Discount Expected for Rebuilt Salvage Title Car

I can not imagine any situation that I would buy a salvage branded late model exotic car.... now an old rare car could be a different story for example a fully rebuilt Daytona or 250 Lusso etc..would probably be fine with me assuming the price reflects a less than perfect car....

 

Did he get a discount at the time of purchase for it being rebuilt? If so interesting dilemma, i.e. over how many subsequent sales/yrs does the discount get applied and/or get reduced.

 

Unfortunately not all “salvage/rebuilt “ cars are created equal so it’s a very YMMV answer.
Flood? I wouldn’t touch it. Some relatively minor mods damage 15+years ago? I wouldn’t be too hung up on, so I’d deal at 20-25% discount if the car is well sorted.
But it’s a very scary sounding title, so I would go in with eyes wide open that resale could be a ***** and “investment potential” (I used quotes because I don’t think every Ferrari has investment potential, in spite of owners hopes and love) will be impacted.

 

not snide remarks. Just trying to see what this thread's aim was.

did you expect an accurate percentage reduction base on the vague descriptions?
did you expect a consensus of said percentage reduction, again, based on vague descriptions?
what would you do with this information? show this thread to the seller expecting that a bunch of nameless internet posters to have influence on his pricing decision?

 

Yes, he said he did.....

 

In this case, with a reasonable discount, probably the only car of its type that I can buy now, pretty much all cash. Would take another couple of years to do the same on a clean titled car if prices remain the same. Even though I normally wouldn't do it either, feel like I need to run all the traps.

 

There's a saying that it's not whether you can afford to buy a Ferrari but whether you can afford to maintain one. It's not a certainty that a salvage car will have higher maintenance costs, but it's a distinct possibility. Something for you to consider.

 

you have to do what you have to do ... I know of an early 458 that belonged to a friend of mine he wrecked it when it was maybe a year old and then sent it to a well known Ferrari repair shop in Pa. he then kept it for another 5 or 6 years before trading it on a new 488... now that car while not salvage had about 80k in damage but it was a nationally known shop that repaired it and was well documented he sold it for a substantial discount with maybe 15k miles ... but it was a fine car..

 

As most of you know I buy lots of cars, I have bought lemon buyback cars, which I have no problem with, but I have never and will never buy a salvaged titled car. I asked my insurance company about them once and they said, we will insure it just don't ever make a claim on it because we will just total it. They told me many companies see no value in these cars so even a 5K claim gets you a totaled car. So unless you are buying the car for at least 40% off the value off a clean titled car, I would not even consider it. Keep in mind I take cars apart and void warranties on them after 24 hours, and I would not touch the car. The other problem is reselling, no dealer will touch it and with clear title cars going down in value a salvage car is never going to go any where but even further down. Also not every insurance company will insure them, and if your decides they no longer will, you might have another problem.

 

I want to jump in again, because I'm literally dealing with this today.

Have a friend who wants to sell a 458 (a 2010) Italia that was in a minor fender bender, came to his shop, he fixed everything with new parts, then completely repainted the car, glass out, in a better than factory capacity, and added a black roof (it's dark grey metallic). Low miles (16K), clean title, with a "brand", and I have no clue how to estimate it's value. The shop is rather high end, and to me, it would seem $125-140K isn't out of reality, it just has to be an appreciative next owner of what the work really is in regards to the accident history.

 

What was the repair cost?

 

Ill find out. He works at a high end repair shop, so I'm sure their are some internalized costs involved, but I'll see what I can sort out.

 

It would depend on the title too as to whether you can borrow on it, right? “Salvage” no loans possible.

“Rebuilt” and a washed “rebuilt” shows up clear title in some states like CA so loans are available for the next buyer.

Would a concours 2008 rosso corsa Scuderia with a CA “Salvage” due to Hurricane Harvey and (with all newish wiring harnesses off a Jim Glikenhaus Scud and new sensors)bought with 5600 miles and not a scratch and presently 10,007 miles fetch $150k? Who has that kind of cash around?

 

The real discount comes when you try to sell, i.e., how long has the current seller been flogging the car?

 

!/3 if broke. .... 2/3 if fixed.

 

I would never ever buy any car that had ANY damage whatsoever, let alone a salvage title. The reason is because I dont need to.

Anything I would ever be interested in there are tons of because I would only want it if I could drive it without worrying about it (so not interested in ever owning something worth over say $300K). Following my logic, if there are lots of them, why would you buy a problem child?

If you buy a problem child you are always concerned about overpaying on the front end because of what it will be worth on resale at the backend and if you guess wrong you are hosed and if you guess right you can make some small money. Great! Life is too short for such worries.

So my discount number is 100%—you would have to give it to me—and even then I might not take it if I had concerns about whether it had been repaired properly (for example, an airbag that is not replaced properly can kill you.)

I always pay more and buy the most perfect car that I can afford, not the least perfect car that I can afford.

So I am exhibit A as to why you should never buy a damaged car. I ain’t interested period, and there are a lot of people like me who are also not interested. So good luck on the resale even if it is an awesome car.

 

25%-30%