PPV Auction - No Keys?

[BlackoutTX]

Hey guys. Long time lurker. First time poster. I've done a ton of research and I'm now looking to purchase my first PPV Tahoe in the next few weeks. I'm watching all the auctions and other sources. I've found a 2015 that looks great and the price (at least right now) seems to be right. But it doesn't have keys and therefore the mileage is unknown. The place it's at won't let me touch it at all. Although without keys I'm not sure what I could do anyway besides a visual inspection. I'm considering taking a leap of faith if the price stays low. I know you can have new keys/fobs made with proof of ownership. But I'm just wondering what kind of situation would have come up with a police vehicle that it wouldn't have keys? Has anyone ever seen one of these Tahoes at an auction without keys?

 

[wjburken]

Welcome to the forum from Iowa.

I am not able to give any perspective on the frequency of this sort of thing happening. I do wonder, if you did know the mileage, what number of miles would make you ball at it? You wouldn’t be able to find anything else out about since they won’t let you inspect the vehicle regardless. If not knowing the mileage is a show stopper, I’d pass otherwise I’d look at the other vehicles if that year and assume it has at least as many as the highest and then decide at which price does it become a bad value in your eyes.

 

[BlackoutTX]

Welcome to the forum from Iowa.

I am not able to give any perspective on the frequency of this sort of thing happening. I do wonder, if you did know the mileage, what number of miles would make you ball at it? You wouldn’t be able to find anything else out about since they won’t let you inspect the vehicle regardless. If not knowing the mileage is a show stopper, I’d pass otherwise I’d look at the other vehicles if that year and assume it has at least as many as the highest and then decide at which price does it become a bad value in your eyes.

Hi Wade, Thanks for the reply. I guess I should clarify, the mileage probably is not a factor for me here with it being a 2015. The max mileage I've seen on a 15+ is around 170k. But even that would not deter me. More likely it is probably in the 100-150 range. I guess what concerns me is there are not keys and that seems extremely odd to me.

There is legitimately nothing known about it that can't be seen visually. But from the photos it looks great. Most of the auctions I've seen usually say at least something about the mechanical condition. Even if it's just "ran when taken out of service" or "needs battery", etc. But my guess is since this didn't have keys they just said screw it and put it up as is.

I'm just wondering if anyone has bought one of these like this. My gut tells me it is a rare deal because of the lack of keys. I can even see some "green" flags like the under dash wiring being tied off and capped. But I'm just not sure.

 

[Doubeleive]

Hi Wade, Thanks for the reply. I guess I should clarify, the mileage probably is not a factor for me here with it being a 2015. The max mileage I've seen on a 15+ is around 170k. But even that would not deter me. More likely it is probably in the 100-150 range. I guess what concerns me is there are not keys and that seems extremely odd to me.

There is legitimately nothing known about it that can't be seen visually. But from the photos it looks great. Most of the auctions I've seen usually say at least something about the mechanical condition. Even if it's just "ran when taken out of service" or "needs battery", etc. But my guess is since this didn't have keys they just said screw it and put it up as is.

I'm just wondering if anyone has bought one of these like this. My gut tells me it is a rare deal because of the lack of keys. I can even see some "green" flags like the under dash wiring being tied off and capped. But I'm just not sure.

if the battery has a charge all someone has to do is open the drivers door, when you open the drivers door the mileage is displayed briefly on the cluster.
as far as keys, once you have proof of ownership you take that info to your local gm dealer and they can make you a key, the tricky part beyond that is getting the key to work you would either need a locksmith or have it towed to the dealer so they can program the key. you "might" be able to do the 30 minute relearn without having to do any special programming. gm upped the security after 2014

 

[BlackoutTX]

if the battery has a charge all someone has to do is open the drivers door, when you open the drivers door the mileage is displayed briefly on the cluster.
as far as keys, once you have proof of ownership you take that info to your local gm dealer and they can make you a key, the tricky part beyond that is getting the key to work you would either need a locksmith or have it towed to the dealer so they can program the key. you "might" be able to do the 30 minute relearn without having to do any special programming. gm upped the security after 2014

Thanks Wes. Great info. I have not looked at one of these without keys so I was not aware of that. I know the battery is dead. But maybe they'll let me hook up a battery box to check the mileage. But I doubt it. If I did happen to win this I was hoping to get a key made to then possibly (long shot) drive it off the lot. But I'm prepared to tow it if I need to.

 

[ivin74]

Thanks Wes. Great info. I have not looked at one of these without keys so I was not aware of that. I know the battery is dead. But maybe they'll let me hook up a battery box to check the mileage. But I doubt it. If I did happen to win this I was hoping to get a key made to then possibly (long shot) drive it off the lot. But I'm prepared to tow it if I need to.

Why don't you run a carfax and see what was the last recorded mileage. Then prorate the mileage after that.

 

[BlackoutTX]

So I actually ended up getting someone via email this morning that was willing to help. Unfortunately the auction ended this morning and I was not able to get over there in time to check it out. For the record, they DO have keys for it. He even offered to try and start it for me. This is not the info I'd received previously. But he also told me, "due to all of the police Tahoe’s having identical keys we are not able to release keys after purchase."

Has anyone ever hear of this about the identical keys? I have not.

 

[Tonyrodz]

So I actually ended up getting someone via email this morning that was willing to help. Unfortunately the auction ended this morning and I was not able to get over there in time to check it out. For the record, they DO have keys for it. He even offered to try and start it for me. This is not the info I'd received previously. But he also told me, "due to all of the police Tahoe’s having identical keys we are not able to release keys after purchase."

Has anyone ever hear of this about the identical keys? I have not.

I find the story about identical keys to be unbelievable. I'd think all keys would be diffetent--same as civilian Tahoes. What if a criminal got his hands on some keys--does that mean he has keys to all the police Tahoes around the country? Nah...

 

[wjburken]

So I actually ended up getting someone via email this morning that was willing to help. Unfortunately the auction ended this morning and I was not able to get over there in time to check it out. For the record, they DO have keys for it. He even offered to try and start it for me. This is not the info I'd received previously. But he also told me, "due to all of the police Tahoe’s having identical keys we are not able to release keys after purchase."

Has anyone ever hear of this about the identical keys? I have not.

Only exposure I have is within a single department for DPS at Iowa State University when I headed up security for all the residence halls at Iowa State. They had their vehicles keyed the same so in an emergency, any officer could get into any of their vehicles. That was 22 years ago and things may have changed. Outside of that, I can't speak but I would doubt that that would expand past a particular department or agency.

 

[BlackoutTX]

Only exposure I have is within a single department for DPS at Iowa State University when I headed up security for all the residence halls at Iowa State. They had their vehicles keyed the same so in an emergency, any officer could get into any of their vehicles. That was 22 years ago and things may have changed. Outside of that, I can't speak but I would doubt that that would expand past a particular department or agency.

This is kind of what I was thinking. They had 3 other tahoes that recently sold that were definitely part of this "lot". Maybe they had these 3 or 4 keyed the same. Although on a 2015 that seems very odd. It really doesn't make sense to me. Even if that was the case surely they wouldn't let a vehicle go to auction that had the same keys as current service vehicles. The fact that they have the keys and won't give them to the auction winner is definitely frustrating.