I spoke to the seller, (Steve) and he informed me that it was not a theft recovery. I made an appointment and will take a ride out to see it tomorrow. Hopefully it looks live just as it does on the pictures.

 

hmm, so it wasn't a theft recovery and according to the seller, it wasn't a total either. I wonder how they ended up purchasing it from the insurance company? the front end damage is definitely not enough to total the car unless the frame was bent. I'd ask them why the insurance sold it to them when you get there.

 

There are several risks here:

1. Visible Damage may cost much more to repair than you expect
2. There may be other damage to the frame, engine, suspension, etc
3. Warranty claims may very well be denied because the factory can determine that the car was in an accident.
4. Future reliability of the car is suspect because of whatever it has been through.
5. Resale value will take a hit because it has been in an accident.
6. The seller may be shady and be hiding other things like problems with the title.
7. You may not be able to get a good loan interest rate (assuming you are financing the car) if the bank knows you are buying a damaged car.

You could have a body shop take a look at it and give you a real estimate for repairs and have a mechanic inspect the frame and other mechanical parts. Check with Honda on the warranty and have the bank inspect the title. And you can assign some sort of value to the hit you will take on resale and to the possibility of reduced reliability. Taking in all of these factors you could determine a cost and see if it's worth it. I dont think anyone can determine if it's worth it just from the pictures. If you are a confident person, dont mind taking a risk, know your way around cars and repairs, willing to do the research and the inspections, and willing to wait for your new car to be repaired, then maybe you can make this work. I'm too much of a chicken to take this kind of risk, I would look for a clean '03 or '04. If you do go through with it, make sure you talk him down, I would say you are in a great position to negotiate, last I checked the max bid was $10k.

 

Hmmm,

Insurance companies don't buy sports cars, maybe Ford Escorts for the adjusters to drive around in but not sports cars.....

 

IMO, fixer-uppers or repairables are never a good idea.

 

IMO, if a car has EVER been in ANY type of collision... I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole

 

Wow! what a deal...

I would only suggest buying that car if it is for parts... When a car is bought from and insurance company its not good, that means they would not pay to fix it. Insurance companies would be more likely to spend the money to repair it than pay it off.

Just a couple of items on the repair I saw

Headlights $1000
Wheel $250
Front bumper cover $400
Bumper $200
Fenders $700
Hood $450
Inner fenders $300
Upper radiator support $DONT ASK!

Not to mention labor etc...

It also looks like the engine IS pushed a little, maybe because of broken mounts. I estimating at least $8000 to fix it. Now if you want the drive train and its still good, or you wanted the other parts from it thats a different story.

IMO the current bid ($10,700) is more than I would pay for a parts car.

 

I just got back from www.nyrebuildables.com to inspect it. I took a friend of mine along, who had a bodyshop and knows what he is looking at. Let me start by saying that the car looks just as good if not better than the pictures. It started right up and sounded really sweet. My friend looked at it and told me that the repairs are fairly simple and all the sheetmetal can be repaired. Basically he said that labor and paint should not cost me more than $1,500. As far as parts go, I gotta hit the web and start looking for them.
He was kind enough to give me copies of the title and the CARFAX report. The report is clear and doesn't even show this accident. I will also try to call the insurance company that sold it, and try to get some more info on the loss.
In response to S2KinVA, it is definitely not a parts car.
I applied for a loan, and the bank has no idea and really doesn't car if it has some damage. They care if it has a salvage title or not, and they care about my credit.
As long as the repairs are made properly, I can own an '05 with 1,400 miles and I can save about $6-8 grand I should be a happy camper.

Any thoughts?
BTW they had a Black 01 S2K theft recovery on their lot. It is too old for me, but could be worth looking into for somebody. It had seats missing, what else is new....