Ok... so there's this 03 350z at 8,000 miles for $20,800 that im looking at. looks beautiful and perfect but one problem... it has a salvage title.

the seller gave me the VIN and i checked it out and everything. he claims that it was in an accident with the fender. but my question is why would he fix it up and not keep it? i know i should be getting a sweet as deal with a salvage title... but this just seems pretty average for me.

whats your take on salvage titles? i feel like it only bothers the driver itself since no else will really know. plus i plan on taking it to the body shop for them to have an expert look on it.

 

Leave salvage title cars for bargain hunters.

Look through lots and lots of used car listings... the salvaged title cars have usually been there for a LONG time. People generally don't want to admit to themselves that their salvage title makes their car worth a little more than half of what it would be worth with a clean title.

Just don't bother with this - the 03's seem to have plenty of problems already, without the added potential of problems arising from a salvaged title.

I might get a salvaged car if it was something like a Civic and I was getting it for 50% of retail blue book.

 

i AM a bargain hunter tho :/
and very much a college student

 

What is the trim level, base? If it's base that's a shyte deal...

 

it's touring

 

No more than $15k for a salvaged touring with those miles IMO.
Remember your warranty will be up soon and you will have to front the money for those upcoming problems. Remind the seller of this if he doesn't agree to your $15k price.

 

thanks so much for your help.

it sucks i cant even get an extended warranty on salvage cars either, so yeah that is important

but you get what you paid for right?

 

All I can tell you is that if you're serious about buying a salvaged vehicle, low-ball the seller over and over.

First, he won't be getting many offers. Second, if someone DOES buy his car for around his asking price, you should feel glad that it wasn't YOU who got ripped off.

Eventually he'll budge once he realizes no one is going to buy anywhere near his price. Of course, most salvaged cars seem to stay on the market for quite a long time. So be prepared to wait if you really want it.

And of course, having it inspected at a trusted mechanic for frame or other damage is crucial BEFORE paying a cent for the car (even for a deposit). If he doesn't allow you to have it inspected before selling, he is hiding something.

 

yeah and http://www.carbuyingtips.com/ REALLY helped me out with what i have to do/say to the seller.

i had no idea i could bargain less and that it was actually crucial to do that. i mean, IT IS A SALVAGE TITLE!

 

also one thing, how do i take it to a mechanice first without purchasing it? it's still their car...

what shop has trusty mechanics?

 

hey how do you know its worth only 15000? is there a kelly blue book value for this?

 

I just sold my Maxima to a really great guy. How I did this was the following:

First thing is to agree upon a price with the seller. Get it in writing with both parties' signatures. My buyer left a small deposit, but it isn't really necessary.

He picked the mechanic (someone HE trusted). The mechanic seemed pretty decent because it was AAA-approved. He pre-paid for the inspection. I took it to the mechanic.

If a seller says "I'm not going to take the time to take it to a mechanic, you can do that yourself" then you can feel free to accuse him of not being serious about selling the car. After all, you, the potential buyer, are PAYING FOR AN INSPECTION. If you're going to "borrow" the car to take it to a mechanic (this would be risky on the seller's behalf), make sure there are no problems with your insurance company for doing so.

So with my car, the mechanic inspected it, gave it a clean bill of health. Then the buyer met me at the mechanic and we drove to the bank, he signed my bill of sale and the title etc.

I opened an account with the same bank that he had (Wells Fargo), so the money could be transferred from his account to mine without a fee. Opening the account was free. Worked pretty well!

Then I drove over to the Nissan dealership where the dealer and I had already agreed on a price for the Z. The rest is history, and I've been the owner of my 05 SB touring for a few days now.

 

I used about 50% of retail blue book value... this is what I would pay personally if I were to consider a salvaged title.

Please use your own method, this is just my opinion and I'm sure some people would pay more than 15k.

 

21k for a touring 03 350z is a ripoff, i only paid 24k (w/tax,tag,title)(kbb 29k)for mine (03 redline touring 6mt 17k miles) but that was 3 months ago and from a dealer

if i had the resources, i wouldve gone the ebay way, you can get alot of car that way. Alot of real car dealers sell on there, hopefully you can trust them.

 

thats a ripoff. i only paid 24k otd and mine had only two thousand miles on it. its a 5AT super black touring with orange leather navi and side curtain airbags. the guy got every option possible. you have to do what i did and find someone who bought the car thinking they could afford it but are desperate to get out of it. i found this older guy who always wanted a sports car but it was costing him a ton bc gas is like 2.60 around here and his insurance was a little more than he wanted etc. so if you want the salvaged car id say 15-17k at most. otherwise go hunting for used ones. they are really easy to find for around that price. took me a month to find but thats bc i had to have side airbags. so dont waste 21k. go look on autotrader and youll find a ton for better price than that

 

I agree with the two people above... 20K is a ripoff... I paid 23K last year for my '03 touring with 14K miles. It was loaded and in showroom condition. I later found out that it was owned by a manager at our local Nissan plant. This means all maintenence was done at the factory.

I would stay away from a salvage, unless you have an excellent mechanic to check it out....Even then I would still be cautious and wouldn't pay more than about 15K.

 

I believe there was a post here recently where somebody bought a salvaged car then took it to the dealer to get warranty or TSB work done. The dealer turned him away because it was salvaged.

If you look on page 6 of the warranty manual that comes with the Z, in the section titled "WHAT IS NOT COVERED", it explicitly states that the warranty is voided for a car with a salvaged title.

 

right... i dont think theres warranty for salvage cars

but thanks so much, i'm defintiely not goind to be ripped off and i will try to have him sell it for 15k.

 

You are making a mistake by buying a car with salvage title.

You sound like your determined & I'm not going to debate but its dumb move, imo.

 

+1 Like I said from the beginning, it's a mistake. Even at $15k (and you'll be hard-pressed to get the car for that), you will likely be spending a lot more in the future. The resale value when YOU go to sell the car will also be a joke.

Proceed at your own risk!