Salvage Title?

[Cory Wolfe]

This is what I found: 97 Miata for $2400, Salvage Title.

Now... I know what one is, but can someone explain to me all the quirks of one and such?

[ocnblu]

That means it was totalled in an accident or other insurance loss and was fixed. If the loss was recent, it may not have been a whole lot of damage due to the age and subsequent retail value of the car. If repaired properly, it can be a good car, but if it wasn't... it can be a nightmare buying a salvaged vehicle.

Since I work in the bodyshop, and not service (where state inspections are done), I don't know every detail of PA's laws. I am assuming if the current owner has the salvage title, it would be no problem for you to purchase the car and get it registered. Can anyone here in PA help Vipes out on this point?

My across-the-street neighbor just bought a late-90's Cobra Mustang with an R title (reconstructed, same thing as salvage), and he didn't mention any red tape getting it on the road.

I do know that to get an R title after your total loss car is repaired is time-consuming and fraught with a bit of red tape here in PA. We've had a couple of customers who insist on keeping and fixing their total losses, and it ain't pretty when they start to blame us because their car sits on our lot, illegal to drive after it's fixed, for weeks until that title is approved.

Edited June 3, 2006 by ocnblu

[PurdueGuy]

Also, insurance may be higher on a salvage vehicle, and getting financing for one is pretty much impossible, so be prepared to pay cash.

[NOS2006]

Dude, it's a Miata.. don't worry about it. They're $h!boxes to begin with.

Edited June 4, 2006 by NOS2006

[Cory Wolfe]

Yeah... they are... but atleast that one isn't a riced-out mullet-attracting poser with an auto.

Anyways, Ocnblu, what's the difference between an R-title and Salvage-title? They always seemed like the same thing...? Thanks for the info, though... I asked the owner about it to see exactly why it has it and if anything needs done. I wish it would turn out to be a good car... cause I can afford it without a loan.

[wpbharry]

Oh my little BV boy...I'll give you my MAXX if you give me..........

[Cory Wolfe]

Look, I've already given out enough member portraits for free. You missed the deadline, Hairy.

[Sixty8panther]

Is the car fixed? There's a whle marketplace

out there for fix-it-yourself totalled cars...

you get a salvage title and a car for $1000

that has a KBB of $7500 except there's a

telephone pole shaped dent in the door &

rocker panel & driver's seat if you get my drift.

[Cory Wolfe]

It looks fixed to me... look at it. There's a link... See it? Click on it.

[Flybrian]

Click on the CarFax record check. Then copy/paste the listed VIN. It doesn't show anything. That's a great start.

"PREVIOUS STORM HAS NOT BEEN STARTED...SALVAGE TITLE."

By all accounts, its sounds like you don't need a car as much as you simply want a car. Fine. Save up your money and wait for a real decent deal to show up. I don't get why anyone would want to buy a wrecked/flooded car. You're taking a risk by buying any used car no matter what it is or who owned it. Why increase your risk if you don't need to and you know what the problems are beforehand? Don't buy worthless crap like that.

[z28luvr01]

Every car my dad has owned since 1990, with the exception of our '90 Lumina, has been wrecked, flooded, stolen recovery, or any combination thereof. You can get a pretty good deal on a salvage car if you have the mechanical ability to fix anything that might pop up. For instance, our 97 Skylark, a flooder, has needed all four power window motors replaced, since they were submerged in the flood waters. And it wouldn't start when we got it, because the IP was damaged and was tripping the VATS. That one took a long time to diagnose. But my father's been fixing cars since he could pop a hood open, and he's been a Chevy certified technician since he was a teen. Give him any jalopy ad he'll turn it into something worthwhile. For someone with less experience and fewer tools, a salvage car could be a very costly mistake.

Fly is right: you don't need any more headaches. Why buy something you know is going to have more question marks than an average used car? If you want something now and looking for an alternative to buying a car through normal channels, check out police auctions or repo auctions.

[Sixty8panther]

It looks fixed to me... look at it. There's a link... See it? Click on it.

My bad...

I would never buy a convertible with a savage title

and yet I'll drive around in a four-door hardtop with

my 2.5 year old daughter. What does that tell you?

