my husband found a listing for a 1999 V70 VC with 80,000 miles but has a salvage title. one local mechanic warned that we would never sell it for it's full value, but we tend to drive our cars a long time. (anyone need an '89 mazda 626 LX turbo?? :-) ) Is it even worth the hour's drive to pick up the car to bring to my mechanic, and find out more about that salvage title from the seller? or would you just steer clear?
tia!
kate with a '91 Volvo 740 wagon, turbo
At the very least find out what the damage was, and whether all records and receipts for the repair are available before even going to look at the car. But note that floods, bent frames, fires, airbag deployments, and many other types of damage are typically bad news for the long term reliability, durability, and safety of the car. No records means that the worst can be assumed, and corner-cutting repair jobs or the use of aftermarket sheetmetal or bumper parts can be trouble also. Also, the manufacturer may refuse warranty service on a salvage title car.
Since the car is not that old, that probably means that the damage was fairly extensive. It's not like a $1000 old car taking a minor hit on a bolt-on part of sheetmetal with no structural damage being declared a "total loss" because repainting would cost more than the car.
thanks for your reply. the daughter of the current owner, aka the seller, says it took a week for the body shop to repair this car and there was no extensive damage. I'll ask about receipts, but the work was done by the seller's nephew's shop as a gift to the grandfather who then owned the car. They bought it as salvage, then did the work. I, too, assumed there would be extensive damage.... why would an insurance company total a car that had a scraped up driver's side; the damage she said it had? the car would have been 2 yrs old at that point, AFAICT.
my mechanic suggested that I could only get liability insurance on a salvaged title car? true?
kate
Check your state DMV on salvage titles. In NY, you have to document the repairs that were done (including reciepts, etc.) If you can't get a title easially, it's not worth owning the car unless for parts. I'd also really wonder about damage to the unibody and how that impacts safety in a subsequent crash.
I'd worry about the opposite. If you can get at title easily, I would wonder how easy it is to pass off a car with shoddy repairs.
- alex
'85 244 Turbo
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