OT: Salvage Titles??

Do any of you guys ever buy salvage vehicles?? It"s a scary thought when you think about, but they sure are some good buys on rebuilt vehicles out there. But who knows how bad one has been wrecked. Any thoughts??

A Carfax report should tell you what kind of damage they sustained.

If it was priced right, and I couldn't see any damage (it was properly repaired) I wouldn't be afraid of one.

I have bought several,bought them **BEFORE** they were fixed,fixed them myself,or had them fixed by someone I knew /and/trusted.
One thing to keep in mind,if the salvage history vechicle is totaled later on, the insurance co. will want to pay you about 1/2 its value.Or at least that is what happend to us.
When I bought one I figured the price of the truck,the repair cost [parts &labor] and allowed 1 to 2 thousand to cover "hidden" damage/problems.If I didn't think I could live with that figure I didn't buy it.
Look enough,you'll see some that don't really have too much bad damage but are still salvage/totaled.
All mine were wrecks or recovered theft,I wouldn't want a flood/storm car.
I'm sure someone else knows a lot more than I do about this,also there will be many diffrent opionions on the matter.

Back before "branded" titles were around, I bought a 1988 Hyundai Excel in the spring of 1989. It was a sharp little 4-door sedan, and only had 2,300 miles on the odometer. With the power sunroof and a/c, it was equipped like new models selling for $10-11,000...yet I picked it up for $5,000. Being a Hyundai parts manager at the time, I noticed right off that the VIN had an "A" in the body designation slot. The "A" was supposed to be a 4-door hatchback [5-door in Hyundai terminology], not a sedan...the sedan was an "F".

So it turned out that the car was a rebuilt total. The front unibody rails and aprons had been replaced, as well as the firewall section that had the complete VIN stamped into it. The work was well done, and I never had any problems with the car related to the rebuilding issue.

Whether the original 5-door was rolled or smashed, I have no idea. But from the windshield back, the car was an '87 Special Edition model, with the '88 stereo installed. So I had an '88 title, a car that was mostly an '87, and just for giggles, the rebuilder had installed an '89 grille and lower panel. I also got 32-35 MPG on the highway for the 80,000+ miles I put on it before I moved it along. Structurally, it was as strong when I sold it as when it was originally built. But had the dealership not sent it to the body shop to be inspected by a qualified unibody repairperson, I might've balked at buying what turned out to have been a solid bargain. [Had the repairs not been judged up to standards, the car would've been returned by the dealership to the auction in Texas from whence it came.] The repairs had been done properly, and the car never had alignment problems or other evidence of a bad rebuild job.

The key is, know what you're getting. If you have any doubts, walk away. And if you're not qualified to judge the work yourself, enlist the expertise of someone who is qualified.

I had a 4x4 Nissian Pickup that had a Salvage title. I could never find anything wrong with it and to the day I sold it it always held its front end alignment, one of the better trucks Ive owned.

I used to buy quite a few, and rebuild them myself. I don't think I'd buy one that someone else had done. In fact, I'm looking for one that suits me now to replace my Olds as a daily driver. I never tried to hide anything and always had the goal that another body man could look the vehicle over when it was done and couldn't tell it had been worked on. Most of the ones I did, I had sold before I was even done working on them.

My old Ranger got 12 hail dings once, insurance totalled it (all it needed was a different hood) In some states it would have had to have gotten a salvage title since it was totalled. Aside from a couple dings you can't see unless it is washed and waxed you would never know it happened, and even then nothing really happened.

That is why I would recommend a Carfax. If it was just hailed and totaled it is a little different than flipping off a ravine, rolling 5 times and catching on fire.

If it was something minor you could get a heck of a deal, and with high labor costs for bodywork it doesn't take much to total out a vehicle anymore... a brand new hood was only $200 for my straight, rust-free Ranger.

Woodburn Auction in Oregon generally has a bunch of rebuilt totals at every consignment auction. Strange thing is, they generally only bring 3 or 400 dollars- I can't understand how anyone can rebuild them and make any money at those prices. Of course, I guess it doesn't take much to total a 10 year old car.

I have bought a couple, rebuilt them, and sold at a tidy profit. I photographed and documented the damages and the buyers were well aware of what the vehicle was when they bought it. No one has complained yet.

Theft recovery= salvage title. All that might be wrong is a missing stereo or a few dings...

