What is the WORST vehicle you ever purchased?

For those of us in the used car industry that have bought a substantial number of cars, this can be a difficult question to answer. Purchasing used cars is a challenging skill to master, and no matter how expert a used car manager or a buyer is, they will still have the occasional miss.

I have certainly made my share of questionable purchases.

There was the burnt orange eclipse that I just “knew” was cheap enough to sell, even though it was uglier-than-sin. That car rotted on my front line. There was the stake bodied Chevy truck that was nicknamed The Ice Cream Truck, because it looked like, you guessed it, an ice cream truck.

I have made some purchasing errors. But, which one was the worst?

For a vehicle to rate “Worst of All Time” it needs to have a few characteristics. First, the purchase must start out as a positive purchase. We have all been forced to buy trade-ins that are piles of junk. Those vehicles bring me no aggravation at all. You simply sell it for a loss and move on. The ones that drive a person crazy are the ones you buy thinking it is a nice car, and it turns out to be a pile of junk. Secondly, losing money on a vehicle instantly places it in the running for the “Worst of All Time”, and the bigger the loss, the bigger the chance of winning. Third, for a vehicle to be considered “Worst of all time” it must have been a giant pain to finally liquidate. It has to be one of those cars where you have to BEG someone else to take it off your hands. It has to be one of those cars that when it finally leaves your inventory, you are so happy to see it go, you ALMOST don’t care how much money you lost on the transaction.

My all time worst purchase came from one of my favorite wholesalers. I had just moved to Tampa Florida to take a promotion at a new dealership. The dealership had some holes in its inventory selection, so I called my wholesaler and purchased some much needed imports.

At the dealership, when I was in my office doing paperwork I always monitored the chatter on our dealership’s walkie-talkie network. This way I could stay current on all the happenings of the store. I had only been at the dealership for a month when I heard a phrase that no dealership ever wants to hear “We have a vehicle on the front lot on fire”! WOW. That will wake anyone up from their after lunch slump. I sprang out of my seat and quickly headed to the front lot. But, it was the next phrase that stopped me dead in my tracks. I heard, “It’s some kind of Volkswagon.” CRAP!!

I knew my inventory extremely well, and I knew we only had one VW in stock at the time- the one I just bought. CRAP!!

The Jetta didn’t fully burn to the ground, but it was close. The fire started in the electrical system and quickly spread throughout the vehicle. Needless to say, I spent the next 6 months dealing with the insurance company, VW, and the wholesaler, trying to recoup any of the dealership’s loss. Once the car finally cleared insurance, I had to sell it. It is not easy to sell a VW Jetta that looks like a burnt marshmallow. But, I finally sold it. I have never been so happy to see a vehicle leave the lot.

Do you have a “Worst Vehicle” purchase that you would like to share with our readers? If you do, email us here and we will post it. If it’s funny, or helpful, we will post it.