I'm looking at an '03 spa yellow s2000 here in CA. It has 38K on it and a salvaged title. Owner says that it had door and fender damage on the drivers side but has since then been replaced and put back to OEM spec. He claims that there is no other internal damage nor engine malfuctions. I've seen pics of the car from a distance and under the hood and won't drive it till tomorrow. Anyone have any comments on salvaged S's???

 

doesn't salvage mean there was enough damage to total the car?

sometimes, you can get a good deal if you pick up a salvage car yourself, that's damaged, and have a reputable shop fix it for you. may save you thousands in some cases.

check that ALL of the vin numbers match. ask him what was replaced, specifically the parts. then check the vehicle vin, and other parts, if he forgot something very important, you know he's a "BS"er

flood damage = stay away.

 

Yeah, i was looking at a flood damaged one in texas once and i used a little bit of common sense and strayed away from that mess.

This guy w/ the fender/door damage seems good enough. I'll check the VIN's tomorrow as well as document any repairs that were made and maybe even contact the shop that took it in and see what they say if possible.

 

In VA, salvage title means the car's been damaged to at least 75% of it's value. I think theft recovery's might be salvage too. Keep in mind the title's permenantly tainted. I'd pull at least 20-25% off the blue book just to get started because you're going to have a hard time selling it too.

I'd look it over very carefully.

We have a really good DMV website here in VA that goes through the whole process of taking a salvage car back to streetable. It involves inspections and fee's amoung other things.

In a related question, what's a "Certificate of Destruction" which some states issue instead of salvage titles?

 

ya, dont get a salvage unless you plan on keeping it until it completely dies. you wont be able to resell it...

salvage doesnt always mean damaged either, the car could've been stolen and recovered, this would give a car a salvaged title as well.

 

I had a salvaged EG before my S. Really sucked when i went to sell it, i had put 30k or more in, only got 10.5 for it, part or reason was because of the S title. It had been done so so when was fixed. My friend and i redid some of the frame work because it was jacked up. But i did have it for 7 years, and i dont really regret it. Like ej3ffrey said, dont buy it unless you plan on keeping it for a while because when you do sell it, your going to loose out because of that fact, no matter how good of a job was done restoring it.

 

I do plan on making this car the eventual flagship model for my future business and use it as a track car. So I plan on it being a potential lifer in my stable of vehicles. I just want to get into the game as cheap as possible without sacrificing mileage. I wouldn't consider this an option but the car is local. I was going to buy one out in VA, but I decided against it due to the distance and not realistically being able to check out the vehicle. I'll try and post some details or even pics of the Salvaged S tonight after I take a closer look.

Here in CA, salvaged title dictates:

A salvage vehicle is a vehicle that has been wrecked, destroyed, or damaged to such extent that the insurance company considers it uneconomical to make repairs to the vehicle and the vehicle is not repaired by or for the person who owned the vehicle when the damage occurred.

The California title will contain a notation identifying this vehicle as a salvage vehicle.

No percentages put this into persepctive for me, but its almost a universal meaning. Theft recovery does not conclude a salvaged title in CA. This state jus gets more and more weird when it comes to its automotive laws and definitions.

 

seeing how everything seems fine with you then go with it. what kind of damage happened to it? if the frame is not straight it may not make a good track car since you'd have alignment issues.

 

That is true about the alignment. I'll have to take a real good look at this thing today and do some in depth detective work. I'll let you all know what I come up with later today. Thanks for the input.


also, does anyone on here own a salvaged S??? Just out of curiosity.

 

fednder/door damage <> salvaged title!

He's full of don't even waste your time checking it out.