Quote (ride686 @ Dec 31 2013 10:26am)
People without the ability to properly evaluate a salvage vehicle should stay the fuck away from them though, especially if they could get a clean one for not much more. Then one for example is most likely garbage lol.
False.
I paid almost nothing for my Ranger that I drove for almost 2 years and sold for what I paid. I drove 25k miles for the cost of fuel and oil. I didn't even put tires on it. The P.O. rear ended someone and it needed a new bumper, grill, radiator, and radiator support. The thing was probably only worth $6k when it was in the accident. Easily totaled with no real structural damage.
A small used lot with a body shop bought it at auction for probably $1200. They put $500 worth of parts on it and repainted the hood and fenders. He put it on his lot for $4k. I paid just over 3k. It only had a shade over 100k on it and similar trucks with clean titles were going for $5-6k at the time.
You have to be able to see how it was damaged and how it was fixed. Do you want a salvage titled vehicle that had flood damage? No.
Do you want a POS like this one that someone fixed on the low by not even replacing air bags? No. Frame damage? No. Do you generally want a salvage title vehicle that would be worth over $10k with a clean title? No. The more it would be worth, the more damage it took to total it. That's why I said DD. You don't want a salvage title 2009 745LI as a DD.
For cheaper stuff it takes a surprisingly small amount of damage to total. It can then be bought at auction and fixed for very little. Remember the body shop is quoting the insurance company a price that they make money at. That is roughly twice or three times what it costs them to do the job. Paint and body labor is the same no matter what the car is worth so cheaper vehicles end up getting to that % of total value quickly.
My Formula has a salvage title from a similar incident. It was hit in an intersection and the whole front clip had to be replaced. The nose on those cars sticks out over 2 feet in front of the frame rails. It's all foam and plastic. 2 fenders, bumper cover, OEM WS6 hood, inner fenders, and paint would easily be a $5,000 quote from a body shop. That totaled it. No structural damage and all the gaps are perfect.
People worry about selling something with a salvage title... That should not be a concern if you are getting it at the price it is actually worth. If you overpay you won't get your money back. That is no different than a clean title vehicle. Take the clean retail and cut it in half. You shouldn't pay much more than that. DD's at a low price point are easy to get rid of. I sold my Ranger in 2 days. The guy is still driving it. I think he put a timing belt on it. Same tires with a plug in one of the rears lol.
This post was edited by FMX_89 on Dec 31 2013 10:23am