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Don’t EVER Buy a Car with a Salvage Title!

Joseph Coupal - Wednesday, October 16, 2013

You need a new car. You bop around town and visit the used car dealerships. Just when you are about to give up, you spot a late model with low mileage for a rock bottom price! You waive over one of the salesmen to find out why it’s so low. He tells you that the car was in an accident and has been rebuilt. He assures you that the damage was minimal but the salvage title is kind of a formality and “an insurance thing”. Surely this all sounds good and it was fully repaired – now ready for a new owner. You should buy it right? WRONG! Don’t EVER buy a car with a salvage title. It takes A LOT of damage for an insurance company to brand a vehicle “salvage” and even if it is repaired the value of the vehicle takes a hit of 60% or more. Not to mention the lingering issues that could remain from the effects of the accident and a possible structural issues.

The most common reason for a salvage title brand is the insurance carrier protecting itself from future liability. That salvage title is a RED FLAG to alert you that the damage was EXTENSIVE and was disproportionately high in relation to the retail value of the vehicle. No matter how good the deal looks, you will lose money on resale if the vehicle has a salvage title. DamageMAX recommends that you RUN from salvage title vehicles.

DamageMAX buys ANY WRECKED, BROKEN or PROBLEM vehicle – anywhere! Call 888-629-3127 or visit damageMAX.com today. Certified DamageMAX Buying agents are standing by 7 days a week to give you a FAST, FREE, NO OBLIGATION quote on your wrecked vehicle. Just send over pictures and we will make you an on the spot offer for your wrecked vehicle. We can even get you the money as early as THE NEXT DAY! If you decide to sell to us DamageMAX will even pick up your wrecked vehicle FREE of charge!

DamageMAX is the leading national buyer of damaged, broken and problem vehicles in the USA. For more information, visit www.damagemax.com and experience the DamageMAX Difference!


No One has to Buy a Car that’s been in an Accident, But You have to Sell One

Joseph Coupal - Tuesday, October 15, 2013

You just bought a new car and are looking to sell your old car online. It was recently in an accident but still runs and drives. You put it on a few websites and the offers don’t come. You wait a about a week and still no one has even called about it. Selling a car that’s been in an accident is harder then you thought. Is there anyone that makes selling a wrecked car easy?

DamageMAX is that PLACE! DamageMAX buys ANY WRECKED, BROKEN or PROBLEM vehicle – anywhere! Call 888-629-3127 or visit damageMAX.com today. Certified DamageMAX Buying agents are standing by 7 days a week to give you a FAST, FREE, NO OBLIGATION quote on your wrecked vehicle. Just send over pictures and we will make you an on the spot offer for your wrecked vehicle. We can even get you the money as early as THE NEXT DAY! If you decide to sell to us DamageMAX will even pick up your wrecked vehicle FREE of charge!

DamageMAX is the leading national buyer of damaged, broken and problem vehicles in the USA. For more information, visit www.damagemax.com and experience the DamageMAX Difference!


Towing & Storage Yards - "Your Neighborhood Loan Sharks"

Joseph Coupal - Thursday, October 10, 2013

Today I watched another would be DamageMAX customer get duped by a storage yard in Boston, MA. He had a 2006 Mazda 6 with low mileage that was in a wreck. Unfortunately he dropped his collision coverage shortly before the wreck and his vehicle would cost far more to fix than he & his wife were willing to spend on an 8 year old vehicle. The good news is, the vehicle was worth quite a bit of money damaged, even though it was not drivable…

When we first started our conversation, Bob was on a mission to get the best price he could for what was left of his car. He thought he had lots of time to shop the internet and hit several companies including ours. Our first question was "where is the vehicle being stored?". The purpose of this question is purely for the benefit of the consumer (Bob) because we know the storage yard will always get their pound of flesh. We are always relieved when the customer tells us that the vehicle is at their home or some other "friendly" location where a daily storage tab is not amassing. Bob told us that the vehicle was stored at a body shop that tows cars and that he knows the owner who assured him "not to worry about storage". This is an IMMEDIATE red flag to DamageMAX because we see hundreds of customers each month with scenarios exactly like this one where the shop turns on the customer and hits them with a bill when they try to remove the vehicle from the property.

