'01 Proton Abandoned

[MSHardeman]

I'll take a look, and take some pictures if they'll let me get to it and report back later.

[Andrey]

I might be interested....

[WyrreJ]

I bet the guy paid full MSRP and like many before him ended up really regretting it. I'm betting that he was underwater on the loan - and if Isuzu's asking price really is the remaining balance on the loan, its going to be above market value.

[mbeach]

Isuzu (if that is in fact the leinholder -which I doubt) only has one option if someone doesn't pick it up.

They'll be forced to drop it at an auction, for whatever they can get. I suppose they'll try to go after the original purchaser for the difference afterwards.
By abandoning the vehicle, he's lost all right to demand a fair price. The leinholder could sell it for a dollar if they wanted to. It's still his responsibility to pay for it.
Offer to take it off their hands for $10 or $12k maximum. I'll bet they jump on it.

Another thought -if the guy can't pay his bills, what kind of shape is the truck going to be in..?

[etlsport]

yea anyone who would just leave any car isnt the kind of person who would take care of said car.... especially something as rare and unique as a proton, and the VX is a car that requires extra TLC.. doesnt sound like this guy would give normal care to a car

.. although theres also the possibility that he didnt want to leave it there.. (God forbid) a tragedy or something..

[biju]

Went with MSHardeman today to the dealership to take a peek after lunch... well, taking a *peek* is relative... We could only see it from a distance as they wouldn't let us get close to it in the back lot cage. (bizzare...)

I'll let Mark give more details on the situation - but I need to say this:

A terrible sight it was - seeing this beautiful VX caged, aging, dirty, and surrounded by a knee high jungle of weeds. Just sad...

-biju.

[MSHardeman]

biju is right, it was quite a sad site.

This is what I have found out so far....
The Proton is caught in the middle of some kind of divorce/separation. I think the owner brought it in for service TWO YEARS ago, and has yet to pick it up. He/she is paying a storage fee while the Proton sits in the dealers back lot. The manager that we talked to said that it wasn't for sale so we couldn't go see it.

I'm going to call the service tech that originally told me about it to see if I can get any more information out of him. Maybe we could call the owner and talk to them directly. It's costing them $35 a day to store it, so maybe they'll want to get rid of it. We'll see.

The only problem, as stated above, is that it's been sitting there for two years. Not good.

I'll update when I get more info.