Salvage/rebuilt vehicles?

Morgan3820

Morgan3820

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El Conquistador
Does anybody have any experience with this? There are several F150’s on Facebook marketplace that look really nice and are at very attractive prices. Talk to my insurance lady and they will get full coverage provided that I sign a piece of paper saying that I understand it’s not full value if it’s totaled. I know a lot of people wouldn’t touch him with a 10 foot pole but almost all of our airplanes have some sort of damage that’s been repaired and we go fly in them.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Does anybody have any experience with this? There are several F150’s on Facebook marketplace that look really nice and are at very attractive prices. Talk to my insurance lady and they will get full coverage provided that I sign a piece of paper saying that I understand it’s not full value if it’s totaled. I know a lot of people wouldn’t touch him with a 10 foot pole but almost all of our airplanes have some sort of damage that’s been repaired and we go fly in them.
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Kind of depends on why they are salvage titles. Flood vehicles often end up with salvage titles and may run fine for a bit, but the water damage (especially salt water) eventually kills all of the wiring/electronics. However, if you buy a salvage vehicle for a low enough price, and realize that resale will be difficult if not near impossible, they can be good deals.
 
"never again"

Got burned on one. The number of corners cut in the repairs were not immediately obvious, but they were discovered over time, and soured the whole "deal"

LS2/6-speed GTO, was a fun car otherwise. :) Even though it looked like some sort of suppository. It was a fun suppository to drive.
 
Depends what your goal is…as @SoonerAviator indicated, resale market is smaller, but if you’re planning on running it for the rest of its life, no problem with resale. If the damage is something that you’re Comfortable verifying the repairs, it’s probably good.

my daughter bought a car that had rear quarter damage, reasonably repaired, no frame damage. Drove well, no major leaks, looked good. As with any used car, there were things that came up, but overall she’s happy.
 
I bought a 4 year old Subaru that had been declared totaled. Front end damage.

Drove it from Homer, AK to Gallup, NM by the way of Billings, MT. A total of 4004 miles. (averaged 30 mpg) Only problem is with the A/C, but that is a problem with Subaru, not the repair.

It had been a fun little car with just regular maintenance, except this winter a critter got in it and chewed the wiring harness for the alternator, and it has just been too cold to work in a unheated garage.

After I fix the wiring harness I'll probably drive it until it cost too much to repair or just dies.
 
We currently have a Lexus with salvage history. I've owned many over the years. You want to see before pics. Take a close look at the repair areas. I wouldn't hesitate to get another but the price has to make it worthwhile as it will impact resale value.
 
It’s a salvage because the insurance company couldn’t repair it for the replacement cost.
Some AH bought it and fixed it for less and then sells it for just less than retail.
There’s a sucker born every minute.
Your not the one getting the deal.
 
manac said:
It’s a salvage because the insurance company couldn’t repair it for the replacement cost.
Some AH bought it and fixed it for less and then sells it for just less than retail.
There’s a sucker born every minute.
Your not the one getting the deal.
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If I buy a car for $3000 below retail value and drive it as long as I’d drive the same car without damage history, and get the same amount from the salvage yard when I’m done, it seems like a deal to me.
 
Good luck with that.
 
I bought a Porsche 911 with a salvage title. I could never find out the reason for the salvage status, nor could I find anything wrong with the car beyond being owned by a few prior owners that didn't do much maintenance. I drove it for 15 years, rebuilt the engine, suspension added modern fuel injection and electronic ignition and finally sold it for about twice what I paid for it. Still at a loss with all my upgrades though.

I sold it on Bring a Trailer and went through pages and pages of comments on why did it have a salvage title, get a carfax (which you can't for a 1980 German car) and a bunch of other BS. Sold it to a guy that is still driving it and emails me every now and then with how much fun he is having.
 
I've been looking at NC Miatas. The manual's are at a huge premium to the automatics. Unless you're willing to buy one with a salvage title.

