Capital Auto Auction buying advice DC NH PA MD ( How to buy a $2500 Volvo )

[abscate]

Maybe this was answered earlier, but why does an undamaged, drivable car end up at auction?

Ever since someone got murdered on Craigslist……….

[abscate]

Crazy, here's the one 601 red: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/1998- ... -for-sale/ That post is from 2016.

Even crazier. Guess who listed the same car in Red as his first post in 2005?


viewtopic.php?p=17276#p17276

[matthew1]

There's no way... there has to be more than one red T-5M because this is getting mega coincidental. That info must be incorrect.

Crazy, here's the one 601 red: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/1998- ... -for-sale/ That post is from 2016.

Even crazier. Guess who listed the same car in Red as his first post in 2005?


viewtopic.php?p=17276#p17276

[FireFox31]

Maybe this was answered earlier, but why does an undamaged, drivable car end up at auction?

I plan to contact the previous owner of this T5M to get the full story.

I have two cars which drive but need more maintenance than I can reasonably perform. That's a good reason to send them to auction. The T5M I bought appears to have had its catalytic converter stolen; a $1100 replacement part (for OEM) and more for the labor. Maybe the previous owner didn't want to pay that and had other reasons which combined to make auctioning the best option. Or maybe the car is mechanically ruined and I just bought a huge headache.

[abscate]

There's no way... there has to be more than one red T-5M because this is getting mega coincidental. That info must be incorrect.

Crazy, here's the one 601 red: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/1998- ... -for-sale/ That post is from 2016.

Even crazier. Guess who listed the same car in Red as his first post in 2005?


viewtopic.php?p=17276#p17276

Maybe one in 1998, one in 1999

By the time you drill down to T5M and then a colour choice, you are down to 10s of cars

[foggydogg]

Maybe this was answered earlier, but why does an undamaged, drivable car end up at auction?

As I recall, it was listed as a charity sale; there are multiple reasons folks donate their cars to a charity instead of trying to sell it on their own, a tax writedown being one, and some people would rather gift a thing instead of cash. Capital handles sales for dozens of different charity organisations.

[foggydogg]

Maybe this was answered earlier, but why does an undamaged, drivable car end up at auction?

I plan to contact the previous owner of this T5M to get the full story.

I have two cars which drive but need more maintenance than I can reasonably perform. That's a good reason to send them to auction. The T5M I bought appears to have had its catalytic converter stolen; a $1100 replacement part (for OEM) and more for the labor. Maybe the previous owner didn't want to pay that and had other reasons which combined to make auctioning the best option. Or maybe the car is mechanically ruined and I just bought a huge headache.

Chat with Dr. Abscate about the cat, I think he just wrestled with that issue.

[foggydogg]

There's no way... there has to be more than one red T-5M because this is getting mega coincidental. That info must be incorrect.

Crazy, here's the one 601 red: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/1998- ... -for-sale/ That post is from 2016.

Even crazier. Guess who listed the same car in Red as his first post in 2005?


viewtopic.php?p=17276#p17276

I should have credited the quote to the poster over on SwedeSpeed, but the information came from a query to Volvo NA.
Jim took some exception to the numbers too - but he was quite polite about it, strangely enough. The obvious conclusion is that T5Ms in the States were vanishingly rare even when new. Date of manufacture clouds the issue somewhat, because there didn't seem to be a clear cutoff date for model year designation.

[BlackBart]

There's no way... there has to be more than one red T-5M because this is getting mega coincidental. That info must be incorrect.

SO, it appears I have the "world's only" '94 601 red T5A wagon! Woo!

[FireFox31]

Minor point of correction to my earlier posts. In NH, it is not possible to get a temporary plate and registration for a vehicle sold by a licensed dealer. The dealer isn't issuing temps because they're selling it as-is, not certifying that it's safe for the road, thus not eligible for temps. This may be different for your state.

Instead of temps, I simply registered the car and got real plates for it. That cost me about half what a tow would cost and I'd need the reg/plates eventually. I was fortunate to be able to drive the car home, entirely avoiding the tow cost.

I had no way to know if it would drive until I paid and had the car, with the requirement that it be off the lot by the day's end. I checked all the fluids, visually inspected the car, and did a little drive in the parking lot. This suggested that the car could drive, so I took it. Yeah, I broke down 1.5 miles from home due to a drained battery probably from a bad alternator, but I resolved that with the help of a friend giving a ride instead of a tow.