I just wanted to see if I could get some feedback. I am looking to test drive a '00 Maxima SE which is advertised as 'salvage title'. The guy says that it was damaged to the rear end of the car (which has been repaired) and he is asking $14200 for it, with 40k miles. Is this a reasonable price? (leather/bose-sound/manual). Would you recommend that I take it to a mechanic to have it looked over? Thanks for any advice, in advance.

 

Sounds over priced to me. For example I had my eye on a salvaged 2000 maxima SE, 5spd, 2K miles and every option. This car had just the interior striped and then it was all replaced. The price was $15,500. The car your talking about probably books for about 15-16K and a salvage title should take at least 3-4K off the book value IMO. Check out www.autotrader.com and look around, you will be suprised at how cheap you can find 2000 max's on there.

 

I would always have a mechanic take a look at any used car that I would buy. The salvage title is something you should always be wary of. If the frame was bent and then just bent or pulled back to being straight, the car is going to be weaker if another accident happens. It's just like taking a paper clip and bending it back and forth until it breaks, that is what happens when you bend the frame of the car. I'm not able to help you on the price because I don't know what newer cars are going for these days. Hope this helps.

Adam

 

salvage

in the case of theft or even flood it aint to much to worry about. accident damage is another case, what specifically was damged? a bumper skin and support or trunk lid isnt really a big deal. dented 1/4 panel is to bad either, however when you have frame/unibody damage you might be getting into problems. if the suspension geometry in the rear is off dont bother. the 4th and 5th gen max dont have any alignment adjustments in the rear. camber caster and toe are set at factory and should not be out unless you have a parts problem (bushings,bent axle,bent shock assmebly etc etc) or in your case possible frame damage.

 

If it has a salvage title it must have been about $10-13K+ damage. That means the car got hit VERY HARD.

 

1. I think it is too much... I would knock off another 2-3,000 dollars. http://www.autotrader.com/findacar/r...ced=y&x=48&y=5


2. Even thought they are required to tell you it is salvage, the damage is always more than the person says(usually).(When I buy and sell salvage cars, and I don't lie, I just minimize the damage.) Ask him if he has pics of the car damaged.

3. I would never mess with flood damage. There is way too much risk involved. Engine, transmission. Interior, electrical, computer.

4. "Salvage title" does not mean that the car has been in a serious accident. A car becomes salvage when an insurance company has paid out on a vehicle, in other words, when the vehicle is a total loss to them. Your car could be stolen, and if they pay you for the vehicle, and it is recovered one month after that, in perfect condition, the vehicle is salvage. Which is why many times you see a perfectly good vehicle at insurance auto auctions. I used to work for Geico insurance.

 

Fox News showed a lady who unknowingly purchased a used car with a salvage title through a "new car dealer." She had endless problems with it but thanks to Fox the dealer gave her her money back. The idea of salvage to me is a pump and dump scheme. Body shops buy totalled cars, put minimal labor into it a turn around for some quick $$$. If it were such a great car why would insurance companies want to dump them as opposed to repair them? Insurance companies after all are very cheap themselves, if it could be fixed at a reasonable price they'd do it and make the owner have to driver the repaired car.

 

True you can get really screwed with a slavage, but just like what was mentioned earlier, you can get a great car cheap, too. Also, if in the process of getting a salvage, simply ask these questions;

Did the car suffer from water damage??
Did it have any electrical problems??
Did the accident cause nay major mechanical problems??

The dealer is obligated to tell you the truth, then its up to you whether you want to buy it. If they lie, and you find out after you bought it, NYS law allows you to return it to them and they have to pay you back. Part of the lemon law, I beleive.

DW

 

I have a salvage title car. My car was stolen in CT and recovered in NY. I bought what was left of the chasis and added the interior, doors, and other body panels. The engine and drivetrain (including exhaust) were intact and running perfectly. If you buy directly from the salvage yards you can get a good deal. I got a '96 1 1/2 years ago...SE chasis, GLE interior, BOSE Leather..the works..with 55,000 miles...for $8,000.

Erik

 

What insurance companies want to do is avoid 100 million dollar lawsuits. If that means that they have to pay 30,000 out on that car they will. For them to fix the car they have to be 150% sure that the car will be exactly how it was before the vehicle was crashed or stolen. If they have the slightest doubt, they pay out on a car. Remeber too that once a vehicle is paid out for, even if it is in perfect condition, it becomes salvage.

Of the cars that I have bought, I have never bought a repaired one. That way you know exactly what the damage was.

 

well theft recoveires are the best
in dec of 97 i got a 96 GXE with sunroof, i put in airbags, se rims, spoiler, and some other stuff like radio steering column and the car came out to 12,500$ after everything with registration and title
the car had 20K miles

 

i bought my 96 and it turns out it had a salvage title attached to it... i'm CDN and it's a car from the states. It was originally from connectitcut and a year later, sold at an auction in dallas texas??? weird... nothing seems wrong with the car so far.. it has 120,000km's on it. or about 78-80,000 miles.

i got into an accident about 2 weeks ago, ripping the front bumper off. they bumper came with foglight holes. When they(place fixing the car) ordered pieces for my car, my car doesn't come with fog lights, plus it turns out my previous front bumper was white! my car is blue. So my guess is that it was in a bad frontal accident? is it 10k+ which makes a car have a salvage title? Any ideas guys on what my car might have gone through to get this title? wouldn't a front accident this bad, wreck the engine also? The engine sounds great and all. Ugh, next meet in canada(hopefully montreal) i should goto,
have one of you guys check it out....

hehe

 

Not necessarily... There is no magic number that makes a car salvage. It could have been stripped. It could have been crashed. It could have been...etc. Being at the San Diego-Tijuana border, many of my friends buy cars and take them across the border. You can import a salvage title or junk vehicle, or non-revivable titles. With junk or non-rev. titles you cannot register the car in the U.S. but in many countries, such as Mexico, there is no such thing as salvage title. So you can basically fix it and sell the car as new. And make more $$$. And I would have to agree theft recoveries are the absolute best ones you can come across.