I'd like to dig into some of the manual tranny/salvage title cars, but have been too lazy.

So this is a very relevant thread for me.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Depends what your goal is…as @SoonerAviator indicated, resale market is smaller, but if you’re planning on running it for the rest of its life, no problem with resale. If the damage is something that you’re Comfortable verifying the repairs, it’s probably good.

my daughter bought a car that had rear quarter damage, reasonably repaired, no frame damage. Drove well, no major leaks, looked good. As with any used car, there were things that came up, but overall she’s happy.
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Yes, I should have elaborated. My intent is to drive it into the ground. Like my other truck it would be a second vehicle. I have owned my current truck for 15 years and average under 4K miles per year. When I need a truck it goes. The rest of the time I take the Mazda. I do plan to do some cross country trailer towing in retirement, which will bump up the average. I figure on having it for 20 years
 
SoonerAviator said:
Kind of depends on why they are salvage titles. Flood vehicles often end up with salvage titles and may run fine for a bit, but the water damage (especially salt water) eventually kills all of the wiring/electronics. However, if you buy a salvage vehicle for a low enough price, and realize that resale will be difficult if not near impossible, they can be good deals.
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The one that I am looking at has rear and side damage. I found the salvage auction pictures online. The damage looked kind of extensive but I have no expertise in this to make a qualified judgement. The seller says that he replaced both side door and the entire bed. He adds that there was no frame damage.
 
Morgan3820 said:
The one that I am looking at has rear and side damage. I found the salvage auction pictures online. The damage looked kind of extensive but I have no expertise in this to make a qualified judgement. The seller says that he replaced both side door and the entire bed. He adds that there was no frame damage.
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Well frame alignment can be checked relatively easily by any competent collision shop for minimal cost. Sometimes major components can be structurally compromised in a collision but not show up for a while (cracked transmission housing/suspension mounts/etc.) Just have to get a shop to give it a prebuy to see if there are any show stoppers.
 
Morgan3820 said:
The one that I am looking at has rear and side damage. I found the salvage auction pictures online. The damage looked kind of extensive but I have no expertise in this to make a qualified judgement. The seller says that he replaced both side door and the entire bed. He adds that there was no frame damage.
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If you don't have the expertise to evaluate the extent of damage, or the quality of the repair, I would not recommend buying a rebuilt salvage, or even any vehicle that has prior damage history. Insurance salvages a vehicle when it is not economically repairable. A minor fender bender would not be economically repairable if the car is only worth a couple grand. Insurance would repair major damage on a newer vehicle because it is worth much more, and it won't be salvaged. Personally, I would buy a rebuilt salvage vehicle as long as I know why it was salvaged, but I know what to look for. I have also refused to buy vehicles that had been repaired by insurance without being salvaged.
 
lsaway said:
I have also refused to buy vehicles that had been repaired by insurance without being salvaged.
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Last time I took the Honda in for repair from some road debris, the shop had a brand new minivan in the sheet metal shop. The car had been hit directly on the B pillar. The shop was welding in a new B pillar and was painting two doors and the B pillar to match the rest of the car. E-gads! No way I'd want that car.
 
I have a CRV and Equinox. Both salvage vehicles. The CRV was mine until I met Bambi. Insurance Co. totaled it and I bought it back. My bud specializes in late model salvage and undertook the repairs. I bought the Equinox to drive during repairs. Four years later I still have both cars with zero issues.

My bud normally shows the damaged vehicle before the sale. The buyer can see the damage and later see OEM boxes of parts arriving. The majority of his sales are on eBay. He has a great rating that he works hard to maintain. Many repeat buyers.

State Farm has no problem with these vehicles.
 
