So my son bought a 2008 Honda Civic 1.8 salvage.

[BigD1]

My son just bought a 2008 Honda Civic coupe with 113,000 miles with a salvage title for $4200 cash. I told him to be careful when buying a salvage title car because if there are any recalls and stuff like that Honda will not honor it. The car was hit in the passenger door, and the repair done was really good. The car runs really good, and the interior looks new. Really nice looking coupe I think. My son said it is getting real good gas mileage, but he did not quote any numbers. I checked online about these Honda Civics, and I ran across the 8th generation Civic forum, and I find out that 2006 to 2009(some 2009) Civics can develop a coolant leak in the block(crack), and that Honda has extended the warranty on the 1.8 engines to 10 years from purchase date. Honda replaces the whole short block under warranty. It has a salvage title, so if his engine gets the leak he is SOL. From what information I can gather, only a small percentage of the 1.8 engines are affected. Also, from what I read, most of the cracked blocks are generally around the 70,000 mile mark. Does anybody else own or know somebody that has owned one of the Civics that has developed this cracked block leak?

 

[racin4ds]

My father and a few other relatives have had (and some still do) this gen Civics and have had 0 problems with them. Most are well above 100k miles now as well. However, my dads new Civic (2015) has developed a strange, speed dependent "howling" and we think its in the CVT. He's taking it to Honda this month for a checkup. I wouldn't worry, Civics are very reliable cars and usually Honda takes care of any known issues on their part. Besides, they aren't going to ask you for the title when you take it in for recall/service.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: BigD1

Does anybody else own or know somebody that has owned one of the Civics that has developed this cracked block leak?

Yes, a friend had his engine replaced under that warranty. It was as you said, around 65,000 miles.

 

[InhalingBullets]

My question is how the heck would the dealer know the car had been salvaged. If your not trading it in they are not going to look at the state title.

 

[Alfred_B]

Originally Posted By: InhalingBullets

My question is how the heck would the dealer know the car had been salvaged. If your not trading it in they are not going to look at the state title.

This

 

[BMOC]

We had a AAA tow in a while back and the Civic had about 150k miles on it, had a cracked block.

Originally Posted By: InhalingBullets

My question is how the heck would the dealer know the car had been salvaged. If your not trading it in they are not going to look at the state title.

I would imagine that Honda would have similar setup that GM has where I can go in and look at the vehicle history. I can tell you if it has a warranty block, branded title, what dealership sold the vehicle new, previous recall info, build sheet, etc.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Alfred_B

Originally Posted By: InhalingBullets

My question is how the heck would the dealer know the car had been salvaged. If your not trading it in they are not going to look at the state title.

This

Yup, this

 

[oil_abuser]

we see this all the time in the insurance industry. vehicles are salvaged when the repairs exceed the value of the vehicle, guys purchase them at auction and do half-[censored] repairs to make a quick buck. Usually they are good at the visual stuff but when it comes to the frame or hard to see stuff, its not repaired correctly. If it was repaired correctly, your son wouldn't have got the deal he got. I personally wouldn't drive one.

 

[Ethan1]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994

Originally Posted By: Alfred_B

Originally Posted By: InhalingBullets

My question is how the heck would the dealer know the car had been salvaged. If your not trading it in they are not going to look at the state title.

This

Yup, this

LOL, that's what computers are for. The first thing the dealership service department does when you come in is check your VIN in the manufacturer's computer system, if nothing else then for open recalls. It will say WARNING WARNING WARNING ------- BRANDED TITLE ------- WARRANTY VOID ------- WARNING WARNING WARNING or something to that effect, depending on the manufacturer. Why is everyone assuming that a global automaker isn't smart enough to do this?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994

Originally Posted By: Alfred_B

Originally Posted By: InhalingBullets

My question is how the heck would the dealer know the car had been salvaged. If your not trading it in they are not going to look at the state title.

This

Yup, this

Vehicle manufacturers and their dealer networks have access to DMV records, so that if they need to notify people of a recall, they know who the current owner is and where they live. You would think that if they have access to this information, then they would also know what kind of title the vehicle has been issued.

 

[mk378]

Salvage title by itself does not void a warranty or make the car ineligible for recall repairs. They have to show that crashing, abuse, or neglect was the specific cause of the problem you are having before they can deny the warranty.

