Salvage title - At what point does it not matter (1 Viewer)

[Kernal]

I had this same question a couple years ago before prices became crazy inflated when I found a good condition 80 but with a Salvage title based on a minor accident, no frame damage. But because it had been stolen it automatically got a salvage title in the state where it was located.

From all my research it seemed like the most important factor was that insurance companies will not pay out as much if the vehicle was in an accident, as already mentioned above, the value is significantly less than with a normal title.

There may be a company that could sell you some sort of extra protection, mine didn't offer anything.

Having said that, good 80 examples are getting hard to find, so if you can pick up the vehicle at a good price then the risk of losing money in an accident is less critical. Also, even if it were ever in another accident you'd at least have a lot of rust-free spare parts.

FWIW

 

[leonard_nemoy]

If you can afford to buy a vehicle cash than a salvage title is probably not a big deal, especially if you don't plan on selling it.

If you need to take out a loan to buy a vehicle than it is wise to avoid salvage titles.

 

[Lowbudgetlc100]

so is this cruiser for your personal use or a flip. if its personal use who cares about a salvage title. if it for a flip. yes salvage or rebuild title will affect resale.

 

[DivByZero]

Be grateful you can salvage at all. Where I live (NSW, Australia) it's no longer legal to re-register written off vehicles at all, ever. Yep, a vehicle can be written off for purely economic reasons, for a dented body panel and broken light cluster, the insurance company writes it off because of the parts value, and nobody can ever register and drive that vehicle ever again. Damn shame.

 

[Bludozer]

Probably not something I should admit on mud lol, but it's behind me now so . I was the GSM at a franchise dealership for years. I have bought and sold thousands of vehicles. From a resale perspective a salvage title will ALWAYS matter. It will always be an obstacle for the seller, even if the salvage title is largely irrelevant (like it is in many cases). With newer cars it is an even bigger obstacle as many banks will not finance vehicles with salvage titles, so your pool of buyers shrinks even more. This won't be a huge problem with a 24 year old vehicle as most will want to pay cash (though this is slowly changing as well with this newer generation of buyers), but still worth mentioning. Bottom line is when selling a salvage titled vehicle, assuming you are presenting the vehicle in a transparent fashion, the title will always effect the value in a negative way - how much it effects it is based on the degree and type of damage as well as the ability of the seller.