Hello everyone..i tried searching but couldn't exactly find the answers i was searching for. im not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it made sense to me when i was looking through the categories. Ok, I'm about to buy my first S2000! and I'm considering a salvage title. Im not sure if i should though, due to what has happened to it. apparently it is salvaged because the previous owner hit a curb with the passenger rear wheel(I have not seen the car in person yet as i live a distance away and havent had a chance to go look at it). the current owner (owns a "performance" shop) says he did the repairs himself, and it as quite costly hence the salvage. he said it broke the knuckle? and some other parts but didn't bend the frame. but what I'm wondering is, could hitting a curb cause frame damage? should i stay away from a buy like this? What are the chances of the car never acting like it should and being permanently damaged?

Also, he said that the body of the car, the quarter panel, wasn't even damaged or touched. if that makes any difference...

Thanks guys.

 

i personally wouldn't buy it because there could be suspension and differential issues down the road.

 

i bought a salvaged s2k where the whole real wheel was yanked off! fixed the rear for $800 and since i have put 12000 miles and counting... with no problems at all!

 

interesting..im stuck lol. its a good deal, but I've dealt with enough car bs from my current one..and i definitely don't need to deal with new problems. but franky your probably right..because i have the worst luck.

 

Get an appointment with a body shop and have the chassis measured to see if it is still square and straight.

 

yeah I hit a curb in a u-turn going 50+ mph. f@#king turn was more sharper than expected.. newbie mistake. Broke the sway link, lower control arm, balljoint.. and drove it home 30+ miles LOL I would stop and it would like immediately swerve right.. scariest shit ever.. 500$ later I replaced everything myself. The frame and everything checked out fine due to the parts breaking instead of bending the frame so I would assume youd be ok

 

i was gonna do that with a body shop, however the car is 80+ miles away...would a body shop guy go with me? if he were paid of course, do you guys think? the guy claimed the knuckle and some other stuff were the only things broken and the frame is straight..but he is the one with the car, trying to make a sale...

 

and brandon your car is perfectly fine? no problems at all? i plan on tracking and want everything to be as it should..

 

^
2nd that.

I've owned nothing but salvage vehicles for the past 16 years, including an 06 CBR1000RR, 01 S2000, E150 cargo van, '98 Civic, '95 Ford Escort, '96 Acura integra, and now a 2010 BMW 528i (yes, 2010 528i).

Bottom line with Salvage Title: You get a salvage title when the cost of a repair exceeds a certain percentage of the car's current value. Some states, it's >75%, some as little as 10%. And it also depends on how the insurance policy was written. Say, if your ins. deductible is high, the ins. co. will not pay as much $ to you to get it fixed, hence, less of a chance of getting a salvage title.

Some people check CarFacs report, in hopes of getting a clear picture of the car's past. Not so. Here's why. A car with a nice and high deductible (say, $750), is less likely to have its accident processed by the ins. co. if the accident is minor enough, like a wheel hitting a curb with a repair estimate of $580. So if that suspension damage is to be paid for by the owner, then the owner is more likely to cut corners to save on repair, and to use small mom-and-pop repair shops that are nothing but car butcher shops. Ya'll know one in your neighborhood. That shoddy, cheap repair (oh, say, $340 instead of $580) will never show on carfacs! Ever!

I've never had a problem with a salvage title. There were, however, problems due to horrible repairs associated with the cause of salvage title.

Salvage vehicles are a GREAT value IF, and only IF they've been repaired properly. Check and double-check their mechanical status, chassis, body, steering, brakes, doors sealing/striking properly, sunroofs closing well (in our case, softtop). A good, thorough inspection, one you actually pay $ for, is worth it.

Good Luck!

 

if the car was repaired properly the only concerns would be resale value