Previous Thread
Next Thread
New Reply
Print Thread
Rate Thread

#386642 Jan 28, 7:00pm
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
Would it be very wise to buy a salvage title car? what exacly is salvage title?


<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/flip.gif" alt="" />

Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 400
Senior Member
2002 Toyota Celica
Senior Member
2002 Toyota Celica
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 400
My Celica has a previous damaged title. Not a savled title. I saved $5000 The main advantage would be to use that to cut the price of the car well below loan value. If case you need a loan, I dont know of any banks that will loan money for a salvaged title.

Bottom line it is a gamble! Check the work done, see before and after pics, and save enough for a spare engine/tranny unit to drop in or to fix bugs that might creep up just in-case!

The difference between a salvage title and a prior damage title is the amount of damage to cost ratio. If the repair amount exceeds the cars worth and a insurance company had to pay off someone, its salvaged.

My brother inlaw had a Tacoma with the engine in the cab after a collision. The body shop asked my him if he wanted it totaled or fixed? He told them to fix it. He now has over 200K on the truck.

Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 394
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 394
wel my celi is salvage fixed it myself in my own garage and i saved loads of money , bought the car for about 2k and had to buy bumper hood winshiled air bags and an unexpected new engine but stil saved loads of money if you nkow where to buy cheap parts and can do labor urself .. actually al our cars we ever owned were salvage smile al fixed by my dad

Vlad #386645 Jan 29, 12:54am
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,971
Boobie Vision
2000 Toyota Celica
Boobie Vision
2000 Toyota Celica
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,971
salvage makes me nervous :hellno:

Vlad #386646 Jan 29, 1:20am
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,864
Likes: 1
Specialist
2002 Toyota Celica
Specialist
2002 Toyota Celica
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,864
Likes: 1
salvage could be the best thing in the world or else the worst. you gotta know where to get it from and wut to look for.
IMO, celicas arent good cars to buy used. when i say celicas, i mean gts 6spd. cz it has 6 gears, high revving engine, so you dont know what the previous owner has done. saying this cz the engine and tranny could be abused unlike most automatic 4 door sedans. i mean think of it, who would buy a 6spd gts? mostly young ppl who would push the car to its limits. so a 6spd gts used car is tough car to get in perfect neat condition. and when you see a celica salvaged you think the previous owner drove it so fast and wrecklessly that he/she crashed it.
IMO, buying salvage cars are great way to save money IF you know how to buy them and check if they are in good condition. the MOST important thing of a salvage car is that the frame shouldnt be bent. i wouldnt put my money on a bent frame salvage car. second is MINOR DAMAGE. i prefer the car to have a minor damage. for example my celica is a salvage cz the main impact was on the driver side fender, messed up the front bumper, and door. all needed to be done was change the front bumper, new fender, used door, fix some interior stuff cz of the impact, and paint the front bumper, fender, door, and quarter panel for perfect paint match. i worked at a shop and i know the basics of a great salvage car. you wanna be safe, and get urself a car that has MINOR body damages, no frame damage, and either NO or MINOR mechanical damages like radiator damage, headlight or tail lights.
conclusion: buy a salvaged car from a bodyshop that you trust, try not buying a salvage from a body shop that you dont know cz you never know wut material bondo they used or wut they have really done sometimes or how well they painted. you great body shop expert will be able to tell if any body parts were bondoed, if paint is not applied well, if bumper, fender and other body parts werent fitted well, and they can tell where the car was hit from if they look well and see if the frame is damaged. seriously though, the only risk that ull be taking when you buying a good salvage is the same risk ur taking when buying a car from a dealership. "how did the previous owner treat the car?" is the main question that a person will ask if he buys it privately, any auction, or retail.
now you think about "oh its salvage cz the previous owner drove it like hell and crashed it." theres a chance that it was really an ACCIDENT, or else it wasnt the previous owners fault of the accident. most of the time body shop experts can tell how the car was hit, they can tell if it was hit when parked, or was there an impact on the car instead of the car making the impact itself. mine seemed like the car was hit on a slow speed maybe on streets and seemed like an upcoming car hit it but i cant really tell cz i didnt see it when it was hit.

so with all this info, its up to you to make the decision, but i have no regrets of buying salvage cars. the only bad thing about salvage is a resale value, but i think of it this way. this is my example.

i got my 02 gts with 15K miles 6 months ago for 10,000$ fixed
lets say i wanna sell it in 3 years, and add 40-50,000 miles on it. so the car will have 70K miles and will be 5-6 years old. lets say i sell it for 4,000$ thats a fair price and the condition is perfect. so i would lose 6,000 MAX in 3 years.

lets say i bought the same car from dealer, it would have costed me 16,000$ out the door. and 3 years later, you wouldnt even be able to sell it for 10,000$ i mean it would be worth the money, but who would pay 10,000 for a 6 year old car? the celica used market will be for parents who will buy their high school teens the car as a first car. there will be more demand on a 4,000$ car than a 10,000$ car. and if a salvage lasted for so many years and rides nice and never was frame injured, it wouldnt give any different problems that a used car would.
so if you really think about it, ur not really losing much money on it if not all. im really tired so im gonna stop, if you need anymore info lemme know.

Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,478
Likes: 1
Specialist
2003 Toyota Celica
Specialist
2003 Toyota Celica
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,478
Likes: 1
run... dont look back... run from that car... no tellin whats up with it. then again, it might have been something small and it might be perfectly fine. not a chance i would wanna take though.

Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 394
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 394
just gota be mechanicly aspired or wat is the other way to say it,, just check wat kind of damage is there . make sure there is NO frame damage.. and for me its realy worth it because i buy cars from auctions in PA and my car went for around 2g... this is realy good because i could have just sold parts and meade more money then that .

Vlad #386649 Jan 29, 12:31pm
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 618
Senior Member
2001 Toyota Celica
Senior Member
2001 Toyota Celica
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 618
Definetely DO NOT buy a car with a salvage title. The car's integrity and safety has already been compromised. If you look at the VIN, is there is a letter 's' at the end, it means its salvaged, just in case you didn't know.


Enzo Ferrari " You may be a Ferrari owner; but, you may not necessarly be a Ferrari Driver."

Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 278
Member
2003 Toyota Celica GT
Member
2003 Toyota Celica GT
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 278
yah salvaged cars will cost you...my friend got an 03 RSX with a kit and rims on it..he thought he had a good deal until shit broke on it...they used the body kit and rims to cover up how shitty the car actually was...and hes paying for it now...sucks for him...

Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 10
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 10
I'm guessing it wouldn't be good to purchase a salvaged vehicle.

I thought of settling with my insurance company and actually keeping what would have been my "salvaged" celica, but then I read up on salvaged vehicles, and titles. eek A lot of work to even keep it on the road safely, i.e. emissions, title, insurance... Although this could simply be an issue in my state.

Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,864
Likes: 1
Specialist
2002 Toyota Celica
Specialist
2002 Toyota Celica
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,864
Likes: 1
all you guys are looking salvage the wrong way. salvage could be a great benefit if you know how to really purchase it or ur mechanically inclined and could do the work urself or a trusted body shop do the work.
let me answer a few things you guys are against about.

Definetely DO NOT buy a car with a salvage title. The car's integrity and safety has already been compromised. If you look at the VIN, is there is a letter 's' at the end, it means its salvaged, just in case you didn't know

the car's integrity and safety hasnt been compromised. all you have to do to a car with a fender damage is replace it with a new fender. theres no frame damage, and theres no airbags blown. or else a small impact on the front bumper that damaged the bumper, bent the fender, and popped an airbag open is completely fixable. replace with the parts required and ur fine. the VIN does not have an S in the end, how is that possible? the VIN is the identity thats printed on the car already, on the side of the door and inside the windshield.



yah salvaged cars will cost you...my friend got an 03 RSX with a kit and rims on it..he thought he had a good deal until shit broke on it...they used the body kit and rims to cover up how shitty the car actually was...and hes paying for it now...sucks for him...

ur friend made a bad purchase. same problem could happen with a used nonsalvaged car. buying used cars are always risks, when it comes to buying salvaged cars, you have to be alittle more logical and critical. if i loved rsx, and saw that rsx in the auction with a great price i wouldnt buy it. the rims and the body kit makes me wonder that the previous owner knew what he was really driving and definetely pushed the car around a little and abused it. this bad decision ur friend made is probably cz of time and impatience. i undestand when someone really wants a car and sees so much nice things on it with a killer price will buy it right away.


when you get ur car salvaged, DMV and everyone should know about it. its taken to highway patrol for inspection (airbags and parts replaced with invoices that proves they werent stolen). it needs to be smogged and taken to brakes and lights inspection. all in all, this takes about 4 hours total with wait.

if ur car got salvaged, then i wouldnt buy it back cz insurance will pay you good amount of money and you can get a better car. but if you lookin to buy a car at a great price, consider salvage as an option

Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Member
2000 Toyota Celica
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
awesome, thanx for the input everyone! i was kinda nervous about the issue myself but some ppl say its not a big deal, others say its a huge deal, and my insurance wouldnt even cover it so thumbsdown


<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/flip.gif" alt="" />

Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 317
Member
2001 Toyota Celica GT
Member
2001 Toyota Celica GT
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 317
when you sell the car, the price of the car is not the same if your car is salvaged..doesn't really matter how nice the condition it is in...the resale value will never be the same.

Join the conversation - Register Now or Log In to add your comment


Link Copied to Clipboard
Member Spotlight
toysport_celica
toysport_celica
2000 Toyota Celica
Ca

Posts: 52
Joined: August 2004
Thank you.: me, myself, and I...!
Random: a bowl of rice, fried chicken, and a glass of water!
Show All Member Profiles 
Recent Topics
Spyder Headlight LEDs
by Dxnxld - Mar 25, 2024 6:51am
Anyone ever hear this noise?
by CeliacCelica - Mar 21, 2024 10:51am
Clunking sound (not sure where from)
by Juliansky - Mar 20, 2024 3:01am
Does anybody know where i can find a S53 trans rebuild kit?
by MoreRamenNoodles - Mar 19, 2024 8:57pm
Urgent
by SoloXKay - Mar 19, 2024 11:58am
OEM speedometer on aftermarket ecu
by Penaman99 - Mar 5, 2024 11:23am
Brake master cylinder
by Nigel100 - Mar 5, 2024 2:45am
newly purchased 2000 GTS
by CantShift - Feb 27, 2024 9:06pm
Customize Your Toyota Celica Privacy Policy · About · Contact
Privacy Policy · About · Contact
CelicaHobby.com is an independent Toyota Celica enthusiast website. CelicaHobby.com is not sponsored by or affiliated with Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. in any way. The Toyota and Celica names and logos are trademarks owned by Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
© CelicaHobby.com, 2001-2024
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 8.0.0
(Preview build 20230331)