So Bob ended his week-long pursuit of getting top dollar for his damaged Mazda 6 with DamageMAX being the highest bidder! He figured he had lots of time to shop for the best deal and accrued 7 days of additional storage charges, unwittingly.

So here's the punchline…the Tow Yard hit Bob with a $700 storage bill and forced him to sell his car to them for far below the price that DamageMAX offered. Bob got less money after all the work he invested and all the haggling because he let his guard down and did not make a quick decision. If your car is wrecked and in a Body Shop / Towing / Impound facility, you are always getting charged. There is "rarely" an exception and if the shop that has possession of your car, they have control of it and it is a paycheck whether or not they get a chance to fix the vehicle. It's pretty sad that shops look to offset a lost repair opportunity by gouging an unsuspecting consumer. Especially, after that consumer has been told not to worry about storage charges. What they should say is what they mean…"I promise not to charge you if you do exactly what pleases me"!

Selling a wrecked car is fast & easy if you call DamageMAX.com.

Call DamageMAX.com first and let us help you navigate the "shark infested" waters of the towing & storage world.

We give advice for free, whether or not we buy your vehicle.

DamageMAX.com is proud to be affiliated with CarBUYERUSA.com we buy any car, from Rollovers to Range Rovers.

Call 888 629-2137 for a free, no obligation quote.


How do I Get a Replacement Title?

Joseph Coupal - Wednesday, October 09, 2013

You are going to sell your vehicle. You find a buyer, you agree on a fair price and then you realize you don’t have the title! As Douglas Adams famously advised, Don’t Panic. Replacing a title is easy in most cases it costs less than $20 and you can get it same day. Follow this link to find the instructions on how to replace a title in your state.

For additional information on title processing procedures and where to sign your title please visit our Title Processing Procedures Page.

DamageMAX buys ANY WRECKED, BROKEN or PROBLEM vehicle – anywhere! Call 888-629-3127 or visit damageMAX.com today. Certified DamageMAX Buying agents are standing by 7 days a week to give you a FAST, FREE, NO OBLIGATION quote on your wrecked vehicle. Just send over pictures and we will make you an on the spot offer for your wrecked vehicle. We can even get you the money as early as THE NEXT DAY! If you decide to sell to us DamageMAX will even pick up your wrecked vehicle FREE of charge!

DamageMAX is the leading national buyer of damaged, broken and problem vehicles in the USA. For more information, visit www.damagemax.com and experience the DamageMAX Difference!


State Farm says ‘We don’t do that!’

Joseph Coupal - Tuesday, October 08, 2013

We had a customer this week who had wrecked her vehicle and wanted to know what her options were. A certified DamageMAX agent instructed her instead of getting the car repaired with the insurance check to ask if she can keep the repair check, sell her car to DamageMAX “as-is” and go buy a new vehicle. The customer liked the sound of that but her State Farm claims person said she could not do that. Wrong! It is your car not your insurance companies. You pay your premiums and you can do whatever you want with that insurance check if you ever get into an accident.

DamageMAX is your source! DamageMAX buys ANY WRECKED, BROKEN or PROBLEM vehicle – anywhere! Call 888-629-3127 or visit damageMAX.com today. Certified DamageMAX Buying agents are standing by 7 days a week to give you a FAST, FREE, NO OBLIGATION quote on your wrecked vehicle. Just send over pictures and we will make you an on the spot offer for your wrecked vehicle. We can even get you the money as early as THE NEXT DAY! If you decide to sell to us DamageMAX will even pick up your wrecked vehicle FREE of charge!

DamageMAX is the leading national buyer of damaged, broken and problem vehicles in the USA. For more information, visit www.damagemax.com and experience the DamageMAX Difference!


