You may have come across some really great deals on salvaged cars on the interwebs and wondered if it was worth the risk. Here’s what you need to know.
Firstly, cars can be “totaled” or “salvaged” for many different reasons.
It could be a crash- minor or severe, with or without another car, potentially even an animal.
It could be that the engine or transmission went out and the owner had full coverage.
It could be hail damaged or maybe even a flood.
Or my favorite, it was a theft. No crash… just stolen and recovered, but the insurance company already paid the owner a full claim
This was salvaged because the battery burst.
This was salvaged because it was stolen.
A vehicle is going to be totaled or salvaged if the repair cost exceeds a certain percentage of what the car is worth. It could be that the dealer charges $4000 for a motor and another $2500 to install it, and your car is only worth $6000. It includes cost of parts, labor, and paint & supplies, which usually adds up to quite a bit. Many times insurance companies will take down your list of damage and do a pre-evaluation to see if it’s worth repairing. If not, they take it away to an auction yard where your insurance adjuster will agree or disagree with the decision to total it. Most cars will not be taken for repair at that point.
More often than not, a vehicle will be taken to a body repair facility, and believe it or not, they will actually add up the cost of EVERYTHING wrong with the vehicle (not just from the accident). We often find repair estimates including replacements for fogged over headlights, tiny rock knicks in your hood, door dings, or even knicks in your pinstriping.
What is the difference between salvage and rebuilt?
Simply put, a “rebuilt” IS a salvage in North Carolina. Many people think they are different. In NC, an older vehicle that gets totaled will be given a salvaged title, and will automatically have “rebuilt” put in the “brands” field on the salvaged title.
Other times, with newer vehicles for instance, it will be given a salvaged title, and after it’s repaired, “rebuilt” will then be put in the “brands” field. Either way it’s just a brand to indicate that the vehicle is repaired for the road. It is even possible to have a clean title branded salvage rebuilt, and in that case it is still a salvage.
Before
After
So if you’ve read this far you realize that vehicles can be salvaged pretty easily, so what should you be wary about? There are many many body shops and even car dealers that will pick up these salvaged vehicles for cheap and try to jimmy-rig them. You’ll find really poor paint jobs and unmatched paint. You’ll find that body lines have huge gaps between panels or small trim pieces are missing. That means they didn’t put a full effort in, so what else did they not care about? I encourage you to thoroughly inspect the car. Is there uneven tire wear? That could be a sign that the suspension or frame was damaged and left unfixed. Is the airbag light on? Chances are there’s a fault which means it won’t deploy when you need it. Sure they may have replaced the bumper cover and it looks nice, but behind that could be mangled. Make sure that whatever it was, was repaired properly, or that whatever they left unfixed won’t affect it’s drivability or safety.
Now that being said, frame damage isn’t always as bad as it sounds. Behind your headlight for example could be pushed in a hair amount and throw off how everything aligns. That doesn’t mean you’re going to have a structurally unsound vehicle that will fall apart as soon as you start driving. It could have a dent in the rear quarter panel- again something that won’t affect the vehicle’s safety. It’s just visual.
So you need to have a firm understanding of what was damaged, what was replaced, and by who. At Gasquatch, we purchase the vehicles directly from the insurance company at auction. Nobody else has touched it. We also have photos of the damage. We have receipts of what we repaired. We are thorough to a T. With newer vehicles, we are even required to have it inspected at DMV two times- initially, and when we’re done repairing it. We fill out a rebuilder’s affidavit with parts and a total amount in repairs listed. Then we drive our cars extensively to ensure they’re safe for our customers to drive.
What you don’t want is people saying that something was just minor damage, and they’re the third owner since it was salvaged, and have no records or photos. We have witnessed these events and usually the vehicle was not repaired properly leaving issues dormant which will cause safety issues. Make sure the seller is upfront and transparent with you.
Here’s a few examples of salvages we bought over the years:
-A Mini Cooper needed a motor which cost $3000 used and the car was only worth $7000. After labor it would have cost too much to repair for insurance.
-An older Ford vehicle with low miles punctured the bottom of the transmission. The trans cost less than $1000 but it was an older vehicle, so insurance didn’t deem it worthy of repair.
-A like new Nissan had minor hail dings all over it. Barely noticeable, but it would have cost way too much to repair each and every one to look brand new again.
-A few year old Toyota pickup was stolen and recovered with virtually no miles on it. Insurance paid out a full claim already.
Salvaged for suspension damage on one corner.