A few weeks ago my brother-in-law-to-be asked me

to go take a look at a few cars with him. He's a

Volvo fanatic but likes the RWD stuff. He has a 1989

740 right now and has wanted a 960 for a while now.

We looked at a few cars in person that were on eBay

and the discrepancy between eBay & reality was

pretty harsh.

Just for $h!s and giggles we looked at a super

cheap late 90s 850 Turbo. It was black, 5-speed &

fairly low miles so I told him why not consider it?

He's about as anti-FWD as I am but the Turbo and

5-speed was tempting to him.

So we show up and the car is fuc%ed. On eBay it

looks like a nice straight car but in person it was a

disaster waiting to happen. Both passenger side

doors looked as if they were ajar when closed. I

could fit my THUMB between the front & rear doors

and between the rear door and the rear quarter.

Not to mention the trunk is all misaligned, and guess

what? as soon as I look at the spare I see it floating

in a 4" puddle of water. NICE.

This car was a mess. A parts car in reality and to

top it off there's white smoke oozing out of the

valve cover when the oil fill cap was removed.

Needless to say John is going to fix up his bread &

butter 740, at least it's a solid car without a freaky

accident history and he's got leather.

I really think some sleazeball pulled the frame on

that Volvo 850 with a F350 and a heavy duty chain

and then welded up a rear quarter using a roll of

masking tape to align the panel.

Seriously how about this Miata? If it was hit hard

& repaired even 99% correctly you might have all

form of problems & nightmares. Suspension

mount points, panel gaps, unibody structure,

torsional rigidity and even convertible top fit might

be severely affected.

Not saying don't buy the car, but do NOT buy the

car sight unseena dn without at least a lengthy

test drive. Some lessons in life are hard learned.

[thegriffon]

It may just have had hail damage or something - expensive to repair but not really effecting anything other than the visual quality of the sheetmetal unless it left great holes in the roof. Or it may have been flodded to some extent. How much would a 9 year-old Miata be worth now anyway? the older and cheaper thwe car the more likely it is to be written off by the insurer.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

By all accounts, its sounds like you don't need a car as much as you simply want a car. Fine. Save up your money and wait for a real decent deal to show up.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good advice there. I want an old Firebird (or a Porsche 944...either way, it will cost me about $6500) and what am I doing to get it? Saving.

[ocnblu]

R-title is same as Salvage. I don't understand that sentence in the ad "Previous storm has not been started" (WTF?)

Vipes, I am going to have to side with these other guys who say forget this one. It's too far away from you. If something goes wrong, it would be a logistical nightmare to get it back down to KY. See all those wrecks in the background? Is this place a bodyshop that's selling it?

The top looks more bunched-up than other Miatas I've seen, but the panel gaps on the front end... headlamp doors/hood/bumper (a difficult set of gaps to have right), and the decklid to quarters, and doors to fenders/quarters look decent in the photos.

One word to beware of when purchasing a salvage car: hurricane. I am sure many shady dealers are going to try to sell Katrina cars. Don't fall for it.

Miatas are a lot of times summer cars, or second cars, so a lot of them may not rack up high mileage. Time reduces their value, however. You should be able to find a clean early Miata closer to you with a good history.

A little patience now will save a lot of headache after your purchase.

[04monteintimidator]

anyone else seeing the mildew and/or mold on the carpetting in the interior shot? that says flood to me in a big way... and mold is not something you wanna deal with... im gunna agree with evryone else on this and say pass on it

[Sixty8panther]

See all those wrecks in the background?  Is this place a bodyshop that's selling it?

I'm also seeing a front end loader, translation: Wrecking Yard/Junkyard

Most Junkyards around Mass have a few cars for sale that illegal mexican

imigrants have jimmy-rigged together using anything they can find in their

yard. One day there's a wrecked 1993 Nissan Sentra sitting in mud with

no rims/tires and the trunklid is in the backseat... next week it's sitting

on a I-beam stand with hodgepodged blue rear quarters and a red

trunklid while a grease-monkey works underneath with a torch & welder

A week later some unsuspecting kid buys it thinking it's a really good deal

for a clean car with nothing more than some paint issues.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

I don't understand that sentence in the ad "Previous storm has not been started" (WTF?)

