BigKleib34

Guy says the car is immaculate. 75k miles 6 speed. I'm not sure of the damage Carfax says nothing aside from total loss.

c4cruiser

What year? What options? If the car has a salvage title and CarFux says it was a total loss, that might give you some bargaining power. But a total loss can mean that it simply would have cost more to repair than what some insurance company decided on a value of similar cars.

There are some body shops that really do good work and can restore a car to very close to the condition it was in before a crash. Or it could be that the owner got estimates that were high and the insurance company didn't want to deal.

Ask for lots of pictures. Close ups, front, back sides, and even under the car. If you're not close to the car, go to the CF regional sections for the state where the car is located and ask if somebody in the city can go look at it.

There are lots of C5's for sale and there looks like some nice ones in the C5 For Sale section. I would suggest that you look at a number of cars and get the best one that fits in your budget. If your are close enough to see and drive the car and you are thinking about keeping it forever, then that may work. "Cleaning" a salvage title is getting to where it's very hard to get a good title and Carfax won't delete prior information about old titles.

jrose7004

Make sure that it's not a flood car.

BigKleib34

It was a 2000 (posted this in the heat of negotiation and forgot), didn't realize insurance won't cover it fully so I opted out. Got the guy down to 9300 though.

Vetteman Jack

Good move. Way too many clean title cars out there to consider.

BigKleib34

Yeah now that I'm not all riled up about it, the lack of records with a car like that should've been an immediate red flag... crisis averted.

C5at16

Bigklieb34 as in the YouTube channel? Like your vids man!

BigKleib34

Yessir that would be me! Thanks!!

Navybluevette

Or a tornado car, that sand kills about every electrical part on the car eventually.

warlock007

A salvage car means nothing if it was repaired correctly. I would ask for the insurance forum filed with the total repair sheet and where it was fixed. Normally cars are worth 1/3 less than clean title cars. I buy and sell them all the time and own 2 currently.

Floridasky

Walk away and keep looking.

Dave68

I agree, although I have heard from a guy who worked at an auto body shop for 30 years that 40-50% off blue book is what a buyer should expect to pay. I bought a salvage MX5, last year. The owner had pics of the damage before it was repaired. Was the repair/paint perfect? No, but for a savings of $8000, I didn't care as long as the frame, engine, and tranny were in good shape and the car looked good from 10 feet away.

Of course, salvage title cars are harder to sell, so it is important to educate potential buyers that yes, insurance companies will insure with full coverage for the reduced value (compared to blue book), but no, you cannot typically get a bank or credit union auto loan.

The bottom line is that if you do your research, you can get an excellent ride for half the cost.

Bimmervet

A Salvage title means everything. In Il. they will issue a salvage title if damage excedes 70% of retail value to repair as a guidline. Think about that. You don't know what the exact damage is, will the airbags work??
Was it flood damage, frame damage, etc.???
Do you care about resale later?

c4cruiser

At that price and it being a 6-speed, it would be a great base for an autocross or track day car.

PaceThis

That's odd...sounds like a problem with your insurance company. I've owned dozens of salvage title cars and never had a problem obtaining full coverage. Even had one totalled again, and payout was more than reasonable (more than I paid, plus I got to keep the car).

For those that think they're harder to sell, think again. There are tons of people wanting to save some $$ on a nice car. I've always been able to sell them easier. Don't expect full blue book on it, but then again, you're not paying full blue book when you buy it...

Birdman

I'm just gonna piggyback on this thread:

I'm looking at a 2003 yellow Z06 with 40k miles, completely stock that has a salvage. The front right was impacted and the guy had a shop fix the frame rail(s), replace the right spindle assembly, bumper/fenders, etc. Looks good now from what I can tell.

What would be a good price on this car, you think? I only have 12k to play with.. and have owned 2 C5s (to include a Z) in the past..

RedZMonte

In the car business when we trade for a Salvage title we take off of the market price and cut 30-50% off that. Salvage title cars are hard to sell unless REALLY CHEAP, most banks wont lend $$ on a Salvage title car.

HAVE THE CAR INSPECTED BEFORE MAKING THAT KIND OF PURCHASE!!! you dont want the kind of problems that come with a flood or bent frame.

The Nice ones arn't cheap and the cheap ones arn't nice... In most cases

S

66dts-v

I would pay $12k for an '03 Z if it was fixed proper. But there is a clean title Z near me with only 80K for $14k, so it's a tough call.

Birdman

Would you please PM me some details/pics of that one??

rjwz28

Out here, salvage titles are EVERYWHERE

Everybody wants a nicer car than they could afford when they were shopping, so they buy salvage

The stupid part is that pretty much none of them price them accordingly when the time comes to sell

Many are at or over NADA for a clean car, and those that aren't are just priced where a good deal on a clean car would be

I would pay half price; any more than that and it's not worth the headache

Who do you insure through?