Debating on new purchase - fire damaged

Anything can be faked. I've seen counterfeit $100 bills (printed in Iran) that are virtually identical to those printed by the Bureau of Engraving.

They were done by the Iranian equivalent of our monetary plate engravers and "intaglio" printers.

 

Let's stipulate that the folks down at the body shop are above board and they're just trying to convert a little sweat equity into some additional income.
I will even stipulate further that they're sincere in their beliefs that this car is worth $21K.

Is there a chance that they fumbled the snap while doing the paperwork at the DMV? Is there any chance at all that the folks down at the DMV could have messed up on the paperwork??

Trust but verify.
Besides....you're going to have to pay for the plate.
I'd find out how much it's going to cost you.

 

I agree with most of the comments. I'd stay away.

However it is interesting to think about just what sort of price would make a salvage car worth it. With a salvage the buyer is taking on lots of risk and also the fact that resale will be tougher than a regular car.

It seems like there is some debate about what the car would be worth used with no title/repair issues, but that number is somewhere in the 26-30k range. Even at the high end the body shop is asking about 70% of that value. I'd probably argue that the issues with the car make it worth omen like 50% of the value so at like $15k would be the point that I'd think the car could be a buy. I don't know if I'd actually buy it at that price, but I'd consider it.

 

For all that think the car is worth virtually nothing, I humbly suggest doing some research on salvage title vehicles and Prius especially. As always something is only worth what someone is willing to pay but there are a lot of people willing to pay for a salvage Prius. Probably less now since gas prices are relatively low but think about this, this is a body shop. Presumably, they are pros at repairing bodywork. If they are truly good at it, someone will know that and buy this car for this price. There are people that specialize in rebuilding wrecked/totaled Prius and they make a good living doing it.

Check out what this guy charges for wrecked Gen II's (and he gets it). www.autobeyours.com.
He has been in business for many years.

 

I don't think anyone thought the car was worth virtually nothing. Just it really wasn't that great of a deal.
As I pointed out much better deals out there.
Sounded kinda hinky too what with the fire talk and the car clearly took a hard hit on the drivers side. Or maybe a hard hit and then a fire. Great.

If you have skills, sh*load of tools, a nice garage, and know your way around a Prius have at it. Money to be made. But buying it without any of those and driving around with your fingers crossed and no piece of mind does not sound like fun and makes poor financial sense. Which is why we talked him down off the ledge.

Autobeyours has a good rep. Big difference compared to the op's sit.

Yes 15-17 is right about there.

 

Good show JC. Carry on.

 

- I am glad you changed your mind and didn't go for this prius.
- In my personal experience with salvage cars is that, there is a huge risk to take with a normal car but with a prius, is so much more.
- I bought a slavage car in the past to fix it myself and it looked like the fender was a little bent and bought it but no, it actually had frame damage and costed me so much more to fix it and barely got my money out of it.
- Usually insurance companies let a car go if its got frame damage due to safety and liability issues (don't want to insure it).
- With this white prius I wouldn't pay more than 12k and that being nice about it.
- Had a friend who bought a nice little mustang years ago from a shop that fixed it and had salvage title and it was actually two mustangs welded together in the middle. We still laugh about it to this day.

 

Same thing here.

30 years, ago, I bought a car with seemingly very little rust damage on the outside. The body appeared to be intact on the outside.

There was so much rust on the inside, after 6 months and many hours of work, I sold it.


Never again.................

 

- Yeah with that price that you were willing to pay for it, I am not surprised most people here told you to stay away.
- I have been on many car forums as I owned different type of cars throughout the years and heard many horror stories about salvage title cars. No matter the make, the model or what not. A wrecked car is a wrecked car.
- Copart.com is one of the bigest auction sites for salvaged cars. (I have an account and purchased cars from there, and so did the shop that has this white prius probably)
- Usually profesional fixers so to speack look at a car, inspect it (most have a good eye to see whats exactly is wrong with it).
- They make a parts list and price it out or have a shop or two give em an estimate on how much it costs to fix it and then consider a purchase.
- If it's frame damage they walk away no matter what as far as I know (now a days the frame is one piece so it's hard for a car to be the same if the frame is damaged, sometimes would be really hard to align also or some shops won't even try).
- Most profitable is for salvage yards and mechanical car shops to buy them.
- So let's say I think a car has minimal damage and get estimates and think its worth fixing.
- A good deal on a salvage car is when I purchase it at 25-35 % of its actual value, if it goes above that its not profitable to buy.

- For me as an individual, I would never venture in buying a wrecked/salvaged car that's over 10k. It gets to risky.
- Now the good side for me if I would buy a wrecked car would be a subaru cus I know all about it and know to look for but even then there is risk involved.
- Now I don't want to be suprenegative about wrecked/salvaged, I have friends that bought salvaged cars fixed and sold them (usually cheap hondas, hyunday etc......) but it was kind of hard with a branded title as people don't want to risk it.

 

These are "cut and shuts." it's illegal in many states. I used to see a lot of them coming from Mexico across the San Ysidro border. There were no such restrictions, there.

 

- Yes the car's present value not the value when it was new.
- And how does the body shop know that there aren't any loose bolts or other things due to the impact?
- Even though they fixed what was visible there may bo something that will give out down the road and make the car unsafe.

 

-That's the logic, also on branded cars the seller most always bullshits to minimize that actual amount of damage the car had and what he/she had to fix on it.
- Most seller makes it look like it was not a big deal just a bumper tailight and some other small stuff...

 

I'm done with marginal cars.

Cars, today, are NOT like cars of yesteryear. They are nigh tech integrated systems and their structures are designed to be weight savings with special crush zones.

I will NOT keep a car for myself that has been repaired for anything but a fender bender. If I had one repaired for anything in the electronics or frame, I'd trade it in for a new one.

Your life and your safety is not worth a few thousand dollars.