I've been raving to everyone about how great TLs are, so one of my friends has dug up an 07 Type-S to buy from an out of state lot with this type of title. It's pretty low miles and the pictures posted look good, but it's priced suspiciously low. He says the guy selling it claims it was a repo, not totaled or put in a lake. Seems very fishy to me but I'm not sure what to tell him.

You guys have any suggestions?

2007 Acura
TL Type S
25461 miles
$16800.00

 

Sounds too good to be true. Get it checked by a good shop and look for frame damage.

 

Cant hurt to take a look....just be aware salvage cars have no warranty and usually sold strictly AS-IS. A repo won't usually yield a salvage title though so that sounds fishy.

 

x2.

 

Avoid salvage at all costs. Not worth the headache.

 

Get the VIN number and run the carfax.com or autocheck.com

 

^do this

dont buy a salvage car, you wouldnt get nothing back when you want to sell it , so you would be married to that car for life, unless you wanna sell it for 2500

 

also keep in mind some insurance cos will not insure a salvage.rebuilt title

 

^whats that mean? insurance cos?

 

if cos = companies


then thats not true, i have a salvage car with full coverage on it


only thing is if it gets totaled , then wont write it off

i think they only fix the damages to a certain amount

 

actually mine is a rebuilt title,(not sure if it makes a difference)but i had state inspection and everything done to it before i was able to re register it

 

I don't know if this is still true, but in NY if a car is stolen and recovered, it is given a salvage title.

 

most likely if the price is really cheap ... its because it has something other than a clean title ... take a look, but be very cautious, and if anything seems just a little off run dont walk from the car

 

Most insurances will insure a salvage/rebuilt title, no way they can really say no.

Only issue would be if it was totaled, you would get the price of your vehicle minus the salvaged/total title (basically 40% off).

You wouldn't have any warranty, but you will have all the recalls done.

I'd check on it, no harm in looking.

 

Make sure that you get it checked out by a professional. In CA theft recovery vehicles are given salvaged titles if the insurance company writes the car off. I thought about picking up a salvaged vehicle a few months ago but decided against it because there are too many potential problems. One that I was concerned about was that some of them may not have working air bags. Some sellers will disclose this but I wouldn't know how to check.

 

TheChamp531: That is not true, an insurance company has the right to deny to insure the car if the title is anything but clean.

Also consider as far as insurance is concerned a salvage vehicle is worth 50% of ACV or actual cash value. so run NADA and whatever that number is deduct half and thats what they will consider your vehicle is worth. Also if your friend needs a loan good luck getting a bank to lend on a salvage car, you will need to owe less then 50% of the value for them to consider it.

Dont do it. Salvage cars are nightmares unless you rebuild it yourself. if its flood DONT TOUCH IT! Nomatter what they did to "fix" the car it will have problems forever.

Also screw CarFax!!! Insurance companies on average report only 30% of losses to Car Fax. I hate how everyone lives and breathes for car fax.

 

I just bought a 2005 Acura TL A-spec that has "prior salvage" stamped on the title. I've bought many salvage titled cars in the past with no problems...just depeds on what the previous damage was. The Acura I just bought was stolen in Indiana, lost for 5 days, found in a routine traffic stop...the guy decided to make a run for it and the police escorted him off of the freeway using their csquad ars. I got a hold of the shop here in Minnesota that repaired it. They said all they replaced was the front & rear spoilers, front fender and had to replace one tire/rim. I got the car for "rough trade-in" value per NADA.com. I'm pretty happy with the purchase...

 

Yes, there are plenty of ways they can say no. It's up to each insurance company if they want to insure these vehicles or not, and there are several that will not fully insure a salvage title.

 

best way is to know exactly what kinda accident the car was in and what was replaced, take to a good shop and even a body shop to get it fully inspected , cuz you wouldnt want to run it to any problems later on down the road, and since its salvaged you can beat the price down even more , Good Luck

 

Very true but OP said repo'ed, not stolen/recovered. Just sounds fishy for a repo car to have a salvage title. A stolen car would actually make sense.

 

best thing he can do is just run the carfax, it should say exactly if it was a repo or stolen

 

Thank you for all the suggestions. I will let him know what everyone has suggested here and let him make his own decision. Obviously I am biased and want him in a TL but he just needs to know there are risks and concerns involved.

 

I have experience in this................run a carfax....to make sure what type of damage it was and most importantly test drive the car completely, especially from 60-80 mph.....if you need help nmartinez201@gmail.com........i am a newbie stilol blocked from features

 

Hmm Salvage title eh ? let me share my experience and you decide.

In 2005 bought 2004 civic vp with 13k miles for $8500
drove it till October 2010 and sold it for $5200 at 101k miles

During this time I had FULL COVERAGE insurance with Esurance and later with GEICO.
Esurance (2005) helped me fix my car for free worth $2300 damages due to hit and run and i was covered under UNINSURED DRIVERS. In 2007 got rear ended by a highschool kid got car fixed for free from STATEFARM (his insurance) which ran about $1400 in damages and $450 in rental. In 2009 GEICO payed $3300 to fix another accident which was others fault but no insurance.

So you tell me was it a good deal or not ?

 

^yup

 

def sounds like a great deal, but i think u got lucky, and not everyone will be as luck as you when it comes to a salvage car

 

Sounds like whoever bought it had no idea what they were buying. Like VQPower said sounds like you got a good deal!

 

Ok deal that you got covered, but not everyone gets into accidents/fender benders and lucks out with insurance to fix all prior damages. My good friend had a show WRX and it got stolen with full coverage, GEICO put it back to stock and even left the radio out and didn't fix cigaret burns from when being stolen or dents from when the guys ripped off his front lip. He had 29k into the car in parts and he was paying 11k a year insurance. GEICO sucks and yes you lucked out but what were you paying for insurance? I bet it was a lot.

 

Sounds like your friend didnt have the correct policy! You need to take out coverage for all the aftermarket stuff, Not the insurance companies fault.
But agree Gieco sucks!

 

My first car was a salvages 97 nissan maxima. It was in a head on and was repaired after being totaled. The 4th gen max was a totally solid car all around, but the salvage title led to problems that I was not interested in fixing such as: airbag malfucntion, paint peeling right to the bare metal, etc. The only thing I miss about that car was no payment lol.

 

my friend's dad goes to salvage yard auctions and buys cars and fixes them and sells them. he just got a 06 TL silver no-navi with 70 000km for 6000$. it's gonna cost him 2000$ to fix it and he can sell it for around 16000$. Not all salvage cars are shit like people say. And my buddy is gonna drive it through the winter

 

May be Depends on what u mean lucky with ? Lucky the price I sold it for ? or lucky i got covered by insurance?

Well price wise, the retail on a clean title 04 civic coupe with 102k miles is around 8500 today. U simply take of 30 to 40% for rebuilt title (my cousin gave me this formula since this is what he did for 3 yrs in Utah) So 5200 wasn't a bad price.

Coverage by insurance ? well when u get a salvage car fully insured all they do is a thorough check up and a clearance from the state that the car passes safety.

I was paying $115 a month before the 2009 accident and $147 a month after the accident.

You might not agree with me sir, but Geico isn't that bad. When you get initial coverage, they ask you if there are any customizations to the car or would you like additional coverage. I just added my TL-S last week and they asked me the same question n my reply was, "IT'S SWEET AS STOCK"

Y on earth was your friend paying $850 plus on monthly insurance