[beaker]

I will preface by stating that I have zero affiilation with this truck. I don't even know how many kilometers it has nor how much they are asking for it.

It is a nice looking Lariat crew cab with a 6.5' bed and 3.31 axles (open differential). What caught my eye was that this vehicle is now in Ukraine and may have originally had a Canadian non-repairable title. Obviously, given the Ukrainian registration and current situattion there, it caught my attention. The video makes me suspicious that the emissions has been deleted based on the apparent color of the tail pipe.

The photo that I can find of the car at a salvage lot indicates that the damage may have been relatively minor. I am not going to pay $9 for the full suite of crashed vehicles. Also, as much as I would like to help the Ukrainians, I have no intention of going to inspect the vehicle in person let alone execute a purchase.

This example does have me wondering if importation of a vehicle with a presumably clean title from Ukraine would translate to a clean title in North America (i.e. wash the title). Asking for a friend. I have recently seen a few vehicles pass through my local auto auctions (IAAI and Copart) with minimal damage that end up labeled with "junk" / "nonrepairable" titles. It frankly pains me to see, and makes me wonder if this particular truck ended up in this category. I know there are no longer states in the USA that allow non-repairable vehicles to be titled in other states, but I suspect no one has thought about the titles from.

 

[PeteK]

I seem to recall reading recently that if the airbags deploy, some or most insurance companies will now consider it a total loss. That makes sense, as it takes a big impact to deploy the bags, and they don’t want the liability of vehicle that may be unsafe to continue driving.

 

[beaker]

Understood, although I am not sure I would agree that it takes a big impact to deploy airbags.

We lent a car to our neighbor. He ran it into a Jersey barrier and deployed all of the side air bags. We repaired it ourselves of about $4,000. I went that route since I have a $1,000 deductible and figured our insurance company would simply raise our rates to make up for the loss. State troopers said a single-vehicle crash does not generate a police report unless the driver asks for one, so no branded title Lots of parts including an engine subframe, but the car sustained no unibody damage. We drove it for 10,000 miles with just a string and bubble-level alignment. Just got it professionally aligned, and it was nearly perfect right off the bat. I am happy to have a car on the road that would have certainly ended up in a salvage yard (or maybe in Ukraine). It just strikes me as wasteful to trash a car that only needs bolt-on parts and a bit of paint.

I'm glad to see the F-150 back on the road. I hope it doesn't get bombed to pieces in the conflict.