575 with 3 pedals conversion & salvaged title

If you're thinking of buying as an investment, I'd suggest walking away. A salvaged car in general is worth much less, and even more so in the case of an exotic--I personally wouldn't touch a wrecked Ferrari at all (theft is a different story). While most members here would prefer the manual conversion for a driver, the fact remains that it actually decreases the value in the general buying public's eye due to its unoriginal state. If you're looking to buy to enjoy, then it's a different story.

 

If you are buying for your own use, I would still want complete details and pix of the damage before repair. What kind of money are you talking for the car?

 

Just finishing your analogy.

 

so it is salvaged fixed and you want to convert to manual or it has already been converted ?

"crash was a good one at high speed"

^ not liking that part

 

That's a good analogy!


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For 75k?

Absolutely.

 

Great car to buy and just drive the heck out of it.


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I would change the end of your analogy to "she was a bit of a nerd in school, went a bit wild but has since blossomed into a lovely lady", rather than changing sex!

Park it side by side with another example and without looking at any paperwork which one would you want? if its this one and you also get to keep a large chunk of your budget then its a no brainer.

 

Got photos?


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GTOs have all been crashed-still sell for 30 million.

 

Just to share a bit of experience with re-branded title cars. It really starts with what was the cause of the insurance company declaring it a total loss.

Flood cars: Rarely does it make sense to try to resurrect a flood car into a street car. They do make, however, great fodder for complete race car conversions. For a race car, you are going to pretty much strip out most of the wiring harness and ecu boxes and all that jazz and replace it with the stuff customized to minimize weight and altered performance characteristics. So all (or at least most of) the incipient flaws to electronics that go along with a flood car are avoided. Also during the stripping and lightening and such, you can get to all the places where water, mud, etc hide that cause rotting and get that stuff cleaned out. Most restoration to street use doesn't go far enough to get rid of the future rust problem.

Crashed cars: Big question here is did the mounting points for the suspension components get bent and out of position? If so, was the guy who repaired it sufficiently capitalized with frame straightening machinery to even hope to get it back right? Bodywork, windows, etc can be replaced (albeit can be quite expensive) but frame alignment either is done right or not! Close to right but not exact will lead to handling issues if significantly off and tire wear issues if just a bit off. Odd tire wear...that cant be adjusted out....ask me how I know kind of deal...

Burned cars: A delightful combination of the above two sets of issues. Electrical with bad harnesses that you can't see....rust from heat that blistered paint and plating that you can't see....actual warpage of the frame from heat...all kinds of delightful effects.

All this having been said, the typical value of a restored salvage title car is ~50% of market value for the same model uncompromised. Maybe as high as 70% for the kind of low mileage, desirable model, astonishingly well repaired that you are asserting for this car. And the car will NEVER fall into the investment range (acknowledging of course that all the old 250 series race cars do indeed sell for tens of millions and have been crashed and rebuilt maybe multiple times. But this isn't a 250LM!!) so consider it as a driver.

If you can score a perfectly rebuilt 575M with 9k miles for $75k and drive it till the wheels fall off, what a fabulous deal!

 

I disagree, try and find any rebuilt Ferrari for sale that is available for 50% of retail! it does not happen.

Here in the UK that's what they go through the salvage auctions at straight from the insurance companies.

Rebuilt and ready to go you are looking at 75% of retail min.

 

I don't doubt your 75% assertion relevant to Ferrari. I was speaking in general about the rebuilt title market and my experience is across a number of brands with perhaps the least experience with Ferrari in this regard.

If one is looking to salvage and rebuild a Lotus Elise/Exige, Mazda RX-8 or Corvette, or other more modern cars, then the 50ish% target in the US is a good metric to try and determine if there is any money to be made in the adventure.

Older restorations (such as Alfa GTVs or Jag E-types, the age and necessity for complete restoration jobs mostly nulls out the devaluation due to title rebuilding.

In any case, only the most collectible models or limited production or particular racing provenance, or something special allows a car to completely ignore the burden of a rebuilt title. That is surely not to say that this isn't sometimes an extremely worthwhile game to play, but one should have a reasonable set of expectations....

 

Can you point me to the economically rebuidable Elises that are available for 25% of retail that go on to sell for 50% of retail once finished? as that margin is required as a min to allow for the rebuild cost and profit.

 

I thought this was a really interesting post, thank you. All kinds of things I didn't know in there.

 

Car drives awesome, very low miles, $125k discount. Where can I buy it?

 

I'll buy it for $75k right now and I haven't even seen it.

Then I'll enjoy it until I don't and sell it for what I paid (or more) and have driven a free Ferrari around for a while.

 

As long as you're paying the appropriate price for it I would 100% do it. Not as an investment, but as a driver.

If you get it for a 30-40% discount from where the market is...you'll be selling it at the same discount when the time comes. Rising tides lift all ships, but don't go in expecting to make money.

Smiles per gallon should be the objective.

 

+1

Buy and it and daily it. Maximum use. if you do sell it 10 years down the line, it'll at the very least be 75K still. No brainer. And who laughs the hardest? The man who sells his for (then) market value but has driven it 500 miles a year? Or you...the guy that's done 15K miles a year but hasn't lost a dollar on what he paid for it?

 

Paul,

There a number of different ways. Here in the States, there are numerous auction companies that sell off the insurance companies assests. CoPart is one, sometimes a notorious one. erepairables is another. Many of these cars sell at these auctions to the strippers and parts vendors as their residual value is in parts not rebuild. So if you want to find one at a good auction price that is rebuildable, you are going to compete with the secondary parts market.

But they are out there if you look carefully enough. It takes patience, a good search engine with filters and parameters well set and a willingness to pull the trigger on things you can't get to see in person most of the time. No risk, no reward.

Alternately, try and snuggle up to a specialty insurance company. That is the best means. Getting a look at new (salvage) inventory before it goes out to the auction market is priceless.

 

i buy pass along please

 

$75k is a no brainer. I think the manual conversion Is like $50k (or that may be the parts).

Provided you feel the car is safe, buy it, drive it, enjoy.