Buying a Car With a Salvage Title
There are many things to consider when you're in the market for a car with salvage title, here are a few of them.
If you are mechanically inclined, you can get yourself a lot more vehicle for a lot less money than the average person can. That is because you are able to take something that is in various stages of non-repair and turn it into a functioning item. That can go from some vehicle that is just mildly dysfunctional to one that has [pretty much been given up for dead. Obviously, the worse off the vehicle the less money that you are going to spend on buying it but then again there is more potential expense in fixing it. Although if you know what you are doing you are still going to come out ahead in the deal in the long run when all is said and done.
A lot of times, these cars are ones that have survived hurricanes or other natural disasters and have literally been written off as junk by the insurance company because the cost of repair, by their standards, is more than the cost of replacement. This leaves leeway for you as a mechanical person to get a great deal with some fairly hefty profit potentials.
When this happens, the vehicles become what is commonly known as a salvage vehicle with a salvage title. The usual way that a person would buy these would be through auction at an auto salvage sale. The trick in this endeavor is to be sure that you inspect the vehicle well and know as much about it as you humanly can find out. One source of such information as to what has happened to the car would a Carfax report. It is not infallible and there may be issues that don’t show up there but it is a starting point that will give you a point of reference.
You may want to be cautious because while most states require that once a car has been written off, it has to be issued a salvage title to identify it as having potential issues, there are still some states that will allow a clean and clear original title for such a vehicle .
The states that may currently allow for this type of title are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont. NOTE: This is information is not legal advice and may be incorrect by the time you read it. Its your responsibility to check the relevant state law at the relevant time.
While it is advisable to use caution when buying a used vehicle in these states, especially within a few months of a large disaster such as Hurricane Katrina, for example, if you know what you are doing, you can get some phenomenal bargains and buy something that is going to give you the potential for a fantastic deal that can either make a great project vehicle or at the very least, the potential for a nice tidy profit when you have completed the car.
What is interesting to note here is that during some of these large scale disasters, the insurance companies have been known to batch salvage a bunch of cars rather than to go out and physically inspect each and every car and truck that has a claim filed against them because it is more cost effective than sending out all the claims adjusters when it is a known disaster. In cases like this, it is possible that some of those vehicles that are listed as total losses are actually in good shape with very minimal cosmetic damage.
The vehicles that you might find that have a salvage title are likely to be newer and many are more than worth the time and effort to repair depending of course on your reason for getting the vehicle and your level of mechanical prowess. The thing here is that the damage can range from simply cosmetic and body damage as you might find from a wreck or hail damage. You might find that water damage from something like a hurricane or flood has totally ruined both the interior and the electronics of the vehicle. While it is not common for the damage to extend to the actual mechanical areas such as the engine, transmission and rear-end you should take care to make sure that the fluids have been drained and replaced prior to attempting to operate them. If the damage was water related then a total disassembly and clean out would most likely be in order to ward off potentially damage resulting from operating an engine or component that may have been immersed in water and have internal rust damage.
Locating a salvage vehicle is fairly easy and you can even contact a local insurance agent to find out how you can get a list of vehicles that are available locally and where they are to be auctioned off. If you are not a mechanic then it is highly advisable that you take someone with you to the auction that can make a qualified assessment and decision as to the overall general condition of the vehicle and what repairs can be needed.
Hidden damage in this type of vehicle can be very hard to predict even if you are an expert and having a second pair of eyes to look over the vehicle is never a bad idea to give you a little more peace of mind and we all know that a=someone else might see what you have missed.
Keep in mind that there are no warrantees or guarantees with this type of vehicle purchase so once you have laid out the cash it is yours. You get the glory if it is a great buy and the headache if it is not. You are going to have the opportunity to get a great project no matter how you look at it. The investment can range from somewhat cheap to moderately price and no matter what it is going to be a great learning experience for you.