rjorge3

Hi gang, I came across what seems to be a great deal on a 07 Type-S ($18,500-Salvaged title)that one of my client's friend has. He buys and sells car as a part time and bought this car from the insurance company. He claims that water never went inside the car, but the insurance company labeled the car as "Salvaged" because it was part of a group of cars that were damaged and since they dont have the time to inspect every car in detail, they just assumed that all of them were damaged. Of course, I would not take his words as 100 representation of the truth. I went inside the car and it does not smell like water at all and it drives very nice, by I am still aprehensive.

So, here is my question, do you guys think that I can take the car to an Acura dealer or my trusted mechanic to see if there are any internal damage? Would they be able to spot any problems with their equipment? Have any one of you ever bought a "Flood Titled car", please share your experiences.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

jeowen

I would leave it alone. Keep looking- I just cant imagine 100% peace of mind driving it -

RACINGHART03

iTrader: (2)

Sounds sweet but keep in mind that if you plan to sell it most likely no one will want it. Secondly salvage cars also have branded titles with Acuras warranty database so anything that goes wrong will be your own financial problem. Price seems a bit high to me for a salvage. I think 12 would be more resonable. By the time you finish with tax you are gonna be only about 6 grand under what you could pick up a used one with a clean title.

JnC

iTrader: (12)

^^ Buy it for 12 and keep it for life .

Gargola

If you are set on buying it... remove the rear seats and look for signs of water and rust, do the same for the spare tire well.


As far as the price, if you buy it, make sure you keep it for a long time, as the price isn't really anything to right home about.

Make sure you are aware:
-no dealer will accept it as a trade-it
-some banks don't finance cars with past salvage titles.

Good luck.

1075

I would RUN AWAY from a salvage title unless the price was $12,000or less. You may not be able to insure it (other than liability) the car has extremely diminished resale value, and there is no guarantee that it didn't take on water or that the safety devices (i.e. airbags etc.) are intact.

For $18,500 in this economy you could probably find an older TL with more miles that is certified or at least eligible for a warranty.

TLType-s12

iTrader: (2)

Honestly thats a really good price for it. You need to get a trusted mechanic to look at it. One that actually knows what hes doing. If the vehicle checks out and he gives his approval then why not. Buy it.

rjorge3

thanks guys for all of your replies. I am thinking of keeping the car until the engines blows (hopefully after 150kmiles), so I am not concerned about re-selling, but some of you brought up an interesting point, you guyst think that the price is too hight (if I end up checking the and the car checks out?). I have been pricing 07 type-s and the cheapest I've found is $23,000, but with 65,000 miles, anything south of those miles, they are asking mid to hight $20s.

Have any of you purchased a Salvage title car before?

Gargola

I have purchased a car with a salvage title in the past, and quite honestly, you really need to be sure you know what your getting yourself into, if you have any doubts than don't buy it.

The difference between my experience and yours was that my car was a rebuilt salvage title. That car was never 'perfect', there was always something wrong, however minor, with the car.

It ended up being a good deal for me because I got it cheap, even though I had to put money into it here and there, it was spread apart and not upfront ( I didn't have the money to buy the same car with a regular title), but if I decided to sit down and do all the numbers, I probably spent the same, if not a little more on the car, but over a longer period of time.

3 years later, when I decided to trade it in, I was unable to.

blazinginder

my advice...pay a little more and get a clean titled car and be on the safe side...you never know what the future will bring with a car with NO WARRANTY

saltysteve

i currently have a salvaged car. it was wrecked and i bought it at auction and rebuilt it. the tittle says rebuilt on it. The car is registered in ct.

what i can tell you that depending on what state the car is from you might have a problem getting it legal. for instance a salvage car from penn. is a pain in the ass to get legal here in ct. The car has to get fixed and inspected in penn. , then tittled there to finally be transferable. sucks. the states do not have the same laws. they are more like the divided states of america. so for one make sure its possible to easily transfer the title to your state.
The other thing is your buying a car with a ver high resale value which will be totaly lost. Im not sure how the flood cars tittle but it might say salvage or flood. as long as you dont see signs of damage and all eletronics work and the car drives normaly then you most likey have a good car. id get it inspected by a pro if you dont know what to lok for yourself. Id also look up some other salvage tls to price compare. i think 18500 is to high. your car if salvage is worth only something to the owner- a salvage car will also resell for around 1/3 of its value.

just do your research about the value and legalities!
its very worth it if you get a good deal on it and nothing is wrong with it.

Gargola

Good point about making sure you can register the car, my particular title said "Rebuilt Salvage". which meant in that particular state, that is was a salvage title that had all the needed repairs done to it.

Jesstzn

Thing to remember about flood damage is these cars have a lot of electrical connections that can corrode from flood silt which is different from road spray.

Also silt can get into places you never thought ruining bearings and brakes etc.

And when a guy says the insurance company "Never had time to look at them all " think it over .. you think they are going to pay out that kind of money ( which is higher than what they try and recover ) without making sure the car wasn't repairable. In this case no repaird needed.

Does the car look like it has been through a detailer? Pull off a front wheel and see if flood silt got up that high.

I have seen local cars here suffer flood damage and they were a problem the rest of thier lives.

Water/silt causes a lot of different issues than crash damage .. so you can't compare the 2.

Randy B

Acura will not warranty any car with a salvage or re-built title, and your insurance company will most likely not insure the car since it is considered salvage. I would check all of things for your own piece of mind.

For me I would not go near a salvage or re-built car unless it was for parts to sell on EBay or here.

Randy B

Trew

iTrader: (1)

Don't do it, man. Flood cars = Major electrical issues. You might not see it now, but all kinds of stuff will go wrong later on down the road.

rjorge3

Thanks all for your advice, I decided not to touch it, you made some good points about water affecting all the electrical components even if they were repaired. I guess if it was salvaged due to theft or accident, it could have been a good deal.

Reason prevailed! That's what I love about sharing experiences in these forums, hearing from you guys is like having a second set of eyes in looking for trouble.

Thanks all again, and I'll keep looking for my type-s

acura_dipset_tl

iTrader: (40)

i dont think that their would be an issue with insuring the car because why would people buy and sell salvage card or flood cars if people could not insure them makes no sence.
but as far as the car goes your making a smart decision dont touch it.

MWalsh9152

away