Salvage title? Would you ever?

[badutahboy]

So here's an interesting question... would you guys ever consider buying a repaired salvage title vehicle if it meant saving $5k+ on the purchase of your car?

I was watching a car on ebay, planning on bidding on it if I could get it cheap enough.. It was an 07 G35s with EVERY option.. Premium, nav, 4 wheel steering, technology, etc... only 10k miles, but it had a salvage title... It ended up selling for $18,100, which was right at my top dollar for it (sadly, I missed the end of the auction so i couldn't try to snake it... but I'm not upset because I don't know if I really want a salvage car)...

From my position, that's at least $5k less than I can buy that car for at the auction, and probably close to 10k less than I'd get it if I bought from auto trader or a dealer...

What are your thoughts? Good buy, or Good bye?

[smockers83]

Definitely good bye. You never know what's wrong with a salvaged car and what may come up in the future. That $5k you would have saved probably would have been spent on repairs. I wouldn't pay $18k for a salvaged car, I would never buy a salvaged car in the first place.

[heliochrome85]

GOOD BYE. think of Katrina. or the recent flooding in the Midwest. those cars might look fantastic inside, but they are fried. not worth 18k. maybe 10 because you are gonna take a MAJOR hit in resale.

[Beancooker]

Unless it was saving me at LEAST 80% off the retail value of the car, I would run the opposite direction. I would ONLY buy a salvage title as a track/race car. Never ever consider it for a daily driver.

[zozoka1212]

Good Bye for sure.

5k saving is nothing compare to the bill it can come with salvaged import cars. No warranty either. So every time you have trouble you pay out of pocket instead of the free service.

zozo

[telcoman]

So here's an interesting question... would you guys ever consider buying a repaired salvage title vehicle if it meant saving $5k+ on the purchase of your car?

What are your thoughts? Good buy, or Good bye?

NO, NO, NO, GOODBYE

Just watch the news for flooding along the Mississippi river. They'll be plently more of "good buys" in 6 months.Have you forgotten Katrina?

If it sounds too good to be true it usually is. Don't be a sucker

Telcoman

[Cali 2 Balti G]

IN general, banks will not finance a salvage title - so unless you have the cash for the purchase....................

[bentrod]

My advice after being in the Property & Casualty and the total loss salvage business for 30 years is No F'__n way. Many of these salvage title cars are flooders that have been retitled in other states to deceive a buyer. If a G35 wasn't flooded than you know it had significant collision damage as their relative ACV is higher than normal cars. The normal formula for determining a total loss is ACV minus projected salvage value plus potential 20% in hidden damages. The other high risk factor on a salvage titled car is you have no idea on the quality of the repairs. Plus, where do you bring it back to if the car was butchered? The car may have been "clipped", jury rigged etc as there was no caring owner to satisfy that the repairs were done correctly. The other type of salvage titled cars are recovered thefts, but I would not consider this unless you can see pictures of the car when it was recovered. Spend the extra money on a certified car you've verified with CarMAx, you won't be sorry you did

[soakgame]

my first car had a salvage title.. if it's a daily beater then i wouldn't mind

BUT for a pricey car like the G35.. i would never buy salvaged.. 18k is still a lot of money considering the risk of problems the car might come with

plus you're not going to get sh*t for it if you decide to sell it to someone else

[badutahboy]

Thanks for the opinions guys... My thoughts are much the same, but I've been amazed at how hard it is to find a used 07-08 with options... oddly, 3/4 of the ones I can find with the premium package have been salvage title.

I figured if I could get a good enough deal on a LOADED car, I'd consider it... Actually, my plan was to take it straight to abra after buying it to have them inspect it, measure the frame, etc... then if anything was wrong, I'd use the Ebay buyer protection mechanisms to get out of the deal...

Regardless, I'm still hesitant... and I found a decent deal on a loaded 07, but it's in New York, 2,000 miles away.. lol

Guess I'm back to the drawing board for now.. maybe I'll fly across the country to buy that one in NY. who knows.

[Cali 2 Balti G]

So you are pying cash?

[etschell]

why do you want it so bad? you do realize its going to drop in price tremendously when the g37 4 door is released....

[joe603]

I've owned a few salvaged cars, and you do have to be careful. My first was a 3000GT that had a battery explode and set fire to a portion of the engine bay. Repairs cost over 5k, so it was deemed "salvaged". Great car, never had any problems.

My next car was from the same dealer/shop. It was a 97 Firebird Formula with 150 miles on the clock! Literally got into an accident coming home from the dealership. The guy hit a deer, and it caused over 5k in damage. Fixed, the car was better than new!

Downsides: No warranty even if your in the factory years/miles. Banks can be a pain to get financing on salvaged titles. Resale is a pain because of the stigma associated with a damaged/salvaged title.

[badutahboy]

I could, but no... I'll finance it.. Most credit unions will finance salvage titles up to low book value.. which, on this car is $29,000.... I'd have paid $10k below LOW book...

@etschell, sure, the value of all previous infinitis will drop when the 09 comes out with the g37 engine/features... the key word is ALL... is that a reason I shouldn't buy a used car?

@joe.. thanks for the positive input. I've owned 2 salvage cars and both were ok... They were both also 7-10 years old and cheap cars, so the expectations were low, but neither of them had any problems at all.

[Cali 2 Balti G]

I didn't think it was so easy to get financing for a salvage car - guess I was wrong.

[Kendahl]

A car with a salvage title may be worth buying as long as you can satisfy two requirements:(1) it was repaired by someone whose competence and integrity you trust absolutely;(2) you have verified through your bank, insurance company and a dealer that the discount off regular price is big enough that you can get your money out if the car is wrecked again or if you decide to sell or trade it.

I used to know a very good mechanic who built a good VW Scirocco out of the front and back halves of two wrecked ones. Given the amount of labor he invested in the project, he may not have made minimum wage out of it.