Rich Rebuilds finds a missing fuse in his auction Polestar

The non-running ex-Hertz car needs more than a charged battery, but its damaged underside isn't the whole story.

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Rich Rebuilds Story of October 24, 2026Trari Newsroom

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Why this story? 2,700,633 views so far, and here is what is inside it.

I Bought a Banned Chinese Car From a Rental Company for $2,000

Video summary

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14:45The charged low-voltage battery wakes the dashboard, revealing a cooling-system warning.
24:16An underside inspection finds damaged trim and a missing bracket, without catastrophic damage to the battery housing.
26:15A manual pressure test exposes a torn coolant hose.
33:40An AI-assisted search leads beneath the rear carpet to a missing high-voltage disconnect fuse.
40:05Rich diagrams the coolant-control valve and replaces the failed component with a used Volvo part.
54:00The final performance test and Rich's verdict on the repair arrive here.

Undercarriage damage sounds ominous when the most expensive part of an electric car sits beneath the floor. Yet when Rich and Joey lift their auction-bought Polestar 2, they find broken plastic and a missing coolant bracket, not a catastrophically battered battery housing.

That distinction is the heart of Rich Rebuilds' nearly hour-long repair video: finding out what actually stopped the car, rather than assuming the worst. Rich puts the purchase price at $2,900 in the introduction, slightly above the rounded figure in the title.

First comes a smaller battery problem. After removing more front-trunk trim than necessary, Rich discovers the ordinary low-voltage battery was accessible under a top cover all along. Charging it wakes the dashboard, which promptly asks for cooling-system service.

The troubleshooting becomes a chain of separate discoveries. A pressure test reveals a torn coolant hose. An AI-assisted search takes Rich beneath the rear passenger carpet, where the high-voltage disconnect fuse is missing. Replacing that gets the car charging; a failed coolant-control valve then gets replaced with a used Volvo part. Rich uses a whiteboard to explain the valve's job rather than leaving the repair at a fault-code readout.

The video also includes a promotional CATL factory segment, drawing on Rich's visit to China.

Getting the Polestar moving exposes another fault: a loud rear-end bang leads to a sheared shock-absorber mount. A replacement shock completes the job, followed by a performance test.

Viewers are discussing emergency-disconnect locations and the surprisingly accessible repairs. Several also make the same running joke: Rich has actually finished a car within a single video, complete with an addition to his completed-project playlist.

Published on Trari

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What viewers say

The craziest thing is that he fixed a car in a single video.
@Darkblitz9See it on YouTube
the main thing I've learned from this channel is we need an industry standard for emergency disconnects
@mr3martinisSee it on YouTube
“Massachusetts man finishes car in one video“
@JaySvpremeSee it on YouTube

3 more comments

Honestly that looked significantly easier to work on than every single other modern EV you have ever had in the shop
@badatcadSee it on YouTube
The humor of this channel gives me hope.
@kevinoscarson2941See it on YouTube
It is really cool to see Rich debug the problems he faces. The man is really good figuring things out. Hands down, man.
@nv.c6See it on YouTube

Public comments from the video's page on YouTube