives to move stock at the end of the model year (MY), and since this vehicle will now be sold as a CPO used vehicle, JLR probably offered the dealer a real bargain to take it into inventory. There may also have been manufacturer incentives to the dealer to meet monthly sales quotas, and the dealer may have taken advantage of this car to meet those.

Next if price is right to the dealer he may have decided to drive this car himself and thus (as I noted earlier) simply used this car as a company demo, or personal driver, (with dealer plates), without registering it, and thus saved himself any taxes payable. He then sells it later as a CPO used car. Some dealers own many different makes of car dealerships and will transfer cars between them to drive walk-in traffic to their showrooms.

Anything is possible in the world of cars. Tracking some CarFax'es will show you how some vehicles are shipped thousands of miles on trucks, but only have a few hundred miles on the odo.

If you have a few minutes, read this very interesting story of this 1938 Talbot-Lago...it is still tied up in the courts, but wow, what an interesting history!

https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/ca...on-dollar-car/

 

Chit happens all the time...

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...grounded-ship/

1,400 damaged luxury cars worth £30 million driven off stricken ship ? The Car Spotter Blog

https://metro.co.uk/2015/01/27/damag...-ship-5038265/

https://www.thedrive.com/news/27035/...-cars-on-board

https://www.autoblog.com/2015/12/06/...damage-repair/

 

Another unique and interesting car, with a lost history...

1995 928 GTS U.S. 0077 - regcommittee - 928 Registry

 

Another 4,000 cars not quite sitting level.

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/cargo-ship...131054300.html

 

Whew! Just Hyundais and Kias, could have been something valuable.

 

Anyone here buy a Chev Vega new in the late '60's to early '70's? Did anyone even know of or hear of the "Vert-A-Pac and Stac-Pac"...?

 

Seems that the last 12 months or so have not been very kind to vehicles onboard ships...

https://www.thedrive.com/news/25764/...-pacific-ocean

 

Your new car Sir / Madam...

https://boats.drivemag.com/features/...-carrier-ships

 

Advertised on eBay under "New - Other"
Freshly washed.....

 

Cool story, what a interesting job and life that guy leads.

 

The salvage Miata one is funny. A junk car getting junked cuz it's junk.