Greasyman

I've been looking for a Scion xB, and it seems over 50% of the ones for sale have salvage titles. Most of these cars are selling for $6-8,000. I thought a salvage title was for cars that were worth less than it would cost to fix them. A car that has more than $6-8k of damage would have been pretty messed up, but all these cars look ok. Also, if they weren't worth fixing, why are they now fixed? When I ask about the title to the owner, they usually say it just needed a headlight and grill, or something minor like that. Would a car at that price with a salvage title be worth buying? What's going on here?

frankiietc

Body shops use Dealer new parts..Some people fix them using used parts making it Really cheap compared to dealer. Salvage cars are a little shady if you don't know the Bodyman that fixed it. Things like core supports have to be in spec. Or headlights don't fit right or sometimes alignment can't be perfected depending on the damage it had.

frankiietc

Also make sure before buying, if they used Taiwan parts..

frankiietc

They are fixed because it Will only benifit someone that does collision repair. they buy the car for 3000, own labor and parts, paint, another 4000. So they are basically getting paid for labor.

EDDIEA123

iTrader: (5)

My car is salvage but im the 2nd owner and mine had some pretty big damage on it but after fixing it its pretty much runs like new. Ive had it for almost 4 years and no problems

torqueTc

iTrader: (11)

Make sure to run the carfox

I would steer clear of ANYTHING salvage that involved a hard impact. Only salvage I would touch would be a theft/interior/exterior strip.

I mean dont get me a wrong, an individual could wreck a car, and get it fixed "outside" of insurance ect, and through a private shop - and never enter things into the VIN # tracker to display damages.

If your buying something that you KNOW is damaged, make sure to get it checked out by a pro (that is NOT the selling party) infact, I would make the seller pay for the inspection with the stipulation that you will pay for it if everything checks out, and you end up purchasing the car.

You want to make sure that frame is spot on, suspension geometry is all valid ect. Those would be the main things I would worry about. Exterior stuff can ALWAYS be fixed, but frame cracks/stress/ ect would be something that you cant really put a price on without getting it done.

simplyred

we have a lot of salvage title cars coming out of kansas right now. we had some serious hail come through here a few months ago and the repair cost is usually through the roof. most of the repaired cars are coming from the PDR people that are actually doing the repairs.

roberttx

That's very interesting. We live in the Texas Panhandle, right by Kansas and get a lot of hail as well. Thing is, in TX law, an insurer is not allowed to put a car on a salvage title because of hail damage.

We've done rather well out of that.