does buying salvage title ever make sense?

[billwagnon]

I'm looking for a 72 or 73 911T. I found an ad for a Phoenix Red 73 (which is actually orange?).

The owner has rebuilt a 71 2.2 and put it in the car. The car was in a collision to the right front fender and wheel a couple years ago - estimate to fix was $11k so the owner totaled it, and bought it back from the insurance company.

The current owner runs a NAPA shop and has friends in the body work business. He's asking $6k for the 73 and a rustbucket '68.

My question is - is there any point at which buying a salvage title makes sense? I know a lot of people would say no, but if the price was right, and the car checked out I could see doing it - say $4k for a 911T with a good interior and a freshly rebuilt 2.2.

Comments of any stripe are appreciated! Sometimes I can use a reality check...

[Don Plumley]

Hi Bill,

Seems to me it could make sense if you are not going to sell it - or you have no false expectations about resale value.

But...Sounds like a pretty good hit for the insurance company to declare a total loss. So my real concern would be less about the resale value but of the condition/quality of the repair. "I have friends in the business" sounds like to my cynical ear as, "I have a buddy who could do the repair for cheap so I can sell it."

Caveat Emptor....

Don

[echocanyons]

If you are buiilding a dedicated track car it doesnt matter.

[claptrap]

You may want to check with your insurance company first.

Scott

[Joe Bob]

And check with the State Motor Vehicle Department....some states make you jump thru extra hoops with a salvage title.

[pwd72s]

"does buying salvage title ever make sense? "

Not very effing often. Only if special circumstances apply...

[RarlyL8]

Bill -

I can give you one example of a salvaged 911 that did make sense. Some states have % rules where they will total out a car if X% of the value is matched by repair costs. This isn't hard to do with a 911.
I bought a car in Indiana a few years back (when I lived in Indy) that was totalled out having only cosmetic damage. Two fenders and the hood were wiped out. A mechanic looked at the car and determined that no structural damage had been done. Bought the car and stripped it down to the tub. The only repair we had to make was to hammer out a bit of the front tub near the battery area. Put the car on a chassis jig and everything was in line.
The cheap price on the car made the gamble pay off. I would have parted out the car if things turned bad.
At that time Indy had a 60% rule. It's not hard to do $6,000 damage to a ($10,000) 911. Figured I could get $4000 for the drivetrain alone.

Here's the part you have to watch out for - and why a PPI is really important:

When I moved to Illinois the car was re-titled. The new title showed no signs of a rebuild or salvage history.

[s2per]

Same thing happened to a good friend of mine. He bought a total beater 944 with a rebuilt (salvage) title in Pennsylvania. And yes, the purchase price was cheap and he knew about the title.
But, the car had more problems than any POS car we'd ever seen and he tired of the money pit after he moved to Florida. When he put the car up for sale, he checked the Florida-issued title for the first time and it was clean. Sold it to a buy here-pay here dealer and never saw it in the area again.
Caveat emptor.

[curtisaa]

Insurance companies put this name on vehicles for the purpose of liabilty. The DMV, will let these companies put that title on anything (vehicle wise) they want. For example: a car which is stolen and totally stripped or partially stripped OR even just a motor and tranny stripped can be deemed salvage title. Many of us have stripped our cars down to "tub only" and painted,rebuilt, and completely restored our cars.."are these salvaged title"?

Now, the trick would be to get the history of the car...if possible. There was a Targa which sold recently on Ebay for $38K, my understanding is that car car had a complete front clip...but it was not a salvaged titled car. Go Figure....

[Phoenix]

After the engine fire in my '73T, the ins. co. declared the car a total loss as they determined the repair cost ($12.5K their est.) to be at the value of the car (in NJ, anything over 80% of the cars "blue book" value is considered totaled).

Now given that I just put...errrr.....uhhhmmmm.....$40k+ into the car (ok... can stop laughing now) which don't count towards the value of the car and I originally paid $13k 3 years ago, I bought the car back at their 20% salvage rate (in effect they cut me a check for the cars value minus 20%).

Of course I spent waaayyyy more to fix and upgrade it.

Why do we love these cars sooooo much?!

[Dantilla]

I bought my '73 at an insurance auction. Nice car, but had an engine fire. Perfect for swapping in a 3.2. Should be on the road soon

[targa911man]

Bill--

Unless you're worried about resale value, I don't see a problem with the salvage title, as long as you thoroughly check out the car. The title gives you a heads-up that the car was totalled in the past, but doesn't tell you anything about it's present condition. Likewise, a car with an immaculate title can be a piece of junk. I agree that you should check out the DMV/insurance ramifications in your state.

[rattlsnak]

Ive seen some interesting answers and loopholes here. But over 50% of the states out there will not ever let you drive a salvaged title car on the road. In other words you cant ever get a normal title for it, so you cant get tags. If you're going to make it a race car.... go for it. Check your local listings,........

[billwagnon]

This car is in Iowa, and is titled "prior salvage". I live in Missouri, so I'll have to find out what the hoops and loops are. No point buying it if can't be driving it.

[Wayne 962]

Just because the car was bid to $38K, doesn't mean it sold. From what I here about Ebay, only about 20-30% of the transactions actually go through.

I just bought a 1992 BMW 318is that was a theft salvage title (car was stripped in 1993 or so). I checked the chassis and all looked straight. I got the car for a song ($4600), and I'm going to be tearing it apart for the 101 Projects book (101 for BMW 3-Series). So for me, it was a good deal...

-Wayne