Salvage Title?

Would you buy a car with a salvage title? What evidence would you require of the seller to trust the car? How much would you expect knocked off the price?

I'm looking at E36 M3's and there are a number that look great... until I notice they have a salvage title. Supposedly just "body damage", but I won't take anyone's word on that.

So would you be willing to buy a car like that, or just ignore all of them for one with a clean title?

my 318ti came to me with a clean title.. found out later it had been washed going from NY to Mass. Car had it's entire passengerside replaced at some point in it's life.

Car just died due to rust.. from where they failed to properly seal the welds.

Only way I am taking possession of a salvage title car is if it hasn't ever been fixed.

Or I MIGHT consider based on owner supplied information and photos, on top of a cheap comparable price. Or I am already shopping for a cheap POS, by then it doesn't almost matter.

Depends - some theft recoveries earn a salvage title - those would be ok. For accident damage I'd want to go over it with a fine tooth comb - like Mad's car back on the road with not so good repairs in the rust belt = terminal rust. Maybe for a gutted track rat with a history of fresh water damage. As a driver with flood damage I'd expect electrical gremlins and eventually rust (in weird places).

My CRX has a salvage title. It had a fender bender that krinkled the RF fender, broke a parking light, and little else. It doesn't take much to total a 20 year old car with 200K miles. The previous owner hammered the fender straight and drove it. When it came up for sale it was very cheap for an essentially rust-free tin can with some nice upgrades so I took a chance, and so far I think we're doing all right with it.

I probably wouldn't get a salvage title car if it was newer or cost more than a couple grand. For a beater commuter appliance, we took a flier and it's working out.

My daily driver has a salvage title. It's an mx6. By the end of the year I will have owned 4 of these cars. It's the most expensive of the four and the only one without a clean title.

It's also the best one.

I had a ranger with a salvage title. It was redone very well. We put 250k on it and sold it. It's still on the road today, see it all the time.

My step dads dd is a salvage title Grand Prix. He got it dirt cheap and it is a great car.

Biggest problems with a salvage title are.... Shoddy work, no trade in value whatsoever, it's hard to sell it if you decide to. Other than knowing what to look for and keeping those thoughts in your mind I would not be deterred by a salvage title.

i've had a couple of cars with a salvage title- a 94 LHS that was a theft recovery and had a MN state issued VIN tag in the doorjam, and a 98 Cavalier that had been rolled over and repaired at some point in the past.. i was givne the LHS for free because the guy thought the trans was junk, and i bought the Cavalier for $200 with a blown head gasket and 290,000 miles on it..

the LHS was a great car after 2 trans fluid changes- i think someone used Dexron fluid in a trans that required ATF+4 fluid.. drove that car without any problems for 15,000 miles or so over an 18 month period and sold it for $700..

i slapped a head gasket in the Cavalier and put 15,000 miles on it over a 3 month period.. yes, i put a lot of miles on it in a short period of time... then one day the head gasket popped again after the odometer clicked 301,000 miles.. other than the big chunks of bondo that you could chip out of the roof and the driver's door that said "Sunfire" that had worn out hinges that didn't allow the door to properly latch shut without using the proper technique to close it, it was a good car for the short time i had it... i sold it today for $160 to a guy that's going to scrap it out, and i got to keep the 15X6 Beretta mesh wheels and brand new tires off it..

so, yeah, a salvage title doesn't scare me- but then again i also don't ever buy anything really nice that i have a lot of money invested in, either...

I'm thinking that I'd be willing to go for one if: the owner can show documentation of the damage and repair, I can get an independent mechanic to give it a clean bill of health on a PPI, and the price is lowered sufficiently.

I had a salvage title Miata. It had OK bodywork but poor paint, particularly on the driver's side, and lots of overspray. It has the common rust in front of the rear wheel on the driver's side, but not the passenger side. The driver's door had a power mirror, but the car was a base model, and not set up for power mirrors. It also had a brand new top.

Aside from the paint and rust, I had no issues with the car, and the current owner is having good luck with it as well. Mechanically, it was solid and still is.

Maybe swing by your local body shop and see if they'll take a look before buying?

Look into why it was given a salvage title. I had a buddy that bought an s2000 as a track toy that was salvaged because of hail damage. It had gotten the ever loving snot beat out of it but he didn't care.

i'd buy a newer salvage vehicle if i knew why it was salvaged and could inspect the damaged/repaired area well. and it was 50% the cost of a comparable non salvage title vehicle.

i've seen plenty of clean title vehicles with crap repair work too though. i had a caprice that was purchased before carfax, that always ate drivers front tire even though alignment was in spec and all parts were new. when carfax came around i ran it and it came up as wrecked shortly after it was bought new. and it wasn't "father in law's since new" like the guy we got it from said. it was "some guy got it, wrecked when a year old, repaired, repoed, sat in impound for 2 years, i got it at auction and lied to you to get you to buy it"

carfax and autocheck help but they don't tell the whole story. i've found some cars though where it has told me they were written off after a theft on the record.

I've bought about 8 cars thru CoPart with salvage certificates that I had to change to Salvage Titles. So far about all of them have turned into really nice cars. Current DD is a 2000 BMW 328 ci. All I've done is hook up the power steering pump hose, clean it up, and drive it. You can get burned but you can also find great deals ($300 for a 90 Miata).

My rule is: If there is documentation of where the damage was, you can inspect the repaired area, it looks good, and passes a PPI with a trusted mechanic, go ahead. But: don't pay more than 60-70% of clean title value.

It's all about value at the time of the accident / damage. A fairly new car that's salvage raises more warning signs than one that's 15 years old and was "totaled" in a minor fender bender due to expensive parts + low retail value.