Salvage title? Value concerns

[Porkshop]

In my quest to find a 911 project that's within my current budget, I have have ran across some with salvage titles. How bad does this hurt the value in the long run? Yes I'm new here but not new to the car world. And have been a mechanic for 40+ years. My concerns are with the classic air cooled 911s. I am familiar with newer car salvage title values, Are they the same ... Thank You....

[Otter74]

I think that the older a car is, and the more you know about its history, the less salvage status matters. It will probably discount a car’s value a non-zero amount, but this makes a car cheaper to both buy and sell. That is, whatever the effect on a car’s value, all it does is shift the window of value now vs later in one direction. My car received a salvage title some time in the 90s, when it was an inexpensive used sports car, for reasons that the previous owner of 15 years didn’t know. But the body had never been hit and repaired and the PO rebuilt nearly the entire car during his ownership so, for a car like mine, a salvage title is more or less meaningless. If you’re looking for something like a 100-point concours car, I have no idea.

[Porkshop]

Otter74, I am not looking for a show car, or numbers matching for that matter. I am a hot rodder at heart and have always admired the air cooled 911s. I plan on hot rodding what ever I get and plan to add my touches as I head into retirement. I guess you could call it a midlife crises project. Thank for the knowledge.

[wildcat077]

If you don't care about originality , go ahead and have fun building YOUR car !
I bought a pristine condition 89 911 in 2008 and since then i replaced the engine with a 95 3.6 and upgraded almost all the suspension parts and had i known then what i know now about the value of those cars nowadays i probably would have left it original.
Anyhow, the car has a few paint blemishes and is not original anymore , but it is MY car and i'm very happy to drive it the way it is.
So what i'm saying here is , find YOUR car and build it the way YOU like and enjoy driving the wheels off it for the next 20 years.
Being a longtime mechanic will save you lots of money in the long run , trust me !!!

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Porkshop

Otter74, I am not looking for a show car, or numbers matching for that matter. I am a hot rodder at heart and have always admired the air cooled 911s. I plan on hot rodding what ever I get and plan to add my touches as I head into retirement. I guess you could call it a midlife crises project. Thank for the knowledge.

Sounds like you're a good fit for a salvage title car.

[Matt Monson]

Agree with others, you’re a good candidate. I’ve owned a couple myself. You pay less going in, you get less when you go to sell. Buy it based on the condition it’s in today, and do what you want to it. It’s not going to lose value if you do good work, but as you know, you won’t get paid for your labor. Anything you do to make it better will be a labor of love.

[Porkshop]

Thanks everyone. Kinda what I was contemplating. Rollers are 15-20k. Then you have to buy all the missing parts to make it whole again. 20-30k. I have found some salvage title cars that have been repaired theft recoveries and the like for 20-25k range and they are complete. And then there are always the flood cars etc out of Copart for even less sometimes. My suspicions have been a none numbers car is just that. Never worth what a numbers matching car is. So salvage title repaired correctly car would be in the same boat. thanks again for all of your input. I have lurked here for years and finally joined as I am getting serious about his endeavor.

[blucille]

I’m battling this right now after a rear end impact. Am I better off repairing my known entity. Or buy into a roller and move my bits over. Or start again with a clean title vehicle.

It’s a lose-lose-lose situation coming from an original paint, straight, honest, clean car.

[phunt]

What about insurance. I have usaa and they will not insure a salvage title vehicle. I don’t think twice will either??

[porschedude996]

I purchased a 914 years ago. It had a salvage title because the car was sold to a junkyard and then purchased by my seller. That’s what the story was. The car was non-op and worth almost nothing at the time. I never found any reason (sheet metal or welds or crumpled sub-structure) were all fine.

[fanaudical]

I agree that salvage title for a hot rod project doesn't mean much.

Do check with your insurance company. Many no longer will insure vehicles that have salvage titles or are owner built.

[76dno]

Originally Posted by Porkshop

Otter74, I am not looking for a show car, or numbers matching for that matter. I am a hot rodder at heart and have always admired the air cooled 911s. I plan on hot rodding what ever I get and plan to add my touches as I head into retirement. I guess you could call it a midlife crises project. Thank for the knowledge.

Salvage is perfect for your hot rod needs

[GG Allin]

I had an RS America years ago with a salvage title. Even with a bent frame it was a great car. Bought it for $22k, sold it for $22k three years later. I bet it's worth a lot more than that now.

