I'm interested in buying a car with a salvaged title. How do you find out why the car was deemed salvaged? One more thing, I test drove the car recently and it seems to drive fine. Do you think I should buy it?
2006-09-26 16:38:35 · 8 answers · asked by Jay 5 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Other - Cars & Transportation
The title and registration probably only show a flag for a salvage vehicle. You can try paying the $29.95 or whatever it is to CarFax, but I'd be suprised if they told you anything other that that it is a salvage vehicle. You can go to your local DMV, and see if there is any record of a Salvage Vehicle Notification for that vehicle. You will need the VIN for this. They should be able to trace the vin and see who submitted for the salvage title and on this Notification, it will say whether it stolen, or wrecked/ damaged. CarFax, in my opinion, is a waste of money. I manage a body shop, and I can tell you there are ways around CarFax. We submit No paperwork to CarFax or anyone when we repair cars, and I don't believe the Insurance companies do either. You already know the car has a salvage title, that's about all CarFax can tell you. Bring the car to a reputable body shop and they should be able to tell you by looking at it what was repaired. For water, look for rust under the seats, mud under carpet, and rust, or new undercoating under car. Some rebuilders will apply undercoat to the underside of water cars to make them look new, but it is really to hide the rust. Frames can be straighted, if done properly, and water cars can be restored to near preflood condition if it is fresh water and it wasn't very high. I'd suggest trying to find out from the DMV if the car was in Louisiana last year. There are a lot of those flood cars around. If it is a New Orleans car, stay away. FYI, cars can also be deemed salvage if they were towed, never picked up for whatever reason, and the towing company applying for permit to sell/ dismantle (title) submitted an appraisal that showed the car to be valued less than 25% of the actual value. Basically, a paperwork boo-boo can result in a salvage title for a vehicle with absolutely nothing wrong with it.
2006-09-26 17:21:30 · answer #1 · answered by Justin M 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Neither Carfax nor autocheck will tell you why a car was salvaged.
2016-10-05 14:08:52 · answer #2 · answered by Zach 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
carfax..request one..it will tell you why it was salvaged.
if its flood..stay far away! you can never fully repair a flooded vehicle..
and also of it was damaged in an accident..and the frame may have been bent..thats also unrepairable
if its theft...thats OK.its better then the others.
2006-09-26 16:43:56 · answer #3 · answered by mommy2savannah51405 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
if it was awarded a salvage certificate, contact the state your state dept of trans they will have to inspect it before issuing the title
2006-09-26 16:45:27 · answer #4 · answered by m_c_b_1979 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
get the vin and pay for a carfax report
2006-09-26 16:42:31 · answer #5 · answered by Mike C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Carfax report will tell you if it's been abused...lol
2006-09-26 16:46:39 · answer #6 · answered by Frederick J 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
go to carfax.com with the vin #
2006-09-26 16:50:18 · answer #7 · answered by DELMAR E 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
www.carfax.com
2006-09-26 16:41:43 · answer #8 · answered by richkaryn 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