Salvage Title

[fiasco]

What do you guys think of a car with a salvage title?

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/908732231.html

Says it's never been in a wreck. I emailed him to ask why the salvage title - waiting to hear back.

Looks like a nice car, but the salvage makes me nervous.

-- se

[mdrburchette]

I'd be interested to know why it had a salvaged title. I don't know about how Ca DMV works, but a friend of ours had a cube van that had a blown head gasket and in order to not pay yearly taxes on it, he had the title salvaged. He gave us the truck and we repaired it and sold it to another friend. It took several attempts for the new owner to get the salvaged title reversed through the Highway Patrol and DMV. I'd also like to know why the fella hasn't gotten the title straightened out since he's selling it for a pretty good chunk of change.

[So Cal Mark]

Ca doesn't ever reverse a salvage title. Sometimes registering a vehicle from another state that is salvaged will result in a clear Ca title, but that is an oversight on Ca DMVs part. It could have been stolen at some point, or suffered mechanical damage (broken timing belt) that caused the insurance co to total it if it had full coverage. I've got no problem with salvage titles and it really only affects value of newer cars

[miragesmack]

Price seems high considering the salvage title, regardless if it was wrecked or not. Those things are a hassle to deal with and should be priced accordingly. I've seen many similar Spiders for less than $4500. I bet it doesn't sell fast if you want to wait it out.

[brad131a4]

Sounds as if he's just trying to get all the money he's put into it back is all. I would venture to say he may have gotten it from a salvage yard with a bad tranny and replaced it . I've seen new cars in salvage yards here with less problems and in better shape because the owner didn't want to deal with it and sold it to the yard.