Experience buying salvage cars

[pacem]

I got a 20000 Toyota Camry stick shift with 64K miles and a salvage title. Paid $6,000 for it. That was a year ago.

It has been wrecked in front, they did a messed up job of fixing it, the hood was not aligned, the headlight kept popping out a bit and the paint was absolute junk that started to flake off a year later and I could see the color of the donor car. I don't think they even primed the hood before painting. But it drove straight, got great mileage. I was really afraid of frame damage so I crawled under it and saw nothing obvious.

When I tried to pass technical inspection, I couldn't because the air bag light was on. I think the air bags got deployed and probably not replaced or not replaced correctly. So that was the mian issue. As I found out, the air bag is fairly expensive, several grand, so no wonder the insurance co. salvages it.

I drove it for 1 year and 18K miles, and sold it for $1,000 less than I paid for it. All in all, got an OK deal I felt. But if I had to do it again, I would offer $4K at most for it.

I think dealers pay peanuts for them at salvage auctions, maybe $1,000 to $1500. If you pay top dollar, at least expect top notch fixing job, which mine wasn't, a very novice work. On top of it, it was a manual transmission vehicle, which is much more difficult to sell.

*If* the repair job is not done right, you will pour much cash into it, multi thousands just to get it inspected and on the road. A good learning experience for me.

If I ever buy a salvage car, it will probably be not fixed so I can fix it myself. It's only worth if if you can pick it up for a grand or two, but not in the price range where normal cars are.

 

[JTK]

I think that's it too. It depends on the deal. Pre OBDII, it was easier. 1996+ will be a lot trickier depending on your State's inspection laws. My BIL bought a salvage 1994 AWD Chevy Astro conversion van years ago. It was a flood vehicle. The inside had to be taken apart and cleaned, but it was a good vehicle for them for the ~8yrs they owned it. It was still under 3/36 GM warranty when they got it, and I recall them getting a freebe electronics fix for the trans once. It must have been a range sensor. The 4L60E wouldn't go down into 1st. It took of in 2nd until the dealer fixed it.

 

[pacem]

Another reason 5 speed M/T rules.

 

[MrCritical]

My rule of thumb for buying salvage vehicles is 30 cents on the dollar vs non salvage. If it was repaired correctly.

 

[Cutehumor]

salvage vehicles are posted all over craiglist or vehicles with nonrunning engines or transmissions.

 

[01rangerxl]

I would keep an eye out on Craigs List for good non-salvage deals. That is where I got my Explorer - $950 with a clean title and very clean Car Fax report. I have put maybe $500 into cleanup and misc. repairs so far, and the value of the truck just keeps going up. Almost all of the mechanical issues have been delt with. I figure I will put $2000 total (including the cost of the truck) into getting it into good shape, then I will have a vehicle worth $3000 or so.

Clear titles are always best, but if you can title and get a salvage vehicle inspected in your state without too many issues, and if you plan to keep the vehicle a while, it can definitely be worth it.

 

[pacem]

30 cents on the dollar sounds like a reasonable approach.

 

[Chuck1986]

I almost bought a "re-built" salvage title car (2001 Mitsubishi Galant 4-cyl ES) except it was also a former lease (which is am immediate red flag.) Then when I did a carfax and noticed it had frame damage in the original accident, I gave up. As it turned out, I paid $4k extra to get a 2003 Galant with the V6 engine, 20k less miles, fully dealer serviced and a clean title. Not bad

 

[Anduril]

I bought my Cavalier off craigslist, the original owner got rear-ended within the first couple months of owning the car according to Carfax. Aside from a few spots of paint that didn't match from very close up, it looked fine. I've had zero problems with the car to date. The title was clear, mind you.

As far as I'm concerned, I got a 2000 model year vehicle with 47,000 on the clock with a slight blemish in the rear (paint only; no visible dent) and a ripped bumper (which I already replaced myself).

 

[ThirdeYe]

My sister's first car was a '98 Mustang that she bought with a salvage rebuilt title. You couldn't even tell it was in an accident, except for the lack of airbags (the car's only fault). In the year or so we had the car, the only problem was the A/C would sometimes stop blowing (I think it was the blower motor). Great car, wouldn't hesitate to buy a rebuilt car if it's done right.

 

[MrCritical]

How does a car that comes standard with air bags pass inspection without them?

 

[Anduril]

I know the only thing my state cares about is what comes out the tailpipe. I don't have a drivers' side airbag in my car (replaced the steering wheel with a less lame-looking one), but the passenger side works. I don't think it matters in California.

 

[Kestas]

There's no annual auto inspection for anything in Michigan.