 

[6starprez]

I had an early 2009 Civic EX with 45K miles that I traded in for my Subaru in February 2012. No leaks but you could smell coolant burning. Around Christmas 2011, I smelled coolant for the first time while driving and no other cars were around me. I got a whiff of coolant several times after that and finally in early February, that was it for me. I didn't want a new block or to be stuck on the road somewhere so I got rid of it. I would have bought a new '12 Civic Si but the rear of the 9th gen Civic's were fugly as uck and the 10th gen looks even worse IMO.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: mk378

Salvage title by itself does not void a warranty or make the car ineligible for recall repairs. They have to show that crashing, abuse, or neglect was the specific cause of the problem you are having before they can deny the warranty.

You would think that would be true, but it's not. Lots of times manufacturers specifically say that if the car was in a bad enough accident that it's now a salvage vehicle, they won't honor the warranty. And yes, they punch in the VIN and know that it's salvage.

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: mk378

Salvage title by itself does not void a warranty or make the car ineligible for recall repairs. They have to show that crashing, abuse, or neglect was the specific cause of the problem you are having before they can deny the warranty.

All warranties and safety recalls are void and the dealer does have access to these records. They don't need to prove anything other than it was totaled.

 

[stephen9666]

It looks like some of the comments in this thread are wrong. In 30 seconds of googling I found this on the Honda website: http://automobiles.honda.com/information/frequently-asked-questions.aspx?Question=16

Quote:

If my vehicle has a branded or "Salvage" title, is the warranty still valid? Honda vehicles with titles that have been branded as salvaged, scrapped, or dismantled are no longer covered by the new car warranty, with the exception of some emissions warranties and safety recalls. For further information regarding the branding of vehicle titles, please contact your state's department of motor vehicles.

Long story short, prior salvage Honda vehicles don't have the normal factory warranty, but are still covered by safety recalls. Now, is the engine block cracking considered a "safety recall"? I don't know. It could be considered a warranty extension, perhaps. If it's a warranty extension, then it probably won't be covered if it's a salvage vehicle. I haven't looked up the Honda documents on it and I don't care enough to do it.

 

[BigD1]

Originally Posted By: stephen9666

Long story short, prior salvage Honda vehicles don't have the normal factory warranty, but are still covered by safety recalls.

Good find. Good to hear that the safety recall stuff is still covered. The 1.8 engine had an extension to 10 years after purchase date, so I am pretty sure a salvage title will not qualify.

 

[BigD1]

Originally Posted By: oil_abuser

we see this all the time in the insurance industry. vehicles are salvaged when the repairs exceed the value of the vehicle, guys purchase them at auction and do half-[censored] repairs to make a quick buck. Usually they are good at the visual stuff but when it comes to the frame or hard to see stuff, its not repaired correctly. If it was repaired correctly, your son wouldn't have got the deal he got. I personally wouldn't drive one.

I told him before hand what he was getting into buying a salvage vehicle, but he has a hard head, and will have to learn the hard way I guess. I did drive the car after he got it, and it does drive good, but like you say you never know what all has been done to it. They did tell him that some air bags had been replaced. Don't know if that's some kind of law or not that a dealer has to tell you the air bags were replaced.

 

[SLCraig]

I would say if it's not leaking by now, it's not going to. My GF has a 2006 coupe and I used to have a 2011 1.8L Civic, they are great cars. The 1.8 is an awesome little engine, her car runs flawless as did mine when I had it. Now I am into a K20 Civic myself which still as expected runs great too!

 

[silveravant]

I believe it is an extended warranty.

 

[Alfred_B]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

Originally Posted By: Nick1994

Originally Posted By: Alfred_B

Originally Posted By: InhalingBullets

My question is how the heck would the dealer know the car had been salvaged. If your not trading it in they are not going to look at the state title.

This

Yup, this

Vehicle manufacturers and their dealer networks have access to DMV records, so that if they need to notify people of a recall, they know who the current owner is and where they live. You would think that if they have access to this information, then they would also know what kind of title the vehicle has been issued.

They have access to the DMV records but do not use the salvage status to deny recall notices. Honda doesn't allow them.