GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Buddy of mine has a vin check subscription so I figured why not look up some old cars. So I looked up our 04 shadow vibe, see my avatar, and found some interesting stuff. After we had it, it found a new home about 15 miles away. then around 65k it found a new home about 20 miles away from here. Then it was sold again and the next owner put on like 80k in under a year then it was sold again at 145k....and that's where it got interesting, it was then exported to Africa! Our first Vibe is around the world now.

everything else I looked up is still out there and not too far away from me. Ive seen a few of them from time to time.....they don't look nearly as good as when I cared for them. Only dead one was our 1988 pickup it died in an accident in 1999. for some reason I had a feeling before I even looked them up that that truck was gone.

I would love to know (or maybe not) what happened to my former Sunfires, especially the 2002 Sunfire GT Coupe.

Who would export a vibe to Africa? Sounds bizarre.

Salsa Guy wrote:Who would export a vibe to Africa? Sounds bizarre.

Incredibly, it seems to be "a thing". Check out this report!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF0Gx0PE6Ak" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also, if you google "car export africa", there's a few companies (most of which seem to be in Europe) that specifically export autos to Africa.

The vin report doesn't show any theft reports and all the transactions look legit. Ive always seen shadow vibes around and wondered if it was our old one and well I guess I can quit thinking that now as its across the ocean.

I am very familiar with this process, a family friend has been sending cars to Poland for years! They get trucked to New Jersey (or driven) then they go for a nice cruise and end up in Gdansk. A cousin and his wife get the cars drive them to the shop and MUST turn them around within 10 days, because the next shipment is coming in. This is a never ending cycle.

Big sellers are Camry's and Corolla's, almost always Toyotas

Cars will go to auction (damaged), they will be sold for less money vs. a solid car, the buyer will put all the parts in the car and the shipping container, once they go overseas they get fixed there for a much lower rate and sold. The miles don't matter, parts are plentiful in Europe and the cars can be quickly fixed.

Afghanistan is another country that has a large influx of damaged/salvage Toyotas from the US.

I have heard of the totalled cars getting shipped overseas and put back on the road in short order. I guess salvage vehicles don't have the same kind of stigma elsewhere.

I usually don't want to know what happens to my old cars. In some cases it's been for a good reason. In others, it would sadden me to see them go down the crapper.

Salvage Title...... what's that? Aren't all American titles Orange and branded all over the place?

that's kinda what I was thinking that it had a rough life and needed a lot of work which made it attractive to a deal like that.