Buying a totalled car?

[jhynesrockmtn]

I have a coworker who's daughter was hit in her 2004 Acura RSX by a city bus. I have not seen the car yet. The car has 40,000 miles, supposedly great shape, new tires, etc. Supposedly it was hit in the left front as she was trying to parallel park.

My son is a senior in high school and also taking a tech school course all year in mechanics. They also have a body shop program with full capabilities including frame straightening, paint booth, etc. They will take on projects for materials costs. He's on the mechanics track not body track but he'd be able to help out if they took on the project.

We have the opportunity to buy it for $2,000 and will try and take a look this weekend. Her payout is $9,000 or $7,000 and they keep the car. She has no interest in keeping it. I know nothing about body work. Apparently the value of the car was diminished a bit from a previous accident on it's carfax. Is this something we should look at? I'm going to try and talk to the body shop teacher at his program to see if he or a buddy could look at it with us.

My initial thought was to get it, part out the stuff I don't need and make a race car out of it (Chump, ICSCC and Lemons). My son wants it as a driver so we may be fighting over it :-)

[porsche4life]

Sounds like a nice DD for him and a great learning experience....

[Seahawk]

Find an Acura board and do the homie work...but what a great project for you and your son.

Taking the school guys with you will be invaluable.

The benefits of being involved with your son at the car level cannot be overstated. They forget the lectures, they never forget the time you spend with them.

Have fun.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Depends on how bad the damage is, but it sounds like you could get a good car for not much money. Being that it's salvage, you could get used parts to further reduce the cost. As Paul said, it sounds like a great father/son project. My 5 year old son keeps asking me to buy a car for us to fix up, I wish I had the time/money.

[s_morrison57]

A write off is a wreck, unless you are pulling the engine/trans for a transplant to a donor car don't do it, the salvage title and the cost to fix it right, and have it inspected, if thats a requirement will far out wiegh the cost of just drpping the 9 G for a running car with out issues. Sounds like your trying to get something for nothing it doesnt happen and if it's to good a deal to pass on then pass on, there has to be way cheaper ways to do the " learning experience " than this pile of multi wrecked junk, the kid's a mechanic get him a sound car that needs an engine or tranny rebuild. I wish I knew body work, but it can take years to get that right, as far as I'm concerned it is more of an art form than a trade

[Laneco]

The $2,000 sounds very high for that car. Salvage cars are bought as parts cars or by some people to re-assemble (like us, we've bought probably 25 salvage cars through the years) or by salvage yards to sell for parts. A car that is hit in the back goes for quite a bit of money because most are hit in the front. If they aren't hit in the front, they are good parts cars (clean front sheet metal etc). The salvage yard guys step up a bit for those because of the easy sell value of the front wrap.

This car is hit in the front so they will be less interested in it. The actual value of the car is probably around $500 to the salvage guys. The insurance company will run the car through auction and probably get about that amount. Unless they can find some guy who will just pay $2,000....

A 2004 Acura RSX is worth somewhere around 8-10 if it's real nice. This one has a previous hit history let's give it 9,000 to start with (right in line with the insurance company payoff). Knock off at least 30% for the salvage title. Now you are down to $6,000, subtract the $2,000 you paid for it. Now you have $4,000 to work with. With free labor and careful shopping for parts, you can probably put this back together for another $2,000. A cold/wet front wrap is going to set you back at least $1,000, plus paint, alignment, hidden damage. So that leaves $2000 on the table if nothing goes wrong. Obviously this is a site unseen guestimate, you could be into this for more...

If you could get into this car for around $800 then I'd say go ahead and do it. It would make a good project car and be a dang fun driver. It will NOT be worth any money so bear that in mind if it gets wrecked down the road. No matter how pretty and shiny it is or perfectly it drives, it will still have a salvage title and the insurance company will pay you accordingly (ouch).

Get into it cheap, keep your costs down and enjoy a fun driver when you are done.

angela

(see salvage title fun to drive car below):

[Eric 951]

Depending upon the extent of the damage, and what you want to do with the car when finished, you can get a deal.

My 96 LR Disco was purchased from the ins. company for 1,000.00 bc it was "totalled". It was my sister's car so I was well aware of the history--it had pretty good maintenance and even had a replacement motor while under warranty.

I checked the car out--no frame damage--the driver's fender was a little crunched, the hood was dented, the front bumper, grille and some headlight mounts were trashed--the grille guard took the brunt of the impact. It was completly drivable as it sat so I bought it from the ins. co with a salvage, drove it home, and went about fixing it up.

total investment when I finished, including 5 new tires, brakes (rotors and pads), t-stat, hoses, belts, plugs, wires, etc, (standard maintenance items) new cup holders and speakers and an ARB winch/mount bumper/guard came to 3,400.00 (including the initial purchase price) and 700 of that total was what I paid for the ARB piece. Got an R title through AAA and have been driving it since (3 years+)

I bought it as a DD beater, and it has served that purpose flawlessly--and I figure that when I do get rid of it, even with the R title, I can get at least 1,000 for it.

So, depending upon your ultimate goal nd the damage to the car--it can be a great deal.

[Rusty Heap]

A salvage title mean no comprehensive or collision insurance on it through most insurance companies. So you'll only have liability.

if it ever gets in another wreck, you're screwed for parts or coverage. Something to consider.......

[Laneco]

That's an excellent point (insurance comprehensive/collision).

We are with State Farm who does provide us comprehensive on all vehicles including the salvage title vehicles. Whenever I loan out Butters, I put full coverage insurance on him (salvage titel). State Farm has never had an issue with it but we do have an understanding that in the event of an accident, I will receive less money for my car. Twenty-five percent less across the board was mentioned but it's not in writing.

One of the reasons we got out of putting salvage vehicles back together for profit was that many people cannot finance them. That relegated the vehicle choice to ones people could easily cash out. Now we should add to that some cannot insure them.

Check before you buy.

edit: You know what the ironic part is? Nearly every car that is "totalled" is so because the insurance company paid out a comprehensive or collision claim. If the insurance company doesn't pay out, a vehicle with exactly the same damage retains a clean title.

angela

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

A salvage title mean no comprehensive or collision insurance on it through most insurance companies. So you'll only have liability.

It's not worth getting comp and collision on a $2K car anyways.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I had no issue insuring a salvage title truck through Geico. My buyer also had no issue financing it.

[David]

When I've bought totaled car/bike back it's been 25%, so the price sounds about right.

I'm no expert, but I'd say it depends on the damage. Are they going to have to cut off part of the car and weld or just pull it back? Are the gaps straight and no buckling metal on the rest of the car?

[jhynesrockmtn]

I looked at the car today. What a shame. This accident was actually pretty minor. The bus hit the car at an angle where it basically just took the bumper off. The real cost in repairs is from the time before when it was totalled and not repaired correctly. The right front frame rail (term?) was bent in a prior hit and not repaired correctly. The estimator equated it to standing on a pop can and having it hold you up. Then stand on one that has a small dent already. If it had been repaired properly before it would have withstood this hit much better.

To put it right the engine and suspension needs to come out, new metal welded in, etc. They've estimated everything on the high end, new lights, fenders, hood, etc. It really doesn't need all of that.

My co worker bought it with a salvage title without knowing it. It was on the title and the car had a DOT sticker as well. Just naive.

Shame too, it's otherwise very clean, is an S model, 2004 with 47k on it. I'm going to pass.