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That guy at Pick-n-Pull who tried to sell me his own busted alternator
I was pulling a starter from a 90s Accord at the Denver Pick-n-Pull last Saturday when this dude in a stained hoodie walks up and offers me a used alternator he had in his backpack for $50. He swore it was tested and working, but I could see the pulley was wobbling and there was oil all over it. Has anyone else had random folks try to hawk junk parts straight out of their trunk right there in the yard?
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blairm3518d ago
nah i gotta push back on this one a little lol. i mean yeah that dude in the hoodie sounds sketchy with a wobbly pulley and oil everywhere i wouldn't touch that alternator either lol. but i've actually had decent luck buying random parts from guys like that in the yard. sometimes they bring stuff they pulled from a car they're scrapping and it's actually tested and cheap. gotta be smart about it though you can't just take their word for it you gotta look at it yourself just like you did. i'd say if the price is right and the part looks clean it's worth a shot but you were right to pass on that one.
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jamie71217d agoTop Commenter
Take that same logic and apply it to basically everything people sell secondhand now. Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, yard sales it's all the same gamble. You gotta trust your own eyes more than the story someone's telling you. People get too hung up on whether the seller seems legit instead of just looking at the damn part or item for what it is. I've grabbed solid deals from total sketchballs and gotten burned by clean cut dudes in polo shirts. Don't overthink it. Just check the thing yourself and make a call.
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