Anyone drive a salvaged car? Really considering one.

[Corporate Thug]

I told my body shop guy/mechanic to look out for some cars for me (you know, cars that people bring in and find out it costs too much to repair). Anyway, someone sold him a 2007 G35 Sedan for $7000 because its was salvaged and it would cost $4000 in parts and $3000 in labor to repair and the guy didn't have it.

Anyway, my mechanic said he would sell it to me for the cost of the parts ($11000). The car has 7000 miles on it. Note my mechanic is a pretty close family friend. We have know him forever and we have been going to him for over 20 years so I really trust his work,

What do you all think?

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
I told my body shop guy/mechanic to look out for some cars for me (you know, cars that people bring in and find out it costs too much to repair). Anyway, someone sold him a 2007 G35 Sedan for $7000 because its was salvaged and it would cost $4000 in parts and $3000 in labor to repair and the guy didn't have it.

Anyway, my mechanic said he would sell it to me for the cost of the parts ($11000). The car has 7000 miles on it. Note my mechanic is a pretty close family friend. We have know him forever and we have been going to him for over 20 years so I really trust his work,

What do you all think?

If your trust his work i wouldn't see why not

Now it depends on how much you trust his work

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: alfa147x

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
I told my body shop guy/mechanic to look out for some cars for me (you know, cars that people bring in and find out it costs too much to repair). Anyway, someone sold him a 2007 G35 Sedan for $7000 because its was salvaged and it would cost $4000 in parts and $3000 in labor to repair and the guy didn't have it.

Anyway, my mechanic said he would sell it to me for the cost of the parts ($11000). The car has 7000 miles on it. Note my mechanic is a pretty close family friend. We have know him forever and we have been going to him for over 20 years so I really trust his work,

What do you all think?

If your trust his work i wouldn't see why not

Now it depends on how much you trust his work

I've been going to him forever and have gotten nothing but great results. In fact, everyone in my family goes to him. My friends (who are major car guys) started going to him too and they have never had a complaint.

 

[Arkaign]

Sounds good, but be sure the frame is straight before investing in this, and be prepared for the project to take a considerable amount of time, depending on how serious the damage is. With only $4k in parts, it sounds like it might not be too serious. Pics? That is, if I'm understanding the OP, and that is that you have a car that still needs repairs. If the car has already been repaired, and he will sell it to you for $11k, then that is a helluva steal ASSUMING the car is in perfect working order and there are no defects/frame damage.

 

[T2urtle]

11k for a car with salvaged that is repaired.

now these cars are close to 35-40k new, market for these now have to be still 25-28k clean titled, knock out 5k for salvaged title on ebay for the most part. 20k car for 11k thats nice.

what is damaged? i would love rear end stuff, but in a g35 case, i would think side impact would be the least damaging.

 

[Elstupido]

Jump on it, don't hesitae

 

[bruceb]

We need to know more about what is wrong with it. Mechanical problems or body damage.
If body, depending on how it was hit, the repairs can be tricky. It may also have been a flood car.
In that case, there are lots of parts to replace.

 

[SearchMaster]

If you trust the guy, and plan to keep the car for a long time (not having to deal with the hassle of selling a salvage car), I'd do it. My old roommate always bought salvaged cars very cheaply (almost always Ford Escorts) and never had problems with them (other than the fact that they were Ford Escorts).

 

[Horsepower]

Nothing wrong with this scenario if you keep it a long time. A salvaged vehicle is worth HALF of non-salvaged. Find out the history because of what bruceb said. A flood vehicle's electronics will drive you crazy for years. An old trick for (reasonably) straight frame is to drive the vehicle on wet pavement and see how the tire tracks line up.

 

[StageLeft]

You didn't say why it was wrecked; what happeened to it?

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
I told my body shop guy/mechanic to look out for some cars for me (you know, cars that people bring in and find out it costs too much to repair). Anyway, someone sold him a 2007 G35 Sedan for $7000 because its was salvaged and it would cost $4000 in parts and $3000 in labor to repair and the guy didn't have it.

Anyway, my mechanic said he would sell it to me for the cost of the parts ($11000). The car has 7000 miles on it. Note my mechanic is a pretty close family friend. We have know him forever and we have been going to him for over 20 years so I really trust his work,

What do you all think?

If you trust him and seen his work, go for it. If it's just body damage, then it doesn't matter - you get a new paint and some welding/parts. Just make sure it doesn't rattle when it's done.

Suspension and frame damage is a different story

I've owned a salvaged Audi A4 and currently own salvage Yamaha r6... great bargain. I bought the A4 wrecked for $3500 and sold it fixed for $4800 3 years/15K later The car is still alive btw, just saw the new owner some 2 months ago still with it

 

[JulesMaximus]

What was damaged? I find it difficult to believe that a $35,000 car was totaled because it needed $7,000 in repairs. That makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[JDub02]

resale on a salvage title sucks. but no problem if you want to keep the vehicle.

i bought a theft recovery from a junk yard that came with a salvage title. had to replace the convertible top and steering column. the Jeep ran great for me. absolutely kills the book value on the vehicle.

 

[darom]

Call your insurance agent/company to find out if they are willing to cover a salvage title. For example, mine will cover only the minimum required liability (CA) portion. Basically, you won't be able to get your $11k back if you are at fault.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: alfa147x

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
I told my body shop guy/mechanic to look out for some cars for me (you know, cars that people bring in and find out it costs too much to repair). Anyway, someone sold him a 2007 G35 Sedan for $7000 because its was salvaged and it would cost $4000 in parts and $3000 in labor to repair and the guy didn't have it.

