weigh in - salvage title vehicles

Interested in opinions on salvage titles and if anyone has done business or knows anything about http://worldmotorcars.net/?page=index
Apart from resale value, what do I need to be concerned about? Apparently they laser align every vehicle, but I still worry about frame damage.

 

hmm structural integrity for one... appearence... quality of paint/body work... most salvaged vehicles are hack jobs... mainly because repairing it correctly would cost more money than the value of the car thus making it pointless to repair a salvaged car for profit, which is the nature of places such as these...(my friends dad owns one like this in mpls next to the dome) but the good thing about them is you can find the car you want for an awesome price but take all of those points into consideration

 

World Motor Cars

I test drove a 4dr 2001 2.5RS that he had, that had 67,000 on it for $7K. It was a hack job and the body work was horrible.

 

My family owns 5 salvage cars (subie being one of them) and we have no complains. Just check how all the panels line up and ask where the paint was done at. Sometimes you get little things that go out down the road but its never more than what you could have gotten a clean car for.

 

I myself would not let any one I know own a salvage vehilce without knowing who did the work, and what the orginal damage was. Most cars are not salvaged because a minor front end or rearend damage. You could be buying a death trap, and anything from a south eastern state is probably going to get you killed faster than it will get you to work. Ever seen a front clip literally welded to the rest of the car?

 

salvaged can be a good deal, but on the other hand, good luck getting an insurance company to cover one. i know that a lot of companies will not insure vehicles with a salvaged title.

 

In all honesty the insurance company does not really care for the most part. I am not sure what companys you know of but when i was still a full time agent, many companys did not care one way or another, its just that you would get a depreciated value if you were to total it out again.

These companys included
State Farm ND,
Progressive Drive
AIG
Safeco
Deerbrook
Victoria
Mendota insurance comp.

and the list goes on.

Also to weigh in, I have owned/rebuilt 2 salvage title vehicle.

1. 2002 civic that was totaled out with front end damage with 12 miles on it. This car was a great rebuild easy, cheap and i ended up selling it a year later and making $2k on it. but the car had engine cradle problems down the road after driving it for 6000 miles, this was unexpected and could not have been forseen with the rebuild unless the engine had been takin out.

2. 1990 accord about 7 years ago. Thing was fine and flawless after rebuild. still runs today.

use cuation, a lot of the times these are hack jobs if bought already fixed with salvage titles. Its a huge business in my hometown of Bismarck,ND,

but done with my rants.

cheers
b

 

just because its salvaged doesnt mean it was in a terrible accident, a car not worth much with horrible hail damage would total out pretty easily, same thing with cars in minor accidents, higher mileage vehicles, ect ect

 

yeah, i was meaning as in torqued/broken/cracked frame type totalled. as for cosmetic, yep, it's not very hard to total out a vehicle. think the way insurance companies do it is anything over 1/2 of the book value-at least that's how it was for mine when i wasted it. not sure if my frame was bent, but pretty sure that it was. pushed the pass side of my car back so i couldn't open the pass side door. i should post the vin just in case it shows up for sale somewhere.

 

all 3 of our legacies have had front end damage. one of them was repaired by someone else. '01 legacy L sedan, 21k miles, $8k...we've put almost 15k miles on it since then, with zero complaints yet....well, whoever did it didn't tighten the negative battery cable enough, so it came loose about a week after we bought the car, but not a huge deal

having repaired both our '92 and '94 legacies. I can say that as long as it didn't effect anything deeper than the radiator support, it's not a difficult fix. just a few spot welds.

 

My insurance company doesn't care that it was a salvage title. That status will only be relevant if someone else wrecks my car and has to pay replacement cost on it. Their insurance company will be paying me WAY less than Kelly Blue Book, because it was a salvage title (hence, "not worth as much").

It's important to know what and where the damage was, and that it was repaired competently. In the case of my car, it was obviously a MASSIVE rearender; the car was totalled with only 16K on it.

Insurance companies will total any car that costs more to repair than to replace, so you'll find old cars that got "totaled" by mere hail damage, but if it got totalled when it was almost new, you KNOW it was serious.

Unibody-constructed cars save your life by absorbing the kinetic energy and CRUSHING. If you UN-CRUSH them and fill in the wrinkles with bondo, the end result is NOT as safe as it originally was. That's why most salvage titles these days are two "half-cars" spliced together, as was the case with my car.

