Navigating the world of buying a used car can be difficult, especially if there are immutable factors beyond a buyer’s control. This can include a global supply chain shortage, or the time of the year, that can dictate supply, demand, and subsequently, the pricing of such vehicles.
However, no matter how scarce vehicles may get, or how many college students are rushing to purchase a reliable whip ahead of the upcoming semester, some would caution against purchasing certain vehicles no matter the circumstances. And it appears like the Hyundai Santa Fe featured by TikToker The Garage Door Guy @thegaragedoorguytx‘s is one such vehicle.
Throngs of folks who saw his post about the car, along with the price, more or less had the same reaction: Run away and don’t look back.
A text overlay in the video reads, “143k miles $14k” as the car in question, which sits on a lot with a placard in its windshield, is shown in the first slide of the TikTok montage. The next picture shows a text conversation between The Garage Door Guy and the Hyundai’s owner, where the owner claims the price is $14,000 or the best offer.
“New engine has 6000 miles. Car has 143,000,” the owner’s message reads. “I am original owner, clean title, fully loaded leather and always parked in garage. It drives like new. Tires are good as well I put new engine in December.”
After the TikToker asks if it’s rebuilt or been in any accidents, the owner says no.
“Actually front bumper cover was replaced and painted as someone hit me slightly in mc donalds drive through,” the owner then writes. “They put car in reverse. It was hardly noticeable but insurance changed front bumper cover.”
The creator then lets the owner know that “$14K is crazy.”
“I’ll give you $3500.00 for it. Cash. Let me know,” he writes before attaching what appears to be a screenshot of a Kelley Blue Book trade estimation of the car’s value.
The owner simply replies, “Bye.”
It didn’t seem like the Hyundai’s owner was too happy with the $3,500 offer. The Daily Dot conducted an assessment on Kelley Blue Book Values for a vehicle trade-in in the southern New Jersey area for a 2016 Hyundai Sante Fe with its most premium package in excellent condition with 143,000 miles. No mention of a replaced/rebuilt engine was mentioned in the KBB evaluation and the maximum value for the purchase of the vehicle via a third-party buyer was $11,357.
As for whether or not installing a new engine on a vehicle will alter its resale value, there seem to be conflicting opinions online. In the instance of a classic car with a remanufactured engine, aka that sweet ’69 Mustang parked in front of your neighbor’s house every time the weather is nice, you’ll probably want a new engine that’s dropped into that bad boy.
Others have said that if the original engine on a newer model car had a large-scale factory issue, such as an oil burn issue that was referenced in this Car Talk forum, and that engine was brought in to be repaired or replaced, it would be worth more than a version of the vehicle that didn’t have this issue attended to.
others on an Edmunds forum stated that oftentimes, placing a new engine in a vehicle certainly won’t bring up a car’s value but will more often than not reduce it. This was an outlook echoed by Swansay Garages, and many said just because a car’s engine has changed it doesn’t necessarily reset the mileage of the car, either.
Several commenters who responded to The Garage Door Guy’s video remarked they thought the seller’s demand for $14,000 on the vehicle was absurd.
“Its rebuilt bro that means its probably worth $4837,” one person said, referencing the screenshot trade-in value of the car that was posted by The Garage Door Guy.
Another person wrote, “Don’t ever buy a rebuilt engine.”
One commenter simply penned, “He smoking asking for 14k somebody need to bring him back to Earth.”
However, some folks tried seeing it from the seller’s perspective.
One person wrote, “Has Santa Fe, engine blew at 110k miles and Hyundai replaced it for free. Maybe that’s what happened here?”
“Who cares about new motor , that trans bouta take a s— in a few thousand,” another wrote.
“It’s the mileage for me like huh 14k for a car over 130,000 miles mane gtfo,” someone else said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Hyundai via email and The Garage Door Guy via TikTok comment.
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