Anyway, my mechanic said he would sell it to me for the cost of the parts ($11000). The car has 7000 miles on it. Note my mechanic is a pretty close family friend. We have know him forever and we have been going to him for over 20 years so I really trust his work,

What do you all think?

If your trust his work i wouldn't see why not

Now it depends on how much you trust his work

Just because he's a good mechanic and he's trustworthy doesn't mean he has the know how to properly fix a car with a salvage title. The car might look as good as new but a couple years from now it might break in half from a relatively minor impact at just the right point.

Again, I find it difficult to believe that a 1 year old $35,000 car was totaled because of only $7,000 worth of damage.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: alfa147x

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
I told my body shop guy/mechanic to look out for some cars for me (you know, cars that people bring in and find out it costs too much to repair). Anyway, someone sold him a 2007 G35 Sedan for $7000 because its was salvaged and it would cost $4000 in parts and $3000 in labor to repair and the guy didn't have it.

Anyway, my mechanic said he would sell it to me for the cost of the parts ($11000). The car has 7000 miles on it. Note my mechanic is a pretty close family friend. We have know him forever and we have been going to him for over 20 years so I really trust his work,

What do you all think?

If your trust his work i wouldn't see why not

Now it depends on how much you trust his work

Just because he's a good mechanic and he's trustworthy doesn't mean he has the know how to properly fix a car with a salvage title. The car might look as good as new but a couple years from now it might break in half from a relatively minor impact at just the right point.

Again, I find it difficult to believe that a 1 year old $35,000 car was totaled because of only $7,000 worth of damage.

Insurance companies are goofy. That's the best I can tell ya.

 

[crosshairs]

Originally posted by: darom
Call your insurance agent/company to find out if they are willing to cover a salvage title. For example, mine will cover only the minimum required liability (CA) portion. Basically, you won't be able to get your $11k back if you are at fault.

This is true...My girlfriend is an insurance adjuster, and if an insurance company paid out to a policy holder as a total loss, the car is never able to be insured for anything other than liability .

The policyholder always has the option to buy the car back and get it repaired, but they will no longer insure it for anything but liability.

 

[alfa147x]

how does one find a salvaged car locally ?

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: alfa147x
how does one find a salvaged car locally ?

Unless you know the history of the car or know what to look for I don't recommend seeking one out.

I drive a car with a salvage title (99 camry) that had had something short out and cause the battery to explode. A bunch of the electronics were replaced and I picked it up. It's been a pain in the but, but not really because of anything to do with the salvage title. It's needed struts, emissions work, and had a fuse box that ended up getting a bad connection. That fuse box was horrible to diagnose...

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: alfa147x

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
I told my body shop guy/mechanic to look out for some cars for me (you know, cars that people bring in and find out it costs too much to repair). Anyway, someone sold him a 2007 G35 Sedan for $7000 because its was salvaged and it would cost $4000 in parts and $3000 in labor to repair and the guy didn't have it.

Anyway, my mechanic said he would sell it to me for the cost of the parts ($11000). The car has 7000 miles on it. Note my mechanic is a pretty close family friend. We have know him forever and we have been going to him for over 20 years so I really trust his work,

What do you all think?

If your trust his work i wouldn't see why not

Now it depends on how much you trust his work

Just because he's a good mechanic and he's trustworthy doesn't mean he has the know how to properly fix a car with a salvage title. The car might look as good as new but a couple years from now it might break in half from a relatively minor impact at just the right point.

Again, I find it difficult to believe that a 1 year old $35,000 car was totaled because of only $7,000 worth of damage.

The term totaled seems like its thrown around way too much these days.

 

[yhelothar]

I bought two salvaged miatas before. Never had any problems that was due to the accident. If you trust your mechanic and he says its in good working order, definitely jump on it.

 

[Corporate Thug]

I don't have all that much info about the car, I only spoke to him about 60 seconds because he had customers in the shop. All I know is that it was hit from the front (from what I gather, G35 was going thru intersection eastward and another southward traveling car hit the front portion of it)

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
I don't have all that much info about the car, I only spoke to him about 60 seconds because he had customers in the shop. All I know is that it was hit from the front (from what I gather, G35 was going thru intersection eastward and another southward traveling car hit the front portion of it)

That's not good because the front end is designed to crumple under impact to protect the passengers. I'm betting it has frame damage and while you can fix frame damage in some situations it is likely that the crash structure will not perform the same as it did when new if it is hit in a similar way in the future. Is your safety or the safety of your passengers worth the risk?

BTW-If the frame isn't straightened properly you might have difficulty with wheel alignment and at the very least you'll chew through tires like crazy.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
I don't have all that much info about the car, I only spoke to him about 60 seconds because he had customers in the shop. All I know is that it was hit from the front (from what I gather, G35 was going thru intersection eastward and another southward traveling car hit the front portion of it)

That's not good because the front end is designed to crumple under impact to protect the passengers. I'm betting it has frame damage and while you can fix frame damage in some situations it is likely that the crash structure will not perform the same as it did when new if it is hit in a similar way in the future. Is your safety or the safety of your passengers worth the risk?

BTW-If the frame isn't straightened properly you might have difficulty with wheel alignment and at the very least you'll chew through tires like crazy.

^^ Truth, have it put on a lift and get under it with someone who knows body/frame repair, and go over it thoroughly. It may still be an awesome deal, but get very educated with the potential issues with this vehicle before committing.