ReinCARnating Cars

About Northwest Tinman and the Cars we have....

___Hi, I am Tim the Northwest Tinman. I own a Body Shop and am a licensed Used Car Dealer. Having a small town / neighborhood Body Shop allows us to handle a variety of work including insurance repairs and complete paint jobs as well as rust repairs on older cars. The shop is fully capable of handling heavy collision repairs and has one of the newest frame machines and measuring systems in the county to help us complete structural repairs for you. We are also a preferred shop for at least one major insurance company and can do work for any insurance company.
___With that being said, when it comes to fixing up cars to sell I prefer to stay with older cars, generally that are in the $2k to $5k range when done. I look for older cars that are easy fixes. Just sheet metal work with usually no (or only minor) frame damage and no airbag deployment (those parts are just too expensive to mess with on older cars). I usually fix most of these cars myself around our normal day to day collision repairs, so I want the quicker / easier fixes that don't tie up my shop space for too long.
___When a car gets damaged, the insurance company generally uses a value based on 70-80% of the retail value of the car (depending on the insurance company). If the costs of repairs look like they may go over that level, then they figure it is cheaper to "total" the car rather than fix it. But their costs also include things like towing, storage, & rental car costs. Quite honestly, a lot of cars get totalled that just aren't hurt that bad.
___That's where we come in, I look through the insurance auctions for those cars. I watch the major auctions in North & South Seattle as well as Portland where there are literally hundreds of cars a week that get auctioned off. Obviously some of those are really hurt bad, but there are sometimes some that are worth our reinCARnating efforts.

What I Look For ... My Policies

___Like I stated above, my shop, equipment, and staff are fully capable of performing all types of collision, frame and airbag repairs on your vehicle. However, when it comes to fixing up a car to sell to someone, I prefer to stay with cars that aren't hit too hard. So I generally stick to the following policies for those cars.
___I don't fix cars that I'm going to sell that have had heavy frame or structural damages.
___For cars that I'm going to sell, I don't mess with ones that have had the Airbags deployed (It's usually too expensive for the parts and I won't put used airbag components in a car).
___I let every prospective buyer know about the immediate damage history of the car and of where I got the car, and keep pictures on file of any damage that was repaired.
___I look for cars that arent't hit right on the frame rails. I've seen cars that don't look damaged at all, but have hidden damages to the frame, while other cars looked worse because they took a hit on the softer areas above the bumper where their sheet metal took more damage instead of the bumper and frame. We'd much rather have the car that had the sheet metal damage than the car with the frame damage.
___We use our skills and knowledge to bring you some great roadworthy cars at reasonable prices.

Some Salvage Title Car Tips ...

___If you're the type of person that worries alot, so that even with all of our assurances and a great price, you would still be uncomfortable having a car that has been in a wreck; don't buy one, from us or anyone else.
___Always ask for pictures of the car from before it was fixed. I do this myself ... if someone wants to sell me a car or trade one in with a rebuilt title and can't show me what damage it had, then I don't want it. Even if you can't tell much from pictures, you could, and should have someone that knows cars look at them and inspect the car before you buy one. And, yes I would be willing to look at and do an inspection of a car you're thinking of buying. I have seen and heard of many people fixing up late model wrecked cars to sell that have had way too much damage to them, but unfortunately there is more profit in fixing higher valued cars (and more ways to cheat and save money on them).
___If you buy a car with a salvaged title, you should disclose that fact if and when you ever sell the car.
___Ask about Airbags; have they been deployed, and if so were they replaced properly. Some rebuilders put dummy covers in place of the real airbags. They can do this if they disclose it, but MAKE SURE you know what the car has for airbags. I've heard of some horror stories where the car had no airbags, and it was disclosed in the fine print but never verbally stated or made clear to the buyer.

Some Easy fixes that I've bought & fixed (yes these were considered totaled) ...

Want more info...

___Come on in to our lot and we'll be happy give you a quick "crash" course (sorry for the pun) on how to tell if a car has been wrecked before. We can also show you how to tell if a car has been re-painted. Stop on by!

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