Sublime Fairlane Demise#2 ins nightmare-kinda long

[Deaf Bob]

My Trans Am came from a wrecking yard.. Got it before one part was taken off.. What did I get? A salvage title
Why? Merely because the yard is required to turn the titles in to DMV, and anything from them after that is a salvage title.. There was nothing wrong with it.. Just tires, rims and gas!

[Casper]

Some vehicles (more and more these days) are perfectly repairable after a major accident, without compromise to their fitness for use, but are more expensive to put that way than the latest estimate for resale of an undamaged version. In that case, I think its very fair to negotiate the clean title with the DMV to avoid the stigma of a salvage title and the baggage that goes along with it... I know of a few cars that have tin foil thickness stainless bumpers and billet grills made of un-obtainium that could exceed the cost of a running vehicle to replace "as new"... Or take the Delorean for example
Some things shouldn't /cant be rebuilt, like Mike the machinist's Volvo that saved his life last week

I rode the bike to meet the adjuster, it had some scratches & dings in it. I guess Harley