How does a salvage title affect value?
 

88 Carrera Targa- 150K miles,no records. Motor runs strong,no leaks 6 & 8" Fuchs with good tires. Paint is a 7 out of 10, interior is a 7 as well. Targa top is fair with an intact headliner, power sport seats. Clutch feels great, no issues with syncros. All panels appear original besides 1 fender,car drives well. Some evidence of mediocre repair under the hood on the apron behind replacement fender, and hood to fender fit is slightly off otherwise its hard to tell it was badly damaged.

Trying do decide what this car is worth,and how hard to hit it for the salvage title? In my mind the car should be high teens to low twenties with a regular title in the same condition. I am in a position to make a deal on the car,but don't want to end up upside down.

Thanks for the help

With other cars, it can sometimes dictates a 50% deduction.

I'm curious what it means in the 911 market.
Here are some past threads

https://www.google.com/search?q=porsche+911+salvage+title+price+site:foru ms.pelicanparts.com

A running G50 Carrera with sound panels and decent interior is worth $10-12k in parts.

That is your baseline. If you can pick it up for $10k or below, you can't really get burned financially provided you are willing to deal with the ass pain of parting it out. If not, and you decide to sell it, you are looking at a couple of grand lost in transaction costs.

What is it worth as a car? That question can't be divined with the information you provided.

If you are wondering how hard a hit would have resulted in a salvage title, that depends on when the accident occurred. If it was in 1990, it was a serious crash. If it was in 2006, maybe not so much. If the accident was many years ago and the car has accumulated a lot of miles since, if gives a little more confidence that the repair work was solid. But it is still a pretty significant stigma.

If it can be registered, and aligned/corner balanced -- maybe $12-15k. But there is a pretty low value ceiling on salvage title cars

Unfortunately you won't know how much of an affect it will have until you try to sell it.

That would be my assessment too........and a risk I wouldn't take.

Like COLB 10k-15k should be the value.

The answer depend in part on how much of the story you can piece together. When values were low cars were sometimes "totalled" for several thousand dollars of cosmetic damage. Figuring out whether the car needed work to the tub or not is important. And keep whatever info you dig up for when you want to sell it.

You will need TWO PPIs. One from a GOOD body shop that will know how frames can be stretched back into shape. Corner weight testing could be valuable as previously stated, but tire wear could show the condition of the car too. (If the tires aren't newish.)

As you know, it could be a bargain driver, but is your budget such that you need a bargain for your 'hobby' car?

COLB covered it well in his post.

If you can easily spot the prior repair, then you're risking being 'married' to this car for the rest of your life or sitting with a carcass selling off parts for years to recoup your investment.

A thought that has not been mentioned just occurred to me , and the seller probably does not know. What was the car insured for? If it was grossly underinsured, it could have been considered an insurance company "total" for a $4-5K fender bender.