View Poll Results: Would You Buy A Salvage Car?
Never, I Only Buy New!
13
25.49%
Never, I Only Buy Certified Pre-Owned!
12
23.53%
Never, I Only Buy Used!
14
27.45%
Maybe, Depending On The Reason!
20
39.22%
Maybe, Depending On The Price!
7
13.73%
Yes, I Will Save Thousands!
6
11.76%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 51. You may not vote on this poll
Would You Ever Buy A Salvage Vehicle?
05-09-11, 11:52 AM
#16
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except some ultra rare cases, it is best to not buy a salvage car
insurance company are not retarded, they exam each car carefully before they salvage it. then you get a bunch of car dealers exam the left overs and bought what they believe to be good, then it is your turn.
of course it also depend on car's age. for example. we have a 14 years Toyota Camry runs flawlessly. market value for this car is 2k? so if damage is over 2k then insurance company would just write it off. that means a dent in the door would basically total the car (i get a dent on my TL door and cost 2.7 k to fix it). HOWEVER, no one in their right mind would total this car, i will just drive it with the dent.
if you do end up buying one, try to get some sort of warranty unless you are mechanic yourself.
insurance company are not retarded, they exam each car carefully before they salvage it. then you get a bunch of car dealers exam the left overs and bought what they believe to be good, then it is your turn.
of course it also depend on car's age. for example. we have a 14 years Toyota Camry runs flawlessly. market value for this car is 2k? so if damage is over 2k then insurance company would just write it off. that means a dent in the door would basically total the car (i get a dent on my TL door and cost 2.7 k to fix it). HOWEVER, no one in their right mind would total this car, i will just drive it with the dent.
if you do end up buying one, try to get some sort of warranty unless you are mechanic yourself.
05-09-11, 01:24 PM
#18
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It might say run and drive but that doesn't mean there aren't any problems, like my mini was a run and drive but it wasn't mechanically sound.
05-09-11, 01:37 PM
#19
My girlfriends old car was a salvaged title simply because it was "stolen". But what had happened was the first owner needed cash and i guess he/she decided to garage the car at a friends home and claim it as stolen. The car wasn't found in reasonable time of course, so insurance paid out. Unfortunately for the first owner, insurance did end up finding the car a couple months afterwards (not sure what happened to the owner) but the car was put up for sale as "Salvaged" even though nothing was ever wrong with it. GF got the car for cheap compared to the market value back then, she put a good 60k on it before she sold it and we never had any issues. We got a fair price for it, not as good as KBB of course because you have to disclose that it was a salvaged title.
05-09-11, 11:09 PM
#22
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FYI, junkyard restoration cars (IE classic cars) are going to have salvage titles too because there is no way of restoring the title after the car has been totaled/junked.
So if someone here was eyeballing a '60's car of their dreams or something along those lines, it might actually be a salvage titled car.
So if someone here was eyeballing a '60's car of their dreams or something along those lines, it might actually be a salvage titled car.
05-09-11, 11:16 PM
#23
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05-10-11, 12:08 AM
#24
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05-10-11, 01:53 AM
#26
Lexus Test Driver
I've always held the belief that a salvage car, or any car that's been in a major incident is worth buying.
It's especially worse here in California where the sheer number of cars both on the road and on the dealerships equates to transactions where not everything is always disclosed--it's stupid easy to have a clean Carfax report if you want it to.
My sister is 17 years old, and with her extra-curricular activities, sports and other obligations throughout the week it was just too big of a hassle for my parents to keep shuttling her around, so my dad went on an assault on the used car market looking for something appropriate.
What we ultimately ended up with was a 2003 Lexus IS300 SportCross. It has a salvage title.
Weirdly enough, every single panel minus the front bumper and grille are original (the grille is a JDM Altezza grille). Under the hood all the support beams and markers have the matching factory VIN tags, along with all the other body panels. All the glass is original.
So we asked the seller, "Why was this vehicle salvaged?"
He replied, "The owner had a pretty intense insurance package. Opted for a payout by declaring a minor frontal collision not worth repairing."
My dad saw the pics. It was a joke of an accident.
The car runs trouble free--except for that damn CD changer that jams (TSB).
Our case is obviously a very rare exception for what it is, and both my father and I have been buying/selling used cars for a very long time and are wary of its inherent dangers--we just lucked into this deal with an honest seller.
YMMV.
It's especially worse here in California where the sheer number of cars both on the road and on the dealerships equates to transactions where not everything is always disclosed--it's stupid easy to have a clean Carfax report if you want it to.
My sister is 17 years old, and with her extra-curricular activities, sports and other obligations throughout the week it was just too big of a hassle for my parents to keep shuttling her around, so my dad went on an assault on the used car market looking for something appropriate.
What we ultimately ended up with was a 2003 Lexus IS300 SportCross. It has a salvage title.
Weirdly enough, every single panel minus the front bumper and grille are original (the grille is a JDM Altezza grille). Under the hood all the support beams and markers have the matching factory VIN tags, along with all the other body panels. All the glass is original.
So we asked the seller, "Why was this vehicle salvaged?"
He replied, "The owner had a pretty intense insurance package. Opted for a payout by declaring a minor frontal collision not worth repairing."
My dad saw the pics. It was a joke of an accident.
The car runs trouble free--except for that damn CD changer that jams (TSB).
Our case is obviously a very rare exception for what it is, and both my father and I have been buying/selling used cars for a very long time and are wary of its inherent dangers--we just lucked into this deal with an honest seller.
YMMV.
Last edited by whoster; 05-10-11 at 01:57 AM.
05-10-11, 12:47 PM
#27
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I would consider salvage cars if I know how and what is damaged.
Bad co mentioned copart, which is a good place to start. But that, along with Manheim, etc, requires you to have a dealer's license to get access to the auctions.
Bad co mentioned copart, which is a good place to start. But that, along with Manheim, etc, requires you to have a dealer's license to get access to the auctions.
