Salvage Title New Malibu. Does This Look Legit?

[stephen9666]

This issue came up on another forum and multiple people there were claiming that a new or nearly new car with a salvage title no liger has a manufacturer warranty.

If they're correct, that would make this a new car with no warranty. No thanks.

 

[Wolf359]

Yes I believe that's correct. Most manufacturers will no longer honor any warranty even if the damage that caused it to be a salvage vehicle had nothing to do with the failure. You also usually have a federal emissions warranty that's supposed to be good for 8/80k so that would also end up out the window. Some sites say that a salvage vehicle should be discounted 25-40% due to resale problems. It only makes sense to get one if you know exactly what the damage was or if you're the one repairing a car that was declared salvage and plan on driving it into the ground.

 

[eljefino]

Enterprise rent a car is not owned by any major car maker and buys all sorts of weird cars, from all over the map. They'll get a prius and run it to 70k and sell it for good money. They also get Chevy Sporks and full size trucks. They know when to get in, and when to get out.

They aren't buying these. They'd be the perfect consumer, in my mind, because they could put 1-2 years on then sell it to someone who won't check the title, and who'll finance it, and find out much later when they pay it off that they got a rebuilt car.

If ERAC, the pros, stay away, you should too.

FWIW my HHR has a rebuilt title-- it was 5 years old when it was totalled due to a wreck and it's an all right car. I had the ignition recall done, so having a branded title doesn't preclude recalls, at least.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Enterprise rent a car is not owned by any major car maker and buys all sorts of weird cars, from all over the map. They'll get a prius and run it to 70k and sell it for good money. They also get Chevy Sporks and full size trucks. They know when to get in, and when to get out.

They aren't buying these. They'd be the perfect consumer, in my mind, because they could put 1-2 years on then sell it to someone who won't check the title, and who'll finance it, and find out much later when they pay it off that they got a rebuilt car.

If ERAC, the pros, stay away, you should too.


Enterprise (or any rental car company) would never buy a branded title vehicle due to liability issues.

They'll barely fix cars that have been in a wreck. If it is sheet metal/glass damage, they'll fix it. If there is anything more than light mechanical damage involved, they'll either walk away from the car... or fix it, take it out of the fleet, and send it to auction.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Enterprise rent a car is not owned by any major car maker and buys all sorts of weird cars, from all over the map. They'll get a prius and run it to 70k and sell it for good money. They also get Chevy Sporks and full size trucks. They know when to get in, and when to get out.

They aren't buying these. They'd be the perfect consumer, in my mind, because they could put 1-2 years on then sell it to someone who won't check the title, and who'll finance it, and find out much later when they pay it off that they got a rebuilt car.

If ERAC, the pros, stay away, you should too.

FWIW my HHR has a rebuilt title-- it was 5 years old when it was totalled due to a wreck and it's an all right car. I had the ignition recall done, so having a branded title doesn't preclude recalls, at least.


Enterprise was (successfully) selling their used 2 or 3 year old Aveos with 50K miles for $12000.

You could buy them new for
My Cherokee was rebuilt. I was a bit worried when I bought it, especially since it changed hands 2 or 3 times. Head on collision , frame damage, etc. Everything is straight.

 

[IveBeenRued]

TrueCar has the 2015 Malibu 1LT listed for my area at $19,121. For me the $3686 savings would not be worth the risk.

 

[Tzu]

FWIW, last year my brother's co-worker bought a then brand new 2013 Silverado in Florida that was located in a flood disaster zone, BUT was about 5 miles away from any actually flooded areas. He flew down to check it out and looked it over with a fine tooth comb and bought it.

To this day, nothing seems wrong with the truck and it worked out. I'm not saying to buy this car, but at least I've heard of someone that went this route. Warranty wise, I have no idea what is / isn't covered on his truck. He saved a lot and he is happy. I would question if it was TOO cheap, but it probably it is hard to cover water damage in a tan colored interior without something dirty showing under a crevice somewhere. I would check in the fuse box for any kind of debris in there too.

 

[Nick1994]

I would go for it. I'd change all the fluids though. I don't see how this car could have $9,000 in future repairs to make up for the discount.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I would go for it. I'd change all the fluids though. I don't see how this car could have $9,000 in future repairs to make up for the discount.
*Assuming I were to plan to drive the car forever and not sell it unless it's a clunker when sold at 250k miles, then the difference of a salvage title won't matter for value.

 

[Silverado12]

It's actually only about 4K cheaper than what you can buy them for off the lot new w/warranty. But still, 4K is 4K. From my experience, I have used the warranty on GM cars very little.

 

[Kuato]

I used to do auto liability insurance. It's been totaled out for some reason, which is why it has a salvage title.

Steer clear.

 

[WhyMe]

I bet what happened is that they did not want to deal with any cars from a flood. Damaged or not, they wrote them off. These cars could be true and no damage at all has happened to them.

its not much different than QC ing a parts and it fails and then throwing out the whole batch. I bet these were insured and came from them after they compensated the party.

Thus no warranty as the manufacturer/owner has been made whole. its not cheap enough for me to buy one though. the long term resale value of a salvage title is basically zero.

 

[RhondaHonda]

I would steer clear. The discount would have to be at least 50% off what you could get a new one for. Many insurance companies will also not write full coverage or if they do will limit what they pay as the car's value is not the same as a non-salvaged vehicle.

 

[Silverado12]

From what I read on Virginia's DMV website, as long as the vehicle gets appraised and it doesn't have more than 75% of its value diminished, a regular title can be issued. Now, as far as the lack of the GM warranty and Carfax showing a salvage title, that's another story.

 

[Need4racin]

It's better than a used car in that price range. Try and find where it was flooded at. Id rather have a new car than a used one where someone could easily hide any damage by not reporting it.

 

[Nick1994]

Looking on Autotrader I see 2014 models for around $16,000 with 10,000-30,000 miles. With a clean title. Probably with a warranty.

 

[Silverado12]

My conclusion (just my opinion only) is that there isn't enough savings (less than 4K once all is said and done) to go through with this. I just don't want to be married to a car for the rest of its life in case the salvage title thing scares people off when I go to resell it. I was considering something front wheel drive with 4 door that was a little more practical than my mid-life crisis machine, but I think I'll just stick with what I have for a few more years.

 

[Inspecktor]

Run away.

 

[eljefino]

Obligatory pic:

"OMG we have half a dozen of these $20k things and just don't have the time to see which are in the best shape.

We'll sell the BEST ones SIGHT UNSEEN on eBay and save the worst for our friends, family, and ourselves.

 

[OneEyeJack]

Did you check out the VIN with GM and local authorities?

It stands to reason that something happened here.

If it's water/moisture/humidity damage the corrosion may not have developed yet. When it does you'll be out of scope for the usual diagnostic procedures that are based on experience with everything but flood damage. There are probably not a lot of codes for "flood damage".

As Dirty Harry would say, "Do you fell lucky, today?".