Waiting on Your Title, Let Us Store Your Car—FREE OF CHARGE!

Joseph Coupal - Wednesday, September 25, 2013

You wrecked your car and the cops had it towed to the local yard. You know that the storage fees will pile up fast, so you need to sell it quickly. You contact an online company and hash out a price. Then you realize that you cant find the title! You call back the company and they tell you the deal is off. You hustle down to DMV and they say the replacement title will take two weeks to process and it comes in the mail? That’s going to be hundreds of dollars in storage fees! Is there any company that can buy your car today and store it free while you wait for your title?

The answer is YES! If you sell your car to DamageMAX, we will transport the car for FREE and store it for FREE while you get your replacement title. Storage yards hate us for it, but we are here to help consumers with wrecked vehicles.

DamageMAX buys ANY WRECKED, BROKEN or PROBLEM vehicle – anywhere! Call 888-629-3127 or visit damageMAX.com today! Certified DamageMAX Buying agents are standing by 7 days a week to give you a FAST, FREE, NO OBLIGATION quote on your wrecked vehicle. Just send over pictures and we will make you an on the spot offer for your wrecked vehicle. We can even get you the money as early as THE NEXT DAY!

DamageMAX is the leading national buyer of damaged, broken and problem vehicles in the USA. For more information, visit www.damagemax.com and experience the DamageMAX Difference!


Hit and Run Take Out Your Car?

Joseph Coupal - Tuesday, September 24, 2013

You live in a crowded neighborhood that left yours and all the other houses with out a driveway so you all park out on the street. You come out for work one morning and someone has CRUSHED your vehicle! What are you going to do now? Is there anyone that can get you fast cash for your wrecked car, and make it easy?

DamageMAX is your source! DamageMAX buys ANY WRECKED, BROKEN or PROBLEM vehicle – anywhere! Call 888-629-3127 or visit damageMAX.com today. Certified DamageMAX Buying agents are standing by 7 days a week to give you a FAST, FREE, NO OBLIGATION quote on your wrecked vehicle. Just send over pictures and we will make you an on the spot offer for your wrecked vehicle. We can even get you the money as early as THE NEXT DAY! If you decide to sell to us DamageMAX will even pickup your wrecked vehicle FREE of charge!

DamageMAX is the leading national buyer of damaged, broken and problem vehicles in the USA. For more information, visit www.damagemax.com and experience the DamageMAX Difference!


Don’t Hand Over Your Title!

Joseph Coupal - Monday, September 23, 2013

You wreck your car and it gets towed to the local storage yard. You decide after talking with your body shop to just sell it. You can take your time, right? Wrong! No matter how nice they seem and no matter what they say or promise ALL yards & body shops charge storage fees. Most charge upwards of $30-50 dollars a day. Waiting even a few days can mean the difference of you getting a check versus you writing one!

If you need to sell your car fast, DamageMAX is your source! DamageMAX buys ANY WRECKED car, anywhere in the continental USA. Call 888-629-3127 or visit damageMAX.com today! Certified DamageMAX Buying agents are standing by 7 days a week to give you a FAST, FREE, NO OBLIGATION quote on your wrecked vehicle. Just send over pictures and we will make you an on the spot offer for your wrecked vehicle. We can even get you the money as early as THE NEXT DAY! If you decide to sell to us DamageMAX will even pickup your wrecked vehicle FREE of charge!

DamageMAX is the leading national buyer of damaged, broken and problem vehicles in the USA. For more information, visit www.damagemax.com and experience the DamageMAX Difference!


How Do I Get More For My Used Car?

Joseph Coupal - Friday, September 20, 2013

By Michael P. Lasini

ATLANTA, Sept. 19, 2013 - - I have been in the automobile industry since I was crawling. In the interest of brevity skip the part about my childhood!

My first real job was spinning wrenches while I was in high school. After getting my degree, I worked for two OEMs, two auction houses and several car dealers. Now I’m my own boss, buying direct from consumers. Our websites serve consumers that want to sell their car quickly and easily, without the waiting room and all the paperwork.