 

[Master ACiD]

this is right up my alley. i buy fix up and sell salvage cars as a side hobby. ill usually do one car every month or 2 and just work on it in my spare time.
you can get some really good deals on them, espically if you dont mind changing out parts on youre own. since its a salvage car were talking about, no reason not to put used parts on it.
the junkyards around here sell parts for pretty good prices. you can grab a door for $70 thats painted to match the car, airbag for $45 etc.
my rule of thumb is not to mess with a car thats under $2000 value when fully fixed up and running good. and i will only put a max of 10% of its value back into it. this means that i end up buying cars for $100-$300, put a few hundred into them plus a few weekends of work and sell for $2000+
i just did a honda accord. a 97 4 door automatic with abs and 96000 miles. the engine ran good but had a check engine light. one tyre was flat. airbag light was on although no airbags were deployed. one headlight wouldnt work. headlight wire harness was broken. it needed 3 doors, 2 bumpers, 1 grille, some interrior parts, a good cleaning, tyres and wheels, some little nic nacs like an ashtray and a functioning cig lighter. a few screw covers for the interrior. door mats. and the external parts needed to get painted to match the rest of the car since i couldnt find any junkyard accords to take parts off with the same paint colour.
basically it went like this. i got the car for $150. put $300 into it for parts to completely fix it. when i was done the body panels lined up, no dents or dings. matching used tyres and aluminum wheels. everything looked and functioned perfect. i even put in a cheap $30 walmart cd player.
payed my neighbour $150 to paint the used doors and bumpers so they would match. (i did this before i put them on the car) i put maybe 20 hours into it including the time spent at the junkyard and time spent driving around.
so after all that, i sold the car for $4300. i had about 650 into it and 20 hours of labour.

as long as you stay away from cars with frame or unibody damage, you can pretty much replace ANY broken parts on any car. you got to remember the old line, buy low and sell high.

 

[The_Jeff]

Salvage titles are functions of what it costs to repair vs replace, so a simple several year old domestic car that's only worth 3000 can be salvaged for just bumper skins and fenders, practically. So the frame and motor will still be great, the only downside is the branded title.

The real fear for salvage cars, IMO, is year old exotic imported stuff that could have rolled, caught fire, etc and still been rebuilt b/c the money and temptation was there.

MasterAcids cars come with, I presume, clear titles but major mechanical problems. This is different because you don't wind up with messy paperwork. Noone checks serial numbers on engines/transmissions unless they're buying a classic corvette...

Also when an airbag pops a lot of the time it puts stress on the windshield which gets expensive to fix right.

 

[MrCritical]

Here, if it's safety equipement and it came from the factory on the car it has to be there and it has to work for inspection.

Then there's that fun part when your buddy gets hurt in a wreck 'cause the passenger airbag which wasn't there didn't go off to protect him. Can you say lawsuit?

His lawyer will say he had a reasonable expectation to be riding in a car with all safety equipment intact and functioning correctly. Even if he knew better, he conveniently "forgot". Hope you have a couple mill liability insurance. You'll need it.

 

[Master ACiD]

yeah, i dont buy cars with salvage titles unless i am going to part them out on ebay, or keep the parts to fix up a second car of the same type. i normally grab mine through auto trader, local lewspaper, etc. i did the whole salvage car auction thing a few times. i saw cars go for $50 that could be repaired, but its too high stress for me. check out iaai.com thats one that i have a membership for. got a laminated card with my picture and everything. i see cars go for $50 all the time at that place.

salvage title isnt any more paperwork than a normal title. atleast in florida anyways. i dont know about other states, but florida does not really have vehicle inspections. atleast ive never done one!

 

[pacem]

Another story -

Bought a 1996 Mazda 626, Auto, 100K miles, V6 ES at one of these auctions. You don't know anything about the car, you can inspect it, but not drive it.

Ended up paying $1,000 for it. That was several years ago.

When picking it up, found out the transmission is toast.

Spent months looking for the transmission, ended up spending about $1,000 on it plus the install.

About $500 in misc repairs.

I was away from it and couldn't work on it constantly, had time issues.

Half a year later, it was a fully functional car.

Found out FWD V6 vehicles are aggravatingly difficult to work on. Have to take half of the engine bay apart to do anything - timing belts, starter, fuel filter... Tight on space.

Handled A+, power was A+ also. Neat little car, but had troublesome Ford transmission.

If I had to do it again, would offer maybe $500 for it. It wasn't salvaged, but might as well be.

If I had to get that 2000 Camry with salvage title, I would offer $4000-4500 for it, not $6K like I did. I couldn't pass the inspection with the Check airbag light.

 

[pacem]

P.S. After that Mazda cost me $2500 total, drove it for a year and sold it for $1500. Did OK, but not exceptionally well. It wasn't fit for resale. You got to get something newer than that.