My mom was looking at a car & we found out it’s salvaged & the person that owns a car garage bought it from an insurance auction. Saw before pic’s & had front damage, bumper, fender & these two metal rectanglar things that go in between the grill & motor. Replaced battery & air bag. Motor was not touched or damaged.
He’s selling it for about 6 K less then the value price.
Coincidently our mechanic is the one that fixed the damage & he said the car was good. Our mechanic is going to check it out again for us today, but wondering if it’s ok to buy this car.
Yes we will be asking him to check for frame damage, tire alignments, etc.
Any advise, suggestions or past stories would be very much appreciated!!
It’s a 2007 Nissan Altima – 25K miles & got it down to $10k.
I checked Carfax & it is classified as a salvaged car. Otherwise had a clean history.
I think it was from a lease.
7 Responses
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jmuffin Says:
I bought a salvaged car and haven’t had any problems with it. It was kind of the same situation. It was an ’08 Hyundai Accent with less than 200 miles on it. I bought it for $6,000 it’s been a perfect car. I haven’t had to do any work on it. I love it.
Good luck.
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pickmefirstplz Says:
find out what its going to take to register the car in some places its a pain after it has been wrecked
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sexy angel Says:
if your mechanic says its good then it will be ok for you to buy it…but you have to know that once you try to sell the car when you decide its time for a new one…that car will not be worth what you paid for it….and will be hard to try to sell because it is a salvaged car…..so good luck
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Tim Says:
Penny wise and pound foolish. You will be sorry when you go to trade or sell the car. In most cases salvage cars have many hidden problems.
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topofga Says:
Be fully prepped. The reason it went to salvage was it was deemed not repairable by the insurance company. Although it may look good and run fine, you have no idea of the hidden damage that lurks to tag you later. Front damage on a unibody car like the Altima means the entire body has taken stresses that may have caused damage all through the extent of the vehicle.
Now that is NOT to say don’t buy it, I’ve gone to salvage auctions and purchased and restored a lot of vehicles, but when reselling these vehicles two items have been consistent:
1.) dealers are not interested in taking them in trade and will offer squat.
2.) The salvage title never goes away and that means the Edmunds, NADA, Kelly value that needs to be used is 50% of the fair condition vehicle at best.Note that these sites have salvage in the poor condition category.
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Larry E Says:
It sounds like cosmetic damage only and wasn’t in a flood I wouldn’t be afraid of it. cars can be repaired and are fine if done by a good mechanic or body person.As far as being worth less for trade in yes this is true but you are also buying it for a lot less . Ask him if there is any guarantee with it.
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Trust and Believe Says:
If it passes an inspection at a reputable ASE certified shop it is probably just as good as any non-salvage car but will have a lower re-sale value anyway just because the title is “branded” salvage.
