The 92 cavalier that is my daily driver has a prior salvage title. I bought this car a little over five years ago with the front end messed up. It had been hit from the side right at the edge of the front end, shearing off the front bumper and lights and messing up the hood and passenger side fender. The unibody was also bent.

The guy selling it still had the original title with a few auction place signatures on it but no one had tried registering it. I didn't know it had been totaled until I tried to get a new title for it. I found a complete front clip at a local JY the same color as the car for $250. I had the unibody straightened for $225.

I had originally bought the car as a parts car for my other 92 cavalier and payed $500 for it which I thought was a little high but the car only had 76,000 original miles on it and the rest of the car looked almost like new.

I actutally got lucky and didn't have to have the highway patrol inspect it. I called the main DMV and asked them what I needed to take to the HP and told them I had already had the car fixed. He asked me if it would pass a safety inspection and I said yes. He said get it inspected and fax me the inspection paperwork and he would issue me a title. I did that and the rest is history.

The car now has 158,000 miles on it and has had no problems related to the wreck, just normal maintainence items. I plan on driving it until it dies

Wayne

 

Jarheadbobandmax's 6th gen Monte is a salvage title car. Water damage.

 

96 Rav4 aka "The Purple Weasel". Daughter's first car. Previous owner had the paperwork showing it was totaled when it had 14,000 miles when car was rear-ended. I bought it with 110,000 miles on it. Ran fine, just about what I wanted for a first car - 4WD was surefooted, and it was not very fast.



I agree that a lot of cars are declared total losses for all the wrong reasons, but that's a perception we all must have.

 

Had bought a 95 Galant that was salvaged never once had a problem with it.I got t-boned dead center on the doors with it cave the pass side in 2 feet an still got to buy it back.

 

I have owned many salvage title cars and still own a 1997 BMW 328i convertible which I bought more than 5 years ago, and since still in great condition and no body is going to pay me what the car is worth for me, I expect to keep it for some more time.

Buying a salvage car is a risk so the most important thing to do before buying it is INSPECT IT!. Get estimates of how much it would cost to repair it and contact your local DMV to make sure you will have no problems getting a rebuilt or reconstructed title.

If you just want to have it for personal use and don't care about the resell value, then I can tell you that if you make a good purchase, you could get a nice car at a very discounted price.

 

I have bought and rebuilt many salvage cars. In my opinion they are no different than any other car. If they are put together by a butcher or were a train wreck to begin with then the car will be nothing but problems and a potential hazard on the road. If it was a relatively light hit or even a medium hit and repaired by a craftsman using quality meterials and procedures then there is nothing to fear. Personally when I did them if I couldn't fix it with a portapower I didn't need to buy it. I only had one that had to go to the frame shop using this buying method. I had bought a Dodge Grand Caravan that was hit in the corner of the nose. It swayed the nose over about two inches. I got it pulled back and everything was perfect. When I did these repairs I photographed the before, during, and after. I kept receipts for all new parts and held onto the old parts until the car sold. When I had a potential buyer for the vehicle I was upfront about the fact that the vehicle had been wrecked. I put together a binder with the picks and receipts with prices blanked out and offered to show the removed parts. I then encouraged a test drive and suggested they take the car to their mechanic. Few did that because they were confident in the repair. I also offered a 48 hour return as long as the vehicle was in the same shape as it was leaving. I only took one back and that is because the buyer got busted for DUI and had the car impounded and his license revoked. It wasn't his first offence. I had a few repeat buyers because they were confident that I sold quality cars for fair prices. Unfortunately my partner who owned the location got to greedy and I had to stop. I would do another in a heartbeat.

 

Since your from Iowa you'll probably be the most help lol.. But I've heard it's hard to insure a car with a salvage title? Just wondering if I was told some b/s.. I'm looking for a second car so the Monte won't be my daily and it seems like there are a lot of nice vehicles out there with salvage titles some aren't always perfect but most of them look pretty good (would definitely save me some money). Is it really any harder to get insurance or more expensive with a salvage title? Or is it just harder to get full coverage? Any adivice/comments would be helpful, thanks.

 

I've dealt with Salvage cars in all the New England states, New York, and Florida. Some of the states required an inspection by the state DOT. A few insurance companies demanded an inspection with photos before they would write a policy. No other issues than that.

 

I just aquired a 94 grand am that was abandoned at my work. We had to file for a salvage certificate and then get it inspected and file the paperwork for a reconstructed title. It has a note on the title that it was formerly abandoned, not wrecked. The process took forever but wasnt too difficult. Finally got the thing legal and on the road. Not a bad little car for what it cost me in the end.

 

I've never had a problem insuring a salvage title car in Iowa yet. But since I've been on SR22 (highrisk) for 3 years I was never able to afford full coverage only liability. As far as I know you can get full coverage if you have the car inspected by the insurance company/DOT. If everything checks out it changes froma salvage title to something else I forgot what it was called, but once that is changed you can get full coverage.