I was looking at a 98 forester with 120,xxx miles that has been vandalized/stolen recovered, and its parked at a dealer bodyshop.The owner/seller who is tired of dealing with the insurance company and just want to get rid of it.

Busted windshield, sprayed painted inside out, keyed on almost every panel and ignition to name a few.

Anyway, the oil filter was removed for oil analysis( got a little tag by the steering wheel to remind driver not to start the car) and owner/seller has no idea why. The shop was closed for the weekend so I couldnt find out why.

Is the oil analysis a insurance company standard op procedure for stolen recovery cars?

Any idea why:confused:

Though I am not "up" on such things (gyrations of insurance companies to duck responsibility), it sounds to me that in this case insurance fraud is highly suspected.

I can't rationally see why there would be such difficulty in writing off a 10 year old car.

An oil analysis can tell the general condition of the engine without running it, if the engine is "toast", and the car only vandalized (not stolen), then it points to an inside job.

i would think they would do something like this because the car was vandalized....if they got to the interior they could have popped the hood and poared something into the oil filler neck.......prob. not likely but its a possibility.....

It could also be because they want to figure out if they should totoal it or not. If they dont do this, and 6 months later the guys engine blows, it can be a PITA for the insurance company.

 

I actually applaud the insurance company for doing this.

 

nipper

This sounds like vandelism in a divorce proceedings, or revenge against someone for something. This vandelism doesn't sound like a random thing, more like an out burst of hate. I have never heard of an oil analysis under these circumstances. I suspect that the oil filter was removed as part of the vandelism, and has nothing to do with a lab doing a chemical analysis.

If someone went to the trouble to destroy the rest of the car, a few seconds to put something nasty in the gas, or oil is nothing.

 

I agree it sounds like revenge.

Removing the filter to do an analysis makes relatively little sense. Maybe they were just checking the filter itself for contamination?

If you find out, let us know please!

I still dont know at this point, but I think insurance fraud was the reason as Reveeen mentioned. Because a few day after I got the car, the differential case started to leak( very noisy to start with). Trany swap soon.

 

 

 

If you find out, let us know please!