IMO a sub 20k vehicle at best.
What's your take on rebuilt title cars?
- Thread starter mosaud1998
- Start date
Eh, there's another one near my house. It's got 52k miles on it. Two owners clean carfax. The seller wants $35k. I'm at 31.5k. He's stuck at 33k. It is not a competition package. If it was, I'd probably pay $33k~
My dream spec would be an E92 M3(CS) LCI finished in Alpine White over brown leather.
Link: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991724
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- Mar 6, 2023
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Absolutely not. just that I have looked at some, and offered less, and they turned it down, and sold it soon after. More than once.Are you the seller ?
There are plenty of buyers out there who don't know (or care) about things like salvage titles, etc, etc. On a daily basis in a car group I browse, someone asks "is this a good buy ? It does have a salvage title...".
I had an absolutely immaculate 328i coupe with 95k miles (2011 model) that had the convenience package, dealer maintenance, and a slew of quality components that I sold recently.
I sold it for $9995 and it took eight months to get it out the door. Carvana had the unit for six or seven months before I got it. Nobody was looking for this car. No one. Even 18 year old Hyundai XGs got more attention than this Bimmer.
If you really want a 3-Series and can live without an M, I would just opt for the best maintained coupe you can find and let that be it. I can sell a plain-jane Corolla with the same miles for right around the same money. It's a nutty market!
I sold it for $9995 and it took eight months to get it out the door. Carvana had the unit for six or seven months before I got it. Nobody was looking for this car. No one. Even 18 year old Hyundai XGs got more attention than this Bimmer.
If you really want a 3-Series and can live without an M, I would just opt for the best maintained coupe you can find and let that be it. I can sell a plain-jane Corolla with the same miles for right around the same money. It's a nutty market!
How does a car get totalled on insurance when it was wrecked on the race track? 
Rebuilt cars are good deals when they're some 6-8-10 year old mass market vehicle, worth $6000 on a good day, that needs a front clip & radiator or thereabouts. Insurance writes it off, someone bolts parts back on, does an alignment, presto, good car. It's not worth welding the front of one car to the rear of another for this low a payoff. Not the case in OP's example BMW.
The other issue in 2023 is a reliable $6k car is something everybody wants, so the rebuilt title car will wind up at a buy here, pay here lot where the customer doesn't even SEE the title until years later, and doesn't know to ask for it. And it won't be notably discounted against its competition.
Rebuilt cars are good deals when they're some 6-8-10 year old mass market vehicle, worth $6000 on a good day, that needs a front clip & radiator or thereabouts. Insurance writes it off, someone bolts parts back on, does an alignment, presto, good car. It's not worth welding the front of one car to the rear of another for this low a payoff. Not the case in OP's example BMW.
The other issue in 2023 is a reliable $6k car is something everybody wants, so the rebuilt title car will wind up at a buy here, pay here lot where the customer doesn't even SEE the title until years later, and doesn't know to ask for it. And it won't be notably discounted against its competition.
+1
The only reason I'd look at M3s is if you MUST have the V8 or the M prestige. 335 is nice for the power and a great platform for mods, but the 325/328/330 E90s are the sweet spot. Analog hydraulic steering, N/A inline six, and if you find one with sport package, RWD, and manual you have a really practical car that is very fun but also not a wallet burner. A 128i would also be a fun car for not a ton of money. I've driven some that are set up with good tires and they are a hoot to drive on a twisty road. My own 328i is auto, poverty spec with standard suspension, but even that is really fun on backroads, gets 28mpg highway, and comfortable.
My friend's 335 was tuned and made great power, but it was hard to enjoy revving the car out on a back road since after a few seconds on the throttle you would be in triple digit speeds. It also had many of the issues of owning a modded car and required more attention.
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- Feb 3, 2023
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How does a car get totalled on insurance when it was wrecked on the race track?
They lied? LOL
I've been in the collision repair industry in shops and insurance for 20+ years. NEVER buy a salvage title car without;
1) A full and proper inspection, best would be a Diminished Value appraiser. They specialize in inspecting repairs for proper procedures and determining what effect the repairs, whether done properly or not, have on the value of the vehicle. It's a 2-for-1 deal; tells you if they repairs are right AND tells you what the market value of the vehicle is.
2) The estimate from the insurance company that totaled the vehicle and the work order from the shop that did the repairs.
and 3) A driving need for that particular vehicle, something that can not reasonably be found without a salvage/reconstructed title. This means something rare with a very specific purpose (track car, off road crawler, etc).
In my opinion, I have not seen very many people do a proper rebuild on a car that was totaled. Also I fear alot of the issues are in the wiring harness repairs. Quite often the wiring is needed to be re-spliced back together and that poses a lot of issues.
Check out a youtube channel Vehcor and see if you would want to own a car that has needed that level of repair. This guy does a very thorough job.
When our son's car was in an accident, the adjuster looked at it and when they saw that the "main" wiring harness was affected, they stopped their inspection and called it totaled. Yes, there were damaged panels, headlights broken, etc, etc but those can be fixed a lot easier but the wiring harness was the deal-breaker.
Interestingly enough, it still started and ran and I don't recall it having a check engine light on.
Ick rebuilt
