Yea, happened two weeks ago this evening. Broke my ignition and did some some door lock damage, screwed up a few other things. Police recovered it pretty quickly. Thief had the sunroof open and the stereo cranked all the way up on a rap station and the seats low ridered out - at midnight! Cops pulled him over for a traffic violation (I think my brake light was out), he jumped and ran. Cost me $120 for towing but I got that reimbursed through insurance. Had all my paperwork strewn about the car. Only thing missing that I can figure out is my garage door opener. I changed the code pretty quickly.

Well, the insurance company decided to total the car saying the damages were more than it's worth. Mostly cosmetic or easy stuff to fix if you ask me, just you know how the dealer's charge their labor that really cranked things up. They are offering a settlement, I can buy it back but have to have the title reflect salvaged. I'll find out how much I can buy it back for tomorrow.

Anyone else have this type of experience, buying the car back and noting it as salvaged? What kind of money do they usually want?

 

You can buy it back for salvage. Usually only $500 or less. The bad thing is that When they tag it the value goes down by half instantly. If it booked for $3500, you could only sell it for $1750. I have heard of people getting the title cleared after theft recovery but I don't know how for sure. Check with your DMV they can tell you!

The only other thing you can do is find one that has a clear title but don't run. put all your goodies in it and you got a good car again.

 

if the price is right buy it back and don't worry about some rebuilt title crap.
I've seen cars that were totalled but had clean titles.
and I've seen cars with minor damage have salvage title.

 

My civic was totalled at one point (not a riced out civic, a good reliable commuter). the insurance company let me buy it back for $100. They let you buy it for whatever they think they'll get at auction. I put it on ebay and sold it to the first outside offer. I got $500 (really smashed up) and I had others offering way more just after. They pay little for damages, but atleast you can get the car back for cheap!

 

My max was totaled by an insurance company due to the fact that it would have cost over book to have it repaired at a body shop.

The old owner abandoned it a the body shop and I have $500 total into it.

So all depends on your vision of totaled as compared to the insurance companies, buy it back drive it until the wheels fall off and don't worry about resale.

 

Having the salvage title will not really affect your insurance in any way. It will only matter when you are trying to sell the car. You can probably buy it back for a couple of hundreds.

 

I sold my salvage title'd white 92SE for ABOVE blue book. Just gotta be a good salesman

 

My plan is to buy it back if the price is right. It has 186K on it. It was my daily driver. I work 100+ miles round trip, and also own a 2003 F150 Supercrew 4X4. That thing sucks the gas. The Max was averaging around 26. Plus my son gets his license real soon, he's had his eyes set on it for a while. I know I can fix the items that are bad. The insurance company had already paid for the ignition switch to be replaced before they decided to call it a total loss so that to me would've been the biggest job.

The fact that it will have a salvage title doesn't really bother me much either, I planned on driving it till it did'nt run no more. I don't know how they'll insured it either. I had full coverage but was getting ready to drop it when my son got his license. It was going to cost me an additional $180 per month on what I was already paying to add him. Without the full coverage it will run me an additional $80 per month.

 

I wish people would put maxima.org stickers on their cars, then I know what ones to avoid. Sorry, my bad


really though, atleast it wasn't burned or totaled or anything like that.

 

Well, called the insurance company again this afternoon. To buy it back will cost me $257.00. Can't beat that. I'll be picking it up tomorrow. I'll have a little work to do but not much. I can keep the rental for another five days.

 

Cool man, good price. You gonna get another car with the totalled money? VE time?

 

I picked the Max up today. I'll be keeping it. Probably have to take it back to the dealership for the ignition. When turning the key off, it doesn't always let you remove it. Sometimes I could turn and push the button and it would come right out. Others, I would do it three or four times before it would work.

 

why you gonna take it back to the dealer?
The lock cylinder/switch is all one piece. doesn't look that hard to replace yourself

 

The dealer already replaced it, that was before the insurance company decided to call it a total loss. So, they've been paid to fix it right, no sense in me digging into it...

 

I thought you had mentioned that but didn't see it when I reread the thread.

 

My bad. The insurance company initially went out and cut a check to the dealership for $900+. When the dealer called back to say there would be more, they decided to total it. They had to pay the dealer for the work they did, which was the major stuff.