TonyJ

Hello All,

There is a really nice 07 Pebble Beach on ebay, about 32K of miles with a reserve of about $30K.
The owner says the dealer didnt replace the oil at an oil change and the engine was replaced with one with about 20k on it, thus the "Rebuilt" Title.

Is this common that if you replace the engine you have to retitle it?

Also, All things being equal, how much less will a "rebuilt" sell then the exact same car with a normal title if it sold for $30K?

Thanks

redliner8

iTrader: (1)

You could ask these guys what reserve they set for their car. Bidder's only went up to $30k. It's similar to your rebuilt title one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2007-...item27b82bc81e

redliner8

iTrader: (1)

this one too: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2007-...item53e5cfec89

meangene

iTrader: (10)

I didn't think the engine issues would change the title of the car. I always thought the car was given a rebuilt title if the car was in a severe accident and was put back together.

OLDONE

Don't you think that a dealer that failed to replace the oil would have put in a NEW motor? Not a 20K used one. I think I would have demanded it.....

rcroller

IMO the seller's story doesn't make sense and when something doesn't make sense it usually isn't true...nuff said.

VVTiBob

Here's one reasonable explanation from Car Insurance dot com:

The definition of a rebuilt car title will differ depending upon the state you live in and laws specific to that state. A general definition (used by CarFax and others that report a vehicle's history) for a rebuilt title is a branded titled placed upon a rebuilt or reconstructed vehicle, which previously was a salvage vehicle but has now been repaired and restored to operation.

These vehicles are often severely damaged before they are rebuilt and refurbished parts are typically used during reconstruction. In most states, an inspection of the vehicle is required before the vehicle is allowed to return to the road.

So basically a rebuilt title means the car was in a serious accident or one in which the insurance company declared the car a total loss but then the vehicle was purchased and rebuilt or repaired and was once again found to be street worthy.

Before purchasing a rebuilt item, it is generally recommended to have it thoroughly checked out by your own mechanic. You also should check to see if the car can be insured since many insurance companies underwriting rules do not allow them to write policies for cars with salvage or rebuilt (branded) titles.

If you do get full coverage on a vehicle with a rebuilt title remember that since the car has been previously totaled out and has a branded title you should expect to get paid less if the car is in another total loss situation since the car is not worth as much as a vehicle with a clear title.

Bon

For what it's worth I have a rebuilt SC. It's my experience that the value is about 50% of book. Many or most lending institutions won't lend money for the car so expect to pay cash. My insurance company (State Farm) said no problem, they fully insured it and said they will repair it just like it was a non-rebuilt car. It is possible that the car was totaled due to a bad engine as the cost of a new one may have been ~$25K and if this amount exceeds the limit that the insurance company was willing to pay then they may have declared it totaled. The previous owner may have urged them to do it as they may not have wanted their car with a new engine. Who knows?!

Oh, and the State of Missouri only discounts a rebuilt car by about 25% with regards to personal property tax; It figures!

T8LEX

iTrader: (2)

The Carfax History Impact tool (CHI) is a wonderful tool that carfax has created that shows how much more or less than the retail book value cars are selling for based on its history report and data gathered for sales of that vehicle. This car you are looking at shows a negative -$7,320 and a book value of 37,120. I personally wouldnt pay anymore then $29,000 for this car!

TonyJ

Great Info guys. I would probably pull the trigger if he let it go for $25K, but thats not gonna happen. This does give me some negotiating tools. Thanks

Jace_91

iTrader: (1)

I feel like theres probably more to the story, not saying going without an oil change is a good thing, but I wouldn't think it would destroy the engine to where it was declared a total loss, and then replaced with a new...used... engine. weird.

robertrios

iTrader: (11)

I had a new engine put in my Eclipse a few years ago due to the same reason...dealer did not do the oil change correctly while on warranty. They replaced it with a new engine. My mom had the same thing happen with her 03 corolla after the warranty had expired and they replaced it with a used 30k engine. In both cases title had no impact in the state of florida. I think maybe it was stolen and the engine was pulled before it was recovered. That might cause a salvage title in some states. Either way sounds shady. I bought my 04 SC with 8 thousand miles for a little under 30k a month ago. Keep looking.

KaiserSea1

This is the reason most card get salvaged by insurance companies, so many after the hurricane. Water is a car killer, we have tons of these cars from LA in Florida most get sold to south America. I would never buy a car with a rebuilt title.

lexuskim

My Mom was hit on her drivers door of her '97 Cadillac Seville which they totaled it out, saying a replacement door w/paint would cost $3700. HA!!! I went to a junkyard and got one for $50. THEY (insurance) said no deal, so she had to get a salvage title. You might want to check out ALL the reasons why it has this. Good luck and Godspeed.

JerryB

Hi kim,

When my son was in college his car ( which was in both of our names ) was hit. We live in Oregon & the insurance company was located in Georgia with no representatives in this part of the country.

They 'decided' that the car was a total. I talked to them & to the Oregon DMV. The insurance company would be only reporting the damage to the State of Georgia, they did not care about what goes on in the State of Oregon. At the same time I discussed the idea of challenging the determination of 'total' with the State of Oregon. It was interesting because the guy with Oregon DMV said that he had never heard of such a thing.

As it turned out, we took the $$$ from the insurance company, repaired the car ourselves ( bought used parts at a wrecking yard & installed them ), and saved a fair amount of $$$$.

I don't know if the insurance company ever reported anything to anyone, but the State of Oregon never had any info that the car had been totalled.

It is my understanding ( based upon discussions with my body shop ) that State Farm ( my insurance company ) will total a car if the estimate = 70% of what they value the car at.

A few years ago, I crunched my '94 Toyota pickup, & State Farm considered it a total. I took the cash & had the pickup repaired, and it did get a Salvage Title. What I did find interesting is that I was required to take to a local office of the Oregon DMV for thier 'inspection.' This inspection consisted of ONLY his looking at the VIN tag on the dash and comparing to my paperwork. Not one concern about how well the work had beeen performed.

Just my random thoughts; now back to your regular schedulled programming,

Jerry Baumchen

PS) BTW my son is a local attorney so it is much easier for me to challenge the local bureaucrats.