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M if tif [f F f., F Used car bu By M. H. Parnu Many of you may he considering buying a used car, now or in the future. Asking the right questions can be a consuniers best weapon. For exaniple, bas this car been written off as a wreck, patched together and resold? 'Beyond the economic disaster of ending up with a worthless car, there is amajor safety concern. After an accident, cars are written off by an insurance company because the cost to repair would be higher than the value of the vehicle. The owner'i dlaim is settled by the insurance company and the vehicle is either sold to an auto recycling business or at an auction. "Insurance companies as a whole agree that once a car is written off for salvage, it should be indicated on the registration. Otherwise, at this point the. Following too closely? vebicle's history as a wreck disappears," Baya George Westlake, national fraud manager for Gop-operators General Insurance. eW would like to see legisiation that requires the ownership registration to specify that the vehicle was previoualy salvaged." As it stands now, many of these cars are bought, fixed up and then resold to either aà dealership or to an unsuspecting consumer. You could lie driving one of these cars and flot even know it. At first inspection, the car may have a nice finish, the doors fit well and it handies fine. But these exterior features do not* mean that it has a sound body. In fact, these vehicles are often dangerous. By dangerous, we mean situations where these cars have been known to break in haif when they bit a large pothole or worse, crumble in an accident. Today, rnost cars use a unifled body construction where the body and the frame are al one peice (rather than the traditonal separate body and frame bolted together). Although difficult to measure until tested in a crash,, the structural integrity of a car is changed once lient, straightened and welded. Severe damage ta the frame makes restoration of the original strengtb very difficuit and expensive. This provides the opportunity for someone to ecut corners by just making cosmetic repairs. YOUR CARI somepont y n an gun . Gs et ethe profaesns Who Pained ve 0 hmilio cars.. GET ManaOin CHEMICALCLEANhN SAVE UP. TO- $250 -ONý THE SUPREME PAINT SERVICE That's right... Act now and during Maaco's WINTER SALE we wiII paint your car with the Maaco Supreme Paint Service at haif its regular price ... Act Now... offer expires Sept. 30/94. Vans, trucks and commercial vehicles by estimate. Rust repair and body work extra. FREE ESTIMATES Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8am-5:3Opm, Sat. 9am-NOON 710 Wilson Rd. S., Oshawa '--4 M hib S79ý4111 1 Kigst.}fl ) (R IDI Bloor St. mU MAACO jJ Right now, a wrecked car can be rebuilt and sold legally. Canadian provinces have no titie separate from the registration so, there is no way ta trace a wrecked car. B.C., Alberta and Quebec have the roughest laws, but even they are, fraugbt witb loopholes and midnor penalities, and none of them deal with vehicles that corne from outside of their own province. So for moet Canadians, there's no way of finding out if a vehicle bas been salvaged. Keep your eyes, open for out-of-province identification -- lilce a dealer sticker on the rear, a licence plate fraine -- revealirig where the vehicle was once sold. To tell if a car may have been rebuilt, there are many telîtale signa which can be apotted by a trained eye: e*e paint over-spray around the *paint on plastic panels, which was hot originally painted. *paint qulity -- check door jarnbs, hood etc., where most body shopa do not bother ta repaint. * biody panel surface ripples bewa re "iI appear if itls been repaired. 0 body panel fit '-- 8hd be an even fit around each panel. a trim on and around biody should also lit properly and symmettically. e a good fit for the front grill and tail ligbts. 0 door Iocks -- key for oee sheuld fit al the other door locks. If not, migbt . mean the lock cylinder or entire door bas been replaced. *c glass replacement is an indiation of repaldr due ta vandalisrn or crash. -, tire and wheel inatch. e trunlc inside séams shojild lie syrumetrical. 0 dash-to-window fit (norm- ally there is no gap). Where ta check: " on level ground " inside wheel wella " in engine compartment *in bottom of trunk *under body *doorjaznbs hn addition ta checking a vehicle, it's fot recommended that you look at it in the rein or at night. It's a good idea te have a licenaed technician check it over. Be very specific: tell him you want te verify what kind of thnga you)re going ta have to haerepaira doue for in the future; if the vehiclebas been in an accident and damaged' and that you want a complete mechanical report and want te ensure there are no problemai. 18Ironically, insurance comparies somnetimes pay twice for fraud involving salvage vehicles, once when the car is written. off. Then, when an unscrupulous auto recycler certifies the -vehicle ,as roadworthy, replates it, insures it in another person'ls naine and reporta it stalen. hn actuel fact, the vehicle bas not even left the auto recycler's yard," says Westlake. Consumera bave made it clear ta the insurance industry that they don't want ta pay for auto fraud. Because this crime goes mostly undetected, it!s difficuit ta put a dollar figure on the problem. So there is not only the potential of aerioua injury or tbe loos of lives, but it aIse ends up costing consumera tbrough higher premiums. Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, September 21,*1994 . Page 17 't t m