Every day consumers ask me, “How do I get more for my used car?” The simple and honest answer is… “You can’t!” There are lots of online sources with tips on how to “present” your car in the best light or “finding the right venue” to sell the vehicle. Taking the right pictures (right angle/light), listing the vehicle with all the features and disclosing all the damage and mechanical issues DOES NOT get you more for your car. It simply increases the chances of finding a buyer that wants the type of vehicle that you have in the condition that your vehicle is in currently. These are SELLING TIPS, they should also include that you should NEVER EVER try to hide anything when selling a vehicle to any party. This makes for an especially bad experience when you sell a vehicle to the public. These buyers come to your residence or place of business – they know where you live!

These are simple strategies to help sell the car. But they don’t increase its value! In fact, the only thing you can do to increase the value of a vehicle after years of use and miles is to recondition it yourself.

Grandma had the right idea

If you really want to preserve the value of any vehicle, think of Grandma’s couch. Chances are she had plastic covers on the cushions. Those menacing little grand kids she loved with their blow pops and cool aid never stood a chance of staining that couch. If people only took the same approach to their vehicle during the ownership, the effects of use and wear would be minimal.

“MUST DON’TS” for maximizing used car value

Damaged FX4

Don’t wreck it: that’s right folks, nobody wants to buy your wrecked car and CarFax is going to make sure of it! Accident history pretty much guarantees that Kelly Blue Book (KBB) is not in your future – no matter how good the repair. If your car has multiple accidents or structural damage, you are a step above selling a salvage title vehicle literally and your audience is very limited. Accident history usually hurts vehicle value by up to 17%.* Frame/structural damage is nearly twice the impact. Most frame damage vehicles are adjusted downward $1,500-2,500 at the wholesale level.

Don’t let it get stolen: lock it up and keep it safe. If your vehicle is stolen and recovered, pray it’s a total loss because theft history is another brand that will impact the value negatively. CarFax has made hay with their brand over accidents, flood and theft cars by showing the absolute worst cases with vehicles being crashed or abused then stripped of parts. Theft history amounts to a 10% hit in vehicle value* In addition to the history, 15 states require that if a vehicle is stolen and purchased (paid out) by your insurance company the vehicle MUST have a salvage title brand. This devastates the value as a salvage title vehicle will be worth only 40% of the same vehicle without one*.

Don’t smoke in it: not to beat up on our friends that smoke, but there are fewer and fewer of you around these days and many of you don’t even smoke in your own car because you don’t like the smell of smoke (# truth). A vehicle that has been heavily smoked in is worth 12-15%* less than the same vehicle without smoke odor.

Don’t skip the floor mats: Should you spend the $115 for floor mats or destroy the carpet in the vehicle that requires the seats and half the interior parts be removed to replace it? See story above about: Grandma’s couch. Floor mats protect your investment.

Checking Engine

Don’t skip maintenance: this means maintain your vehicle religiously. If you can remember 3 things: clean air, clean gas and clean oil, the engine and transmission will last a lot longer than expected and the condition of your vehicle will be better than other vehicles like it when you decide to sell it. Change the oil, the air filter and the gas filter as recommended. Wash and wax the vehicle regularly. The first thing people notice about your vehicle is the paint. If it is dull or the clear coat is peeling, it’s a lot of money to restore that factory shine.



KBB Vehicles are not born, they are raised like kids

Common sense escapes us and we don’t make time to take care of things that we depend on. Automobiles are machines and machines break down! They will break down unless you maintain them regularly. Everyone wants to buy a really nice, clean vehicle that was owned by a little old lady that never really drove it anywhere but to the grocery store and church on Sunday – right? The truth is… that is about the only type of owner that will produce or “raise” a KBB Grade Used Car. Everybody wants KBB for their vehicle when they want to sell it, but few people “raise” a KBB car. Raising means caring for, protecting, maintaining and keeping it safe and out of harms way. 

