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I am brand new to this forum so forgive if I am posting in the wrong area. I am looking to buy a salvage s2000 in a next few days. It has a bit of a history story behind that. I will put that aside for now to get to my root concern. My main concern is it was total loss before an accident shows on the carfax. It's a Texas car that was labeled a total loss in 1/29/2009, on 5/22/2009 a dealer took inventory of the car and a rebuilt title was issued. Owner 4 now comes in the mix with a rebuilt title registration. Then an accident shows damage report on 12/9/2009 to the front. Are these related incidents? Could that be an insurance company and shop for the repair? Probably nobody can really know but felt I would ask here where others have more experience. Now getting to the story Owner 7 was scammed from Owner 6 with a fake car fax. Owner 7 is relocating or a new job and wants to be completely done. He seems like a good guy that just got taken and didn't do his homework. Current owner is probably out 12 to 15k total.
Owner 1- Lease (went to auction listed a fleet vehicle) at roughly 14k miles.
Owner 2- owned for almost 4 years. Last Carfax entry is a service contract (5K mile yearly average) mileage at 27,207
Owner 3- Total loss shows up- no mileage usage listed. Mileage entry of 32,410, rebuilt title shows up
Owner 4- Rebuilt title registration and accident with severe damage
Owner 5- Registration is FL for almost 9 years mileage markers 47,912 and 89,384
Owner 6- Fraud Seller- Mileage 97,559
Owner 7- Current Owner- Looking to dump the car for a very low price. Mileage 99,318
Why are you "looking to buy a salvage S2000?" Or is the car you're interested in just happen to have a salvage title? Excellent rebuilds are rare but do exist and the S2000 gets "totaled" for things as simple as seat theft although this seems more severe.
What's the "very low" asking price? Your intended use (daily, weekend, or track car)? Rust? Engine health?
honestly its just a fun little project car. Maybe usage on weekend or 1 or 2 days to work. Could be a track car down the line. Its got some wonky front end repair I'd have to clean up or redo. Car fax says Severe. The driver fender has no VIN from a donor car. you can see some red paint coming through. Front bumper has been replaced. Also has poor paint job (peeling) passenger fender appears to be original. hood is from a donor car Vin does not match. Thinking the driver apron was cut and new was welded on.
2004 just under 100k miles. Right now we have agreed on 5250. Contingent on a compression test getting done on Monday.
bumper and hood lines are off. interior is very clean Worst of the damage. Looks like they hammered parts back together.
Looks like it meets all the requirements of a fun project car. Just keep the hood closed and don't let anyone within 4 feet and it probably looks fine. Wheels look good? Tires, suspension, and alignment?
At that price, its a genuine bargain just as a parts car. Little risk here. Start as a project, with the mindset of determining as early as possible if its going to take much more than anticipated to get how you want.
Your main concern seems to be if the initial salvage title and registration, followed soon after by another severe accident, wasn't actually a single incident with some sort of scam involved. Like a fraudulent rebuilt title issued so registration could take place, but the car was still in reality unrepaired, and this next owner is the one that actually performed the repairs to make it somewhat roadworthy.
Several thoughts on that. First, who cares if that is what happened? How does ot reduce value of what is in front of you now? Second, what advantage would that be to the one pulling such a fraud? There doesn't seem to be any, therefore no one would do that.
What this sounds like is an initial salvage, that was either a benign seats stolen type thing, or at least repaired very professionally, followed by next owner crashing and doing a not very professional home repair.
That tells me second wreck wasn't that bad, if it was something an idiot could do in their garage. That they did a poor job helps you now, as it lets you see what was damaged in that wreck. Its also what is helping you get such an amazing deal.
I ended up purchasing the car and had some surprises after getting it home but not many. The passenger side apron is worse than the driver side. Some Tijuana hammering to sure. Whole car has had a respray on the outside to blend the paint. Evidence on some black trim panels. Washed it when I got home. Cleaned up engine bay Inside frame rail corners
First off, you can't lose on $5,000. Yes, that car needs some work to make it right, but even if you put $5,000 more into it, you're in good shape still for the most part if a good job is done.
Second, keeping in mind that I bought an AP1 in the late 2000's with 23,000 miles on it for $14,000...it wouldn't have taken that much of an accident for it to be a "total loss". The second accident even less so as it already had diminished value.
See what it needs to make it right. Try hard to stay away from perfect. Perfect usually costs twice as much as right and you probably won't notice the difference when you are behind the wheel.
Buying S2000 Salvage
Wheels look good? Tires, suspension, and alignment? 