[EC900]

Branded Salvage vehicles are those that went through an insurance settlement. Meaning the insurance company decided it was cost effective to payout a book/agreed value than replace the parts to put it back together if it’s possible (fire vs flood).
It’s easy enough to buy any heavily damaged vehicle that was never an insurance claim, some people don’t buy full coverage for an older car, classic they don’t drive etc.
A late model vehicle will lose 20-30% of book value regardless if it was salvaged for crash damage or drove thru 3 ft of water.
Frame/collision damage is a tough sell as door gaps and alignments are difficult fixes. If someone knows the previous assessed damage, it may not make a diffence in values, only the purist or uninformed will balk.
Building from salvage takes a good patient body man. I think there’s good $$ in buying Salvages if you know what’s rebuildable, have time and tools. Especially if there’s a good title donor.
Not sure, but in some States it’s still possible to rebuild and re-title with a dmv inspection.

[Porsche Doc]

Originally Posted by Porkshop

Otter74, I am not looking for a show car, or numbers matching for that matter. I am a hot rodder at heart and have always admired the air cooled 911s. I plan on hot rodding what ever I get and plan to add my touches as I head into retirement. I guess you could call it a midlife crises project. Thank for the knowledge.

As a Hot Rod, Outlaw guy too! I couldn't agree more!
Here at Air Cooled Classics we are not looking for anything matching either!
We use mostly poor mistreated bastards and then do that thing we do!
Because we're going to build something we like and want to or what a client wants.
So on the salvage title thing, I don’t think it makes a difference for what we do!
After all we have gone completely through them.
https://www.facebook.com/AirCooledClassicsPorsche/

[Cairo94507]

I can recall when my 2nd 914-6 was stolen from a movie theatre parking lot back in 1985. The thief must have missed a down shift because they blew the motor. The CHP found it on the side of a canyon road with the door lock and ignition punched. I went to the car when they called and tried to start it but the engine was toast. The insurance company totaled it because the repair was estimated at about $5K. I retained ownership but it got a salvage title. I put a fresh 3.0 in it with a new ignition and door lock and was good to go. When I sold it about 9 years later, fully disclosing the salvage title along with the police report and pictures, I got absolute top dollar for the car.

[ChrisHamilton]

I cut my teeth rebuilding salvage for a living for quite a few years. Can't tell you how many Caddilacs, Buicks and Oldsmobiles, I cut in half and welded a rear clip to. You could make very good money doing that and the repair was perfectly safe. We did many Mercedes that way as well. Lost track of how many but it was in the 100's.
If you know what you are doing, replace what's needed, and can pull a frame/unibody correctly then there is nothing wrong with them. Most aren't done that way though and are usually "fixed" as cheaply and as quickly as possible. Remember these are bought by guys looking to make a quick buck.
There used to be good money rebuilding insurance salvage, now there really isn't for anything that has a branded title. There are still some clean title stuff out there, but you usually have to pay a premium for it which defeats the purpose. I haven't fooled with any of it for 15 years. Too much liability and too little return.

[jrwilson]

My car was given a salvage title in 2013 and as far as I can tell, sat in the yard for the next decade. I can't find any evidence of any crashes and it's in surprisingly nice condition with no rust, but the engine was toast and the values of SCs back then probably meant it would have cost more to rebuild than just scrap it.

Not sure salvage title means much for cars this old now.

[ChrisHamilton]

Originally Posted by jrwilson

Not sure salvage title means much for cars this old now.

Salvage means there's a history there. Accident, flood, theft, burn damage. At the very least you should have something checked out and inspected by someone who can spot frame/unibody damage.

[GH85Carrera]

One of my friends had a nice 968. He spun, and hit a dirt embankment just hard enough to blow the airbags. Almost no damage to the vehicle, but airbags means all the wiring and the dash and the airbags have to be replaced. The insurance company totaled it.

On a car that is 40 plus years old (1983) or older a salvage title will scare off some customers. If the car was repaired properly, it does not matter. I wonder how many 356s are on the road as perfect cars that were little more than a few bits of rusty metal wit the vin panels and totally rebuilt. They may not have a salvage title as they just rusted away in someones back yard, but they are only as good as the mechanic.

For a track whore car, it is all irrelevant. Same for a custom hot rod.