Should I avoid a salvage title?
 

Question: I'm going to look at an '87 diesel tomorrow. Owner is a mechanic who says it has a salvage title - the story is a little old lady owned it and got hit - a "fender bender" with damage to the front left fender and driver's door. It's not hard to imagine an insurance company writing off a perfectly good old MB because it wasn't worth the money to fix it.

Assuming the damage really is light etc., and very fixable, and the rest of the car is really clean, is there any reason to avoid a salvage title? Do insurance companies look at them like a regular car? I understand it will always be worth less because of that term, but if I get a great deal on it, that might be OK. I'm proceeding with caution here.

Thanks,

I own a Dodge truck with a salvage title. I wasn't too concerned when I bought it.

I'd say if you know stuff about cars and are able to determine if the car is in good condition, salvage title is your opportunity to get a good deal on it.

It affects the resale value if you care about that.

And if its the car you really want, salvage title is better than no title at all, at least you can have it registered :)

Insurance company does not care and I dont think they even know if its a salvage title, for liability insurance... yer not gonna be able to get a good rate on comprehensive on something that old anyway, salvage or no

I'm with Constan. To what he said, I'll add that you should check your local laws regarding registration for salvage title vehicles. In Nevada, you can't register a vehicle with a salvage title, but if the car is safe to operate, you can can get a safety inspection done by a licensed garage and take the paperwork to the DMV, who will then register your car and cut you a "rebuilt" title. Afterward, registration is exactly the same as a regular title.

I did this with my 250, and the inspection ran me all of $25.

Don't worry, but....
 

Salvage titles are ok, just a few precautions...

The first is, if it's legal in your state to be repurchased by you. I think some vehicles with an Alabama salvage title, can not be titled in GA without being reinspected, and brought up to GA standards, so you could end up with extra expenses to re-do things perhaps.

The next is, when you go to sell it years later to the next guy, what do you think he'll do? Answer: he'll think the same thing you do, should I buy a car with a salvage title. Solution: the only way to sell them, is if they cost a lot less than ones with regular titles. Go in the front door, but look for the back door.

Last is, just so you know, cars with a salvage title are typically ones that have had some serious damage. The damage might have been repaired, but the car has likely lost the structural integrity it had from the factory. Said another way, if you're in a car crash with it, it might not perform or hold up like it should; it could get crunched more than it was designed to.

Bottom line, I've had several salvage title cars, they're fine, so long as you get them low enough to get out of them later. Usually, if you have a car that is $10,000 normally, and another one (in nice shape) has a salvage title for $8,000, the price makes the choice a toss up, which is good, as a lot of people will buy the $8 car, ie, you can at least resell it later. Anything less than that $8k is an even better deal of course.

Good luck.

Charlie,
If it was me, and the car only had minor damage , I would go for it! Is it a wagon? Even more reason if it is!
I would take plenty of pics especially of the damage when the panels are off so that if you ever wanted to sell it, you could be up front with people and show there was no serious damage and the car was always structurely sound.
Good luck!! We all have our fingers crossed for you!!

Having to go thru this in the past few weeks:mad:, The reason that i will wind up with a salvage is because the damage exceeds the value of the car Therefore it is a total loss. I kept the car but before i can get payment i had to convert my Title to a salvage certificate( not to be operated on public roads). Now when i get the car fixed i have to go thru an enhanced inspection and get a reconstucted title. Now bnecause I am the owner of it I know what the damage was, looking at another one i would go over it withj a fine tooth comb for frame damage etc.

UPDATE:

Previous responses warned about some legal/registration issues when buying s a salvage titled car. I looked at the Texas DOT website and found this:

"The owner, who retained a salvage or nonrepairable motor vehicle or a motor vehicle for which the following types of ownership documents have been issued, may not operate or permit the operation of the motor vehicle on a public highway until a Texas Certificate of Title branded “Rebuilt Salvage” is issued:

• Nonrepairable Certificate of Title (issued before 9/1/2003);
• Salvage Certificate of Title (before 9/1/03);
• Salvage Vehicle Title (after 9/1/03)
...

So I can't drive it until the damage is fixed and title updated to "rebuilt". Now, getting a rebuilt salvage title doesn't sound too hard - an inspection and a $65 application fee, along with a written explanation of what was repaired.

But it is another hoop to jump through and frankly I have other things in my life right now that require attention...I'm going to try to look at the car but am much more aware of some hassle involved here...thanks to all who replied.

This is certainly true when you are talking about a car that is a couple of years old but it's not necessarily true when the car in question is an 87 Mercedes that has a book value of 2-3K dollars.

The salvage title tells you that at some point in time the car was involved in an accident where the repair costs exceeded a size able percentage of the market value of the car.

For an 87 300D in average shape I'd guess a 5 mph fender-bender that bent a fender, the bumper and the grill would inflict enough damage to 'total' the car.

Not reading every comment on here so I apologize if this has already been said -- From what research I have done, car's that have had extensive work done to the front of the car (or any part really) seriously fatigues the metal and therefore never holds up in a car accident as well. I can't remember if it was Top Gear of Fifth Gear who did a special on used cars that we're being sold where frames were re-straightened etc.

Each case is different though too. My Two Cents

OR was stolen and then later recovered.

Technically, salvage title means that at some point in time the insurance paid the "total loss" claim on the car.

And as for repair cost - I am pretty sure that if my 240D had slight front end damage, say hood and fender, the insurance company would declare it a 'total loss'. By no means 'serious' damage. I would, then, naturally, collect the money and then buy back the car, and it would have a salvage title.

At least in my state being sold to a dismantler automatically results in a salvage title. My 250 was driven to a junkyard and sold to it, after which I bought it. It doesn't appear to have every been hit hard, and I think the reason the PO ditched it was because the transmission was going. I still got several months use out of it before the tranny lost third and fourth gears and I had to actually do something about it.

Charlie,

Look at post #92 on Craigslist sticky. I looked at the car yesterday.

Funny, I looked at it yesterday at 9am. Nice car, but massive body work is too much for me. Shame too, I loved that red on tan.

I didn't get to go see it...was it really that bad?

Brian,

So you were the one Mike said came out that morning! Did he show you the rest of his cars? He really wanted to sell that Z3. Oh, and he didn't tell me it was wrecked when I called. I gave him a hard time about that. Would have liked to known beforehand.

Charlie, not "off the chart" bad if that sort of thing doesn't scare you. I'd wait until after it was repaired, though. It's my opinion he hasn't uncovered all the damage yet.