Getting your vehicle ready for sale

Car for Sale

We buy thousands of vehicles from online leads before touching or seeing the car. These purchases are based on seller description and digital images. You would be amazed at how many people don’t even wash their vehicle before they send us pictures. We recommend at bare minimum that you pay for a full professional detail. This will run from $100-150 and will include wash, wax, buffing (possibly wet sanding), carpet shampooing and interior and engine bay steaming and detailing. This will be the best money ever spent on the vehicle and will yield the highest return for your dollar. Mechanical repairs should be made if the vehicle is not in good/safe working order but do not enhance the value. A new transmission simply means that it won’t break down anytime soon, however, it does not make the same car worth more. Same thing applies for a new engine – in fact a new engine makes people think the car was abused to the point the engine failed. It does not enhance the value at all.

Other enhancements: bumpers that are scratched and scarred from parking lots can be reconditioned. This is a judgment call but can make a significant difference in the sale price. Interiors are very important and if your carpet is worn or heavily stained, replacing the carpet and torn seat covers will go a long way to improving your final sale price.

If you choose to sell it yourself, remember a few things:

  1. You can get more, but it’s a lot more work. What is your time worth and how many Saturday’s do you want to burn trying to make that extra money?
  2. Pick a good venue to list your car for sale. Some choose the newspaper classifieds, we recommend AutoTrader.com as they have the largest audience available. Stay away from Craigslist.com - it is free and worth every penny you paid…
  3. Safety first – if it doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t. Don’t invite people to your home or place of business you don’t know. Never meet anyone at a location at their request. Always get their phone number and email address and see if they are who they represent themselves to be. Use social media and the internet to verify their identity. Know who you are talking to before you meet them.

If you don’t want to sell the car yourself or trade it in at a dealer, visit www.CarBUYERUSA.com or www.DamageMAX.com and we make it easy for you to sell your car.

About the author

Mr. Lasini is a leading expert on damaged vehicle remarketing and direct to consumer car buying. He spent more than a decade leading commercial sales at Manheim, the world’s largest automotive auction company. He was co-founder of Total Resource Auctions, Manheim’s salvage auction subsidiary. He served in sales and marketing positions at Nissan North America and well as at several automobile dealerships.

About DamageMAX.com & CarBUYERUSA.com

DamageMAX.com is the leading direct-to-consumer damaged and inoperable car buyer. Sister company CarBuyerUSA.com is the leading B2B and direct to consumer vehicle buyer. Both companies assist consumers that need to quickly sell their vehicle for guaranteed money without visiting a car dealership or even leaving their home. DamageMAX buys cars in any condition, specializing in consumers that don’t wish to repair their vehicle after a collision or mechanical failure. CarBuyerUSA buys vehicles directly from consumers, but also serves as the market maker for online vehicle marketplaces that are unable to connect buyer and seller at the market clearing price.

*Derived from whole car and damaged vehicle data. Sources include Manheim MMR, DamageMAX and CarBuyerUSA.


Did a Mouse Make its Nest in Your Seat?

Joseph Coupal - Friday, September 20, 2013

It’s been a while since you took your weekend car out for a spin. You decide its time for a little drive and maybe a tune up. You go out and open your car only to find a family of mice has made a home inside your front seat! What are you going to do now! Who is going to buy a car that has mice in it?

DamageMAX will buy any car, even wrecked, broken or problem vehicles. Call 888-629-3127 or visit damageMAX.com today! Certified DamageMAX Buying agents are standing by 7 days a week to give you a FAST, FREE, NO OBLIGATION quote on your wrecked vehicle. Just send over pictures and we will make you an on the spot offer for your wrecked vehicle. We can even get you the money as early as THE NEXT DAY! If you decide to sell to us DamageMAX will even pickup your wrecked vehicle FREE of charge!

DamageMAX is the leading national buyer of damaged, broken and problem vehicles in the USA. For more information, visit www.damagemax.com and experience the DamageMAX Difference!