Hang 4 said:
I bought a Porsche 911 with a salvage title. I could never find out the reason for the salvage status,
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I used to rebuild & restore 911 Porsches. At that time, 911s & 930s were hot on the stolen vehicle list. I would find them at the insurance salvage auctions with little to no damage, and all the way to completely stripped to the bare shell. Often times, the thief that stole and stripped the car would buy the shell back from insurance and bolt all the original parts back on to the shell. This would become a legal, rebuilt salvage vehicle. Insurance caught on to this, so now if a vehicle is a recovered theft and any major component is missing, it can only be issued a non-rebuildable title, or certificate of destruction. Sometimes, a perfect 911 would wind up at insurance salvage auction with salvage title. This would happen when the insurance company already paid the owner because of a theft, but car was found a few days later. I think most of the Porsches that were salvaged in the 80s and 90s were because of theft.
 
schmookeeg said:
"never again"

Got burned on one. The number of corners cut in the repairs were not immediately obvious, but they were discovered over time, and soured the whole "deal"

LS2/6-speed GTO, was a fun car otherwise. :) Even though it looked like some sort of suppository. It was a fun suppository to drive.
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That. Run, don't walk away.

I've NEVER had any luck on used vehicles in general, but the one salvage title experience was even subpar to that.
 
Hang 4 said:
get a carfax (which you can't for a 1980 German car) and a bunch of other BS.
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The standardized 17 digit vin on all vehicles became law in 1981. Carfax will only work with the 17 digit standard.
 
This is a funny thread. Some say never buy one because they aren't discounted enough to justify the prior damage. Contrast that with previously damaged aircraft that have been rebuilt. It seems many get indignant when I suggest there should be a price discount on aircraft with damage history. Go figure...
 
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For a reference point, the current Lexus we recently purchased had primarily cosmetic damage limited to the rear posterior of the rear wheels. It was repaired acceptably well; the gaps lined up well but the paint wasn't perfect and was missing a rear wheelwell liner. I was able to buy it for approximately 65% of what it likely would sell for absent the damage history. I picked up the wheelwell liner in a salvage yard for $10, and went through the car addressing any prior deferred maintenance. We now have a good vehicle significantly less than it would have cost otherwise.

For the never again crowd, I also bought one car years ago based on pics alone which turned out to be a pretty rough repair with unaddressed frame damage. I avoided purchasing salvage vehicles for some time after that.

Understand that a clean title vehicle may be for sale because it has problems not readily apparent. Most salvage vehicles weren't sold by their owner because the owner wanted to sell the vehicle.
 
As with almost everything there answer is "it depends".

Same thing as with a clean title used car. It depends.

What is the reason it was salvaged? Was the repair completed correctly? etc etc.

Too many variables to give a blanket yes/no without specifics.
 
Lots of good stories and advice here.

I used to have an opinion of no way. Then years ago I met a friend that owned a body shop. His advice very loosely, was to never buy a flood damage car under any circumstance. The amount of electronics and computers versus water never plays out well long term.

Front end damage was always a bolt off bolt on affair. He said go for those. Anything else would be subjective.

The main advice is take the car to a competent body shop for an inspection. He could spot repaints from 75’ away and literally point out where factory spot welds were supposed to be, etc.

My daughter is driving a totaled Altima (front end repair) that she bought for half the cost. It is a great solid vehicle that is perfect for being in Atlanta during college and grad school. It will probably sell when done for almost what she bought it for because at that point it only matters if it runs and is reliable.
 
Just like with aircraft, the situation varies with each car and repair. I’ve fixed some cars and trucks myself and bought some previously salvaged vehicles as well. They each have a story, part of which is who did the repair and how good they were at repairing the damage. Some guys are real hacks and will put anything together to make a quick buck and do so without any regard for the owner while other guys will produce a repaired vehicle that is every bit as good as one that has never been wrecked.

Thanks to the used car market salvage auction prices are high and things that were previously being written off as junkyard bound are being fixed. I haven’t bought any salvage auction cars for a while because of the prices and stiff competition. In the current market I’d probably suggest steering clear of a salvage car unless it is something obscure/highly desirable and you or someone you know is qualified to assess the vehicle prior to purchase.
 
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