Your thoughts on salavage cars?

I was wondering what people thought about buying salavge cars? The damage looks light (fender, hood, headlight) with no frame damage. However, the fact is the car is still a salvage title car. Worth it for $10K off? Would it be hard to resell when it comes time?

Stay away. Even if it's had an accident, or major paintwork, the resale price will be grossly affected. A totalled, flooded, or otherwise salvaged Porsche is close to worthless. These are not Honda's. They are automobiles that are perfectly balanced and engineered down to the very last precise detail. The whole symbiatic relationship between you, the car, and the pavement are all destroyd, once the car has been comprimised.

Damn! arr0gant that was intense! haha. Yeah I definitley would NOT purchase a salvaged vehicle. Not even a honda! I believe you can't get proper auto insurance on a car that has been salvaged, either that or a auto loan. Something about not having a "clean" title, this might only apply in the state of California. If you're getting an auto loan for the car saving the $10,000 which is about $170 a month is not worth it! My water bill is more than that! So you gotta take it in perspective.

I would agree, with the exception that if you want to use this for non-standard use, track (depending on how bad it was to start with and how well it has been repaired), AX or rallycross. I'd use the term "track pig", but I really don't like to use that term on a Porsche.

I would buy one if i was intending to keep it till it quit but the resale is hurt badly

I would stay away from flood vehicles at all costs as future electronic and rust problems could be a never ending night mare. However, vehicel that have had moderate collision damage or theft recoveries would be fine with me, IF the price was appropriately reduced. My Father in law bought a used Chevy Shortbed pickup 1 year old that had a rebuilt title. I tracked the history and got a copy of the estimate that totaled it and discovered it was a light rollover. I took a good hard look at where they sectioned the roof and checked the frame for pulls. He bought it about 10% below wholesale, drove it 3 years and sold it to a friend who has had it 5 years now. Just because a vehicle has been damaged doesnt mean it can't be properly repaired. But be infirmed on what the damage and repair was. Likewise, there are many theft losses with that are delcared a total loss because it isn't recovered in a week and the owner is paid for the loss of the car. Then it shows up a few weeks later with minor items removed and the ins company has to sell it at auction. Again, I would want an appropriate discount but i sould be OK with owning that car. Any rebuilt car I would only buy if I intended to keep it 4 or more years as resale will be difficult.

Be patient and wait until winter. Don't make your first 996 ownership experience a nightmare.

What he said ^ You want your 1st 911 experience to be as clean and pure as it can possibly be. While all the others comments have their points, I'll refer back to my original. Under mostly all situations (99.5%), when buying your 1st 911, don't cut corners. A salvaged/questionable car, under any circumstances, is no way to start your Porsche owning experience. GOOD LUCK, and keep the questions coming!! Now IM GOIN OUT TO DRIVE MY PERFECT CAR!!! Gant

For a savings of $10k off the purchase price, you can easily pay much more than that in repair costs. Plus tracking a car that has not been properly repaired sounds dangerous. As the others have correctly stated, your patience will be rewarded if you delay your purchase until winter.

If its a salvage becuase of theft then I would have no trouble cutting it up and turning it into a proper racer, but for a street car that your going to have to resell at some point, spend the money and get a clean one. There is someone on the BMW board that bought a flood 850i that has never and I mean never ever ran at any point after he towed it home for auction.

My buddy here in SoCal did a great job on a 98 Boxster with salvage title. Rebuilt it by hand, to his (exacting) standards, and it's a sweet ride. He knows it'll always be an issue when it comes time to sell, but he accepted that going in. Of course he was very picky about the car in the first place, and he knows his **** when it comes to rebuilding cars - so in the end it's not quite as cut and dried as some folks here would have you think. It's a personal choice - given full disclosure and a full understanding of the consequences. As a side note - when the engine failed on this 98, out of warranty but still low mileage - Porsche still replaced it FOC (after a suitable struggle), even though it was salvage title. Porsche paid for the block, owner paid labor. Porsche inspected the car and had no issues with it - so that's an interesting perspective. Chris.