I see this place is located in Kentucky. Well, I have to put up with people butchering the English language everyday, so allow me to translate.

"Previous[ly] [to] storm, [car] ha[d] not been started."

Makes sense now, huh? (Well, sort of.)

Vipes, I am going to have to side with these other guys who say forget this one. It's too far away from you. If something goes wrong, it would be a logistical nightmare to get it back down to KY. See all those wrecks in the background? Is this place a bodyshop that's selling it?

I've been to this place with my old man looking around for a windshield wiper motor for his S10. I looked around. I found a late model Camaro I liked for about $5500 dollars. Would I buy a car from them? No. I popped the hood on the 'Maro and the strut towers had rust on them.

I really don't get why they brand themselves as "London Auto Sales." Really. It's a f@#king junkyard.

Edited June 5, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[Cory Wolfe]

Heh... It wasn't a serious consideration. Just a... "if only this car was perfect and without problems even with the Salvage title."

Anyways, I'm not really having any luck finding Miatas. They are all either too far away, too much, have too many miles, or look too bad. That and I only have $2600... which that, I can't get much. I'd still need someone to loan me some money. Otherwise, these are the sort of cars I might be looking at as I will not consider a car I will not enjoy owning (that means no &#036;h&#33;ty suggestions, Fly).

There's a BMW 325iS coupe 10 miles out of Brookville I'm going to go back to look at some time, though. It looked good, but it might have an R-title as most cars from the place it is are... They fix them up and sell them. But... I saw no visual problems unlike the others. So... I'll have to see...

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Heh... It wasn't a serious consideration. Just a... "if only this car was perfect and without problems even with the Salvage title."

You expected the car to be perfect for that price?

There's a BMW 325iS coupe 10 miles out of Brookville I'm going to go back to look at some time, though. It looked good, but it might have an R-title as most cars from the place it is are... They fix them up and sell them. But... I saw no visual problems unlike the others. So... I'll have to see...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, check that out and let us know how it goes. (You were probably planning on it, anyway. ) I mean, I have nothing against a vehicle with a Rebuilt title -- my dad purchased a 1988 GMC S-15 back in 1989 or so with such a title that lasted him 265,000 virtually major-problem-free miles and he traded it off. If I were going to go down the road you plan on possibly taking, I would make sure the person/people/mechanic/mechanics that worked on it were very, very, very good at what they do.

Edited June 5, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[Cory Wolfe]

Not expected... wished.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Well, if you're willing to drive from PA. to KY., I'll look for something on Auto Trader real quick for ya'. :AH-HA_wink:

Edited June 5, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Here is a car that you might like I'd highly recommend. Under $5000 and it's in perfect shape, too. It's located in a town called Somerset, which is about 20 miles -- give or take -- away from London, the place where you found that piece of &#036;h&#33; Miata.

Now, I don't exactly know where Crestwood is, but here is a decent Miata for under $4000.

Oh, and by the way, in a new search for Mazda Miatas, the description on the piece of &#036;h&#33; you found has changed to:

"1997 MAZDA MIATA CONVERTIBLE MX5,PREVIOUS STORM, CAR DOES NOT RUN, 4 CYL MOTOR,5 SPEED TRANS,BLUE IN COLOR,TAN LEATHER INTERIOR,SALVAGE TITLE."

Want me to do another search?

Edited June 5, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[Cory Wolfe]

Heh... bastard. He changed it after I emailed him.

Anyways... no need to search. I'm not exactly willing to drive to KY unless I find a really, really, really, really, really, really good deal. More or less, I'd like to find something in PA so it'll already have PA inspection and stuff. But, bordering states, I'll consider if it's perfect for me.

In a perfect world, I'd like to find something within 30 miles but that doesn't seem to want to happen. It's too rural and "ew! imports!" around here. Most of the cars I want are impossible to find because... they were rare in the first place. I'd have no trouble finding a Camry or Accord, but not something like a Miata. I have a better chance of finding a BMW, as I've shown.