I bought one that had been hit on the side pretty hard, but no structural damage - didn't even break a window. Cost $1000 to fix, but made double that on re-selling it...

Tread carefully, frame damaged vehicles might have problems show up later, but body damage wouldn't bother me.

I knew a guy once that bought a totalled car from a junk yard fixed it up and here in Ohio it has to be inspected to be road worthy they checked the serial number and it turned out to be a stolen vehicle it seems the junk yard didn't do the paperwork to have it scrapped. He was detained for quite awhile until it was resolved.

Used to go to sales out in Denver. Every week they sold over 600 damaged vehicles that the insurance companies bought back and sold for what they could get back for them. Bought and fixed up some for my personal use and sold some if I could make a profit. I usually stayed away from the heavy frame damaged ones. I still drive 2 of them now with no problems.

Never bought one with a salvage title except for buying my truck back after being in a minor accident (my fault, they said, although the woman I hit had no brake lights working) causing just enough damage for the insurance to total it. It was a beautiful black and gray '87 F-150 Lariat, long bed, with the V8, no mechanical problems, new exhaust and tires, etc etc. I wound up making money off that deal becauae I was able to buy it back, cheap, as salvage and put on a new bumper and have the transmission repaired. All was good until several years later when I was involved in a major wreck caused by another driver that actually did total it. Because of the salvage title the insurance didn't
want to pay even close to blue book for the truck until I fought them and let it drag out for a year until they were desperate to close the claim.

My point is if it has a salvage title let the insurance company know up front and it may or may not help you on your rate.One thing for sure it will definately hurt you in a settlement situation, no matter how good of a condition the vehicle is in. Also in at least some states a salvage titled vehicle can be repaired and have those repairs inspected by the DOT. If it passes the inspection you can recieve a clear, regular title again which should increase the resale value of the vehicle.

In Omaha, we have a good salvage yard that ALWAYS has cars for sale. Most are salvage title. We were looking at a Suburban that only had a small nick in the rocker panel after a theft recovery, so called my insurance man. He said they would gladly take the FULL premium, but would only pay out 25% of book value if there ever was a claim. We decided we could not 'self insure', so could not afford it. One day, my daughter found a nice 'rebuilt' one there. We went to look, and it was nicely done, figured a high schooler could not afford comp and collision anyway, so gave it some thought. Carfax was a TOTAL waste of money-they could only tell me it had a salvage title-which I already knew. The salvage yard would, or could not tell me even which corner had been hit, so it made me real nervous, fortunately, it sold before my daughter could figure out how to pay for it! Greg

Here is a wrongly salvaged vehicle on eBay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...199733&ssPageName=STRK:MEBI:IT&ih=022

Item 350099199733

Bought 91 Cad Brougham over ten years ago. Salv age title..No regrets..Gone over 100K miles..Had 90K when bought. Insurance no problem. Damage was wire harness and burned hood. Replaced hood before deal was made.

My daily driver is a 2000 Nissan Frontier that has a salvage title. I have had no problems with it.
old bc

I'd be careful on banking that CarFax is 100% correct. I have two vehicles that were severely wrecked (I still own them) and neither one shows up on Carfax.

I was looking at a used diesel pick-up and used Carfax for research and that's when I found out that it's not 100% correct as I ran mine for a comparrision.

T_Bone

A salvage title in one State may be a different matter in another State. If a car is stolen in some states and the owner collects the insurance, then the car is recovered in perfect condition, no damage at all, the title will be a salvage title when the car is sold by the insurance company. Use the CarFax system to check the history.

ive had 2 salvage titeled vehicles, 1 came with my wife, the other was a truck i bought for a plow truck, car was a pos, i gave it away, the truck was good for many years and still runs for its present owner

In SC, a salvage title is issued when the repairs are more than the value of the vehicle at the time of damage, regardless of how bad, or not so bad, the damage is. Guy I work with has a salvage title on his 93 Chevy. Insurance said worth 1200, repair was going to be 1900. He fixed his on truck with the money from the insurance comapny, cost him to do the work 600.

In SC, a salvage title is issued when the repairs are more than the value of the vehicle at the time of damage, regardless of how bad, or not so bad, the damage is. Guy I work with has a salvage title on his 93 Chevy. Insurance said worth 1200, repair was going to be 1900. He fixed his on truck with the money from the insurance comapny, cost him to do the work 600.