Subscribe Feed (RSS)How to spot a cut and shut
September 27th, 2008 by admin | Filed under AA - Automobile Association, Auto Cover.Spotting a cut and shut is not for the unpracticed eye. The people who produce these abominations are often expert welders, attracted by the rich profits to be earned by this nefarious practice, that cold bloodedly and wantonly risks placing human life at risk of injury and even death in the cause of greed.
A “new” car that has been expertly rebuilt from cars that were once total losses is difficult to spot. As word of the huge ill gotten gains that can be earned from deceiving the public has spread through the used car trade, more and more unscrupulous people have been edging their way in search of the illegal profits being made. Fortunately for the second hand car buyer the standard of their work was less than good, and even the less trained eye could spot the tell tale signs that the car had at least undergone extensive body work although usually not enough to recognize that it was a “cut and shut.”
The classic signs of any kind of major bodywork repair are mismatched paint shades and the panels on the car sitting unevenly, signs of paint on the door handles of the rubber between the panels. These signs can usually be enough to put most people off buying a car, although not all. Among them will be a few who will unwittingly part with their hard earned cash to risk their lives as well as their loved ones by buying a cut and shut.
A professional car tester will spot a cut and shut within moments, no matter how professional was the work of the criminal welder. This is often someone who has studied welding as a profession and has chosen to take the short cut to profit whilst endangering human life. Only by using state of the art equipment to detect welds, especially under body welds that can be expertly disguised by the rogue welder, can an experienced car tester come up with the certain evidence that the car is a cut and shut.
That is why it is vitally important to have a professional pre-purchase inspection carried out before buying any car, no matter how old or how new. You may know the person that is selling the car, but that should makes no difference. It is possible that they bought the car, unaware that it was a cut and shut, and have been driving around in the car for years, totally unaware that at any given time it could have broken in two, or gone out of control whilst travelling along at top speed on a motorway or in busy shopping street.
If you do discover that the car that you were about to buy, and the seller was not a private entity, but a dealer of some kind, it is your responsibility as well as that of the inspector to contact the UK Office of Trading Standards as well as the police. Hopefully the trail will lead to where these immoral cutters and shutters practice their evil trade.
Sourced from http://www.carbreakdowns.co.uk
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Tags: Auto Cover, Car Insurance, Car Maintenance, Cars, Cut and Shut
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