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There's a 2003 WRX that's been sitting on a lot near my way to work for a month or two now. I finally got the gumption to look into it. A couple of phone calls in and I'm convinced they dude isn't too motivated to sell it. I asked about price, and he said it was listed for $7.5k, but could let it go for $7k. A little worried, I finally got a VIN for it. Chris Brown was nice enough to lend me a carfax report (thank you) and my fears were confirmed - salvage title.

So I figured I'd look up the police report and see how extensive the damage was. #P08124949 - but the report can't be found (I'll probably call the raleigh PD later to ask about it). I figure I shouldn't be daily driving a salvage, and that'll keep me in my current daily driver. I'd love to pick it up as a rallycross/autocross/"teach myself about cars" car, but my price range for that is going to be less than 1/2 of what they're asking.

I'm curious if any of you have done this and had it work out. I'd plan on getting it checked out by a real subaru dealership before buying so that I knew the problems. But even so, is it worth pursuing? Did whomever bought it from the insurance company put so much into restoring the car that it's worth even close to $7k? I'm doubting it. I expect that business to be all about fat margins.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

Some salvage title cars are fine, some are crap.

I can't comment specifically on a 2003 WRX for $7k, because I don't know what they're worth. If you really want to consider buying the car, do your research and have the car checked out by someone who knows what they're looking at- either a Subaru specialist or a high-end body shop, or both.


Most of the guys who rebuild wrecks do a fairly quick and dirty job, so it shouldn't be too hard to spot where the damage was and then see how well it was fixed.

I would have no problem driving a car with a salvage title, but I'd like to know a bit about the damage that caused it to be a salvage car.



I bought a nice clean BMW E30 318is a couple of years ago from a salvage auction. It was totalled by some undercarriage damage. The oil pan was cracked and the exhaust pipe was dented in- that was about it.

I replaced the oil pan, filled it with oil and drove it to FLA a couple of weeks later. It could have just as easily had major engine damage, in which case I would have not gotten such a great deal. I drove that car for several years before selling it, and it never gave me any trouble.


I guess my point is that there is no simple rule as to when a salvage title car is a good deal and when it is not. I would definitely expect the price to be a bit lower for a salvage title car, but not necessarily alot lower.

To add to Bret's experiences, my $10+k BMW M3 was "totalled" last year when I got rear-ended. Had it been most people and ended up on a tow truck, this car would have likely been a salvage title up for auction somewhere. As it was, the damage looked a lot worse than it was - I haven't even had it aligned since the accident and it would have made a pretty good find. It could have been very different too... so it could really go either way.

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Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --