What's your take on rebuilt title cars?

Depends on the state laws. They are mostly junk with never ending hidden problems and poor resale in CA. They always have unrealistically low miles for the condition too. If it's your car or someone you know and you 100% know what was broken and fixed, that's different.
 
Doesn’t appear to be damaged to the point of total loss unless…the air bags were deployed?
Need to ensure that the car was repaired with airbags and proper sensors. That happens sometimes. Also were the repair parts from a donor cars - LNQ parts?
 
:unsure:
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Some thoughts:

1. The rule of thumb is that a rebuilt title is worth about 50%, maybe 60% of a car in similar apparent condition, with a clear title. If $42 is retail for this car, then $21K would be reasonable.
2. Forget goodwill, dealership help, recalls etc. on rebuilt cars. You are on your own.
3. Titling, registering, insuring all are an increased hassle on rebuilt cars. In many states, many insurers won't touch them.
4. Any rebuilt car will always have a safety question mark. To become a rebuilt title, somebody had to make the call that that getting the car back to pre-loss condition was economically infeasible. Then somebody had to decide to do it cheaper. Maybe that happened correctly, maybe not.
 
Some thoughts:

1. The rule of thumb is that a rebuilt title is worth about 50%, maybe 60% of a car in similar apparent condition, with a clear title. If $42 is retail for this car, then $21K would be reasonable.
2. Forget goodwill, dealership help, recalls etc. on rebuilt cars. You are on your own.
3. Titling, registering, insuring all are an increased hassle on rebuilt cars. In many states, many insurers won't touch them.
4. Any rebuilt car will always have a safety question mark. To become a rebuilt title, somebody had to make the call that that getting the car back to pre-loss condition was economically infeasible. Then somebody had to decide to do it cheaper. Maybe that happened correctly, maybe not.
That's what I was thinking of offering the guy. $20k. He had a buyer lined up but that buyer couldn't get approved for a loan (most likely because the car has a rebuilt title).

****, the car does have an open recall 🤣
 
I'm taking a pass.

That's a long carfax; I agree on the pass.

Window should be easy to know if it was replaced or not - I've never seen a window get replaced with OEM after an accident but that's just my very limited experience.

Airbags went off from it's first collision

Carfax says there was another accident when it hit a barrier under owner #6. Assuming this is the current owner, they did not disclose that info either.

A question for anybody who can answer though: the Carfax shows the registration in IL. If the car has NY plates, shouldn't the carfax show the registration in NY instead?
 
That's a long carfax; I agree on the pass.

Window should be easy to know if it was replaced or not - I've never seen a window get replaced with OEM after an accident but that's just my very limited experience.

Airbags went off from it's first collision

Carfax says there was another accident when it hit a barrier under owner #6. Assuming this is the current owner, they did not disclose that info either.

A question for anybody who can answer though: the Carfax shows the registration in IL. If the car has NY plates, shouldn't the carfax show the registration in NY instead?
That's what I'd assume
 
I'm looking at this 2011 BMW M3(competition pack) with 49k miles on it. Market value is $42k~. I've never brought a rebuilt title car before but if the body and frame look okay I think this would be a steal considering what the market value is.

What do y'all think?

Link to car: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1996031
Would you think the work was done to the highest standards? Pennies on the dollar would be a good price.
 
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