The backend of mine is from a fire-engine-red "L", which was spliced onto the remains of a silverthorn RS that had been rearended. You can spot the splice from underneath, just in front of the rear wheels. I took it to a frame-straightening place in Andover (on Hanson I think) that only charged $25 to inspect it, and it was WELL within factory tolerances. It doesn't dog-leg or anything, either.

So, unlike the previous owner, I got a pretty good deal on it AND knew what I was getting before I bought it. (The P.O. had no idea about the history, but had wondered about the red paint inside the trunk hinges)

History:
Born in Pennsylvania in 2000.
Totalled in Texas @16K miles.
Rebuilt and retitled in Indiana.
Retitled in New Mexico @32K?.
Shipped to Minnesota @40K.
Modded w/bolt-ons, aftermarket wheels, Honda paint by P.O.
Bought by me @44K.
Vinyl graphix'd, powdercoated factory wheels by me.

 

As far as Salvage title vechicle's go, I own two myself. I have not personally sold any of my cars since buying them, and have usually driven them till their last days.

 

In repsponse to all the skeptics, World Motorcars Corp 100% warranties all their rebuilders for a minimum of 1 year to 4 years/ 48,000 miles bumber to bumber.

In addition to a comprehensive warranty, you are able to purchase a newer vehicle for the fraction of a high retail priced and high mileage vehice that is void of warranty. No private seller will warranty the vehicle they are selling for up to 4 years!

 

my old 240 was a prior salvage title - I didn't even know until I sold it and ebay alerted me that the title was not how I listed it (the MN title I had was a clear title but it had a prior TX salvage title)



don't look like no salvage title to me lol

 

Beautiful car!

Benefits of prior salvage histories.

 

If I understand you correctly David Lavelle, your saying you will warranty your cars without the purchase of an extended warrenty? :laugh: :laugh:

 

I WORKED on an STi that was purchased from there. I didn't know it was a salvage until I started taking off the TMIC. I noticed that the pitch mount wasn't STRAIGHT. Was a frontal driverside collision from what I can come up with and was confirmed by the owner after I called him upon finding out what I did. Front frame is at least .5" to the passenger side. There wasn't even a front sway bar.

Not impressed. I can understand if only was a collision enough to seat off the airbags.....but if it's a collision where the whole front MOVED and needed to be repaired, then no... not buying.

 

uh oh potential ownage???:laugh: :laugh:

 

Absolutely.

 

here we go

 

My blazer has a salvage title, havent had any mojor problems with it.

 

Where's Taras? He should be here reading this...

 

no front swaybar = hilarious.

"well you paid for an independent suspension, lets not tie it all up with these linkage bars."

 

World Motor Cars Corp is definately unique in this, and how long have you offered this to your customers?

 

www.eastside-auto.com

 

Another result of prior salvage histories.

All the power to you!

 

WMC stands behind all repairs. If you have a correction issue, we will correct it without question. It is the customers responsibility to contact us immediately. If the vehile is in-op, we will transport it. Now every vehicle is sold with a comprehensive bumper to bumper warranty included. Yes, including turbos! Aftermarket mods are not covered for obvious reasons.This warranty begins the day the vehicle is delivered. If you buy a 2002 WRX with 78,000 miles, you will be covered for a minimum of 1 year/ 12,000 miles (90,000 miles) and up to 4 years/ 48,000 miles (126,000 miles) gauranteed.

 

I drive rebuilt salvage titles. I know "the best" frame guy in town and I do all the panels myself. I drive them for about a year, to find any irregularities, then get them painted. I should point out that most of the salvage cars I buy get gutted and caged. So some of the structural integrity stuff isn't such a big deal. Also, I don't usually leave much in the way of stock mechanical anything....

Salvage titles are a mixed blessing, but Unless your'e buying the wrecked car and taking care of the repairs yourself, I would probably be more than careful

 

Are you a licensed and bonded dealer? How many rebuilders have you dealt with?

 

I'm just a guy.

 

hey, me too

 

well if it falls apart then that would be a real bumber.. er bummer...

 

I am here, reading this.

 

I was worried about the "gauranteed".

 

INCOMING: 2006 WRX LIMITED-RED, 2,000 miles, custom leather, moonroof, STI spoloiler, heated seats. Prior left side repair. CLEAN TITLE.

$19998


Currently have 25 WRX's in production including but not limited to:

2006 STI's (2)
2005 STI's (5)
2005 WRX's (4)
2004 WRX's (5)
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2002 WRX (3)
2002 2.5 RS, 74k, black, 5 speed. Custom 05' front with scoupe (Non operational of course) 2 YEAR /24,000 mile bumber to bumper warranty included! $9998

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