G-man Although I am new , I fully agree about the condition report that is why I spent so much time doing them on the first load. What is a person to do if they refuse to sign them? I called the dispatch and she said go with it , but that was very risky. From now on I will have an understanding that if the place I am picking up will not sign a report, there will be forms that need to be faxed and signed that relieves me form any damages if that is possible. IOW , if I am hauling out of Copart, I will fax a form to the consignee, dealer or whatever saying that Copart does not sign condition reports and that being the case I cannot be held responsible for damages . They will have to fax back a signed copy. Also the picture idea is very good , as a matter of fact shoud have used my phone camera on the first load, not a great picture but I could have shown the Copart facility in the backgroung , time dated it and got a fair general pic of the existing damages.

 

All you need to do, Darin, is note the condition on the bill of lading and/or confirmation. I would just note that it is a wrecked vehicle and damaged when picked up. If these are already wrecked I don't think you will have a problem. From your description they are probably already classified as salvage vehicles.

 

Yes, they were salvage , I had to get the titles for them and each one was a salvage title. What I had when picking was a BOL from the buyer that just stated the price they were paying and the 4 cars. It was really a simple single sheet of paper. These cars were bought on an internet auction that Copart has. I never thought of noting the damage on the BOL , guess that would be better than nothing.

 

I think that if it stated that these are salvage cars that it would be all right.

 

Most auctions film the auction and keep copies of the video. This is to help solve disputes when a buyer or seller disagrees on the bidding.

Generally, with online bidding they have a picture of the vehicle. Might not show all the damage but, shows the general condition.

 

Yes GMAN , You are surely correct, I guess I was just trying to cover myself, being new and all . I guess this explains why the Copart folks looked at me like I was crazy for wanting them to sign a condition report for salvage cars.

 

One thing you need to watch when you haul salvage or wrecked vehicles is loose pieces and hoods that are not secure. You don't want anything flying off and going through someones windshield.

 

Yeah tell me about it . I spent over an hour at a rest stop in WV trying to secure an already damaged hood that would not latch .I had worried about it so much thinking it might blow up and off and hit another car . I ended up calling the customer and he said it would be fine to take it off, so I did and strapped it down under one of the cars. The hood was junk but never the less I handled it carefully. I have decided from now on , if I haul a car that has a hood that is damaged to the point that it will not latch , I will tell the customer I will have to remove it .

 

You might want to buy some 2" hand ratchet straps and bungee's. You can secure almost anything with them.

 

Yeah, I got a deal on some two inch hand rachet at lowes, seems they were 2, 25ft for 17.00 . Cheap , but not really cheap made. I have over the years bought several 2in ratchet straps , and these are as good as any I have bought before. Also just to make sure I asked the DOT officer if these were ok to use, he said as long as they were 2" , there was no problem .