How To Avoid Getting Scammed When Purchasing A Second-Hand Vehicle?

Buying a second-hand vehicle isn't easy. There are always chances of you getting scammed or getting a lemon vehicle if you don't double-check what you're buying. One of the common scams that you can experience in the second-hand car market is cut & shut cars. In case you're unaware, cut & shut cars are extremely dangerous to drive and they were a major issue many years ago. But, the problem remains to this day. 

So, what do you mean by cut & shut cars? And how can you detect cut & shut cars? Well, we’re going to answer all of your essential questions in this comprehensive guide, so stick around. 

What Do You Mean By Cut & Shut Cars?

According to a reliable car wrecking service offering Cash for Cars Toowoomba, cut & shut vehicles are much more sinister than their name sounds. The term refers to vehicles that are created by combining the remaining two different written-off vehicles. 

In such scenarios, the user who is carrying out the operation to create a cut & shut car utilises the undamaged portions of the written-off vehicles and thereby welds them to create a new, second-hand vehicle. 

As mentioned earlier, cut & shut vehicles are dangerous to be driven on roads because the people who create such car operations/surgeries do them only to earn profit and scam innocent buyers. Nothing else. 

The overall structural integrity of these vehicles is so much messed up from the inside, that they will break down even on the slightest impact. However, the good news is that – there are some checks you can perform to ensure that you're not buying a cut & shut car from the second-hand vehicle market. 

How To Know That You’re Not Buying A Cut & Shut Car?

The first inspection that you should be carrying out before purchasing a second-hand car is to check whether the vehicle has proper paperwork of its own. Some crucial paperwork that you should be inspecting are: 

• Ask for the vehicle registration number & certificate, along with the vehicle’s make & model. Use the registration number to check online government directories and verify whether the number pertains to the same make & model of the vehicle. 

• Ensure that the seller is the rightful owner of the vehicle. 

• Ask for VIN or Vehicle Identification Number

Now that you’ve verified the paperwork, it’s time to verify the vehicle. Checks to perform:

• Check whether anybody's panel is sticking out from the general vehicle body surface. 

• Look for signs of a hasty paint job.

• Check the interior vehicle upholstery (rushed craftsmanship will be easily visible).

• Check under the vehicle bonnet. 

And that pretty much concludes our guide. We hope you enjoyed our write-up and for more information, contact us.