Is there any reason to ever buy a salvaged car for anything but a throwaway price? I'm talking about "normal" people here, not the Roadkill Garage guys... Two friends, two disasters. One friend had invested a lot in racing parts before the Mustang broke in half. The other was given the car and gave it back when it broke.
Good example! I've done that. At some price, it can be a good value if you need the remaining parts for you project.
As far as rebuilding a crashed/totaled car to safe dependable operation, I suspect enough not-obvious damage (car breaks in half, as you note) might make that a dicey venture. I wouldn't.
No, but you shouldn't buy one without being very careful to look and see why it's got a salvage title. Nothing wrong with assembling a car from two salvaged cars... but there's something wrong with doing it wrong, as your Mustang owner will note.
Flooded vehicles can be fine if they were cleaned up properly, or they can be a horrible nightmare of hidden damage if they weren't. A search on carfax and a little bit of time with a mirror and pick can save you a lot.
--scott
A vehicle is issued a salvage title due to damage that exceeds the average commercial cost of repair with respect to its average commercial value. Other than that, it alone implies nothing about any aspect of the structural, mechanical, cosmetic or electrical aspects of said vehicle.
I conclude that the average decent home-mechanic (someone who would be able to tear apart an engine for a valve grind excluding the machine work, replace pads/shoes, engine mounts, alternators etc...) might not be able to reliably recognize hidden damage causing the 'salvage' classification. Correct?
Most of the serious stuff should be easy to see... certainly a frame welded in the center should be very easy to see once you get the car up off the ground. What isn't easy to see on the car should be very visible on carfax. Carfax tells you what to look for, then you have to go looking.
--scott
Depends on how "average" he is. I have bought 2 cars my son "totaled" from my insurer. He replaced the damaged fenders and other parts that needed fixing and drove the cars for years.
I guess I'm wondering how difficult it might be to detect damage that isn't obvious and which might be deliberately hidden by a cheap cosmetic repair.
A professional mechanic should be able scope that out. I would stay away from them. Only reason I bought the 2 cars was we knew the cars and could see the damage. Besides that, they were at the right place on the cost curve, and my son was gung ho to go to the bone yard and get the parts to fix them. He was made for this. As I recall the insurance payout - $6-700 - paid for buying the car back and the parts, with some left over. But maybe we were lucky. Could have ended up with cars that looked like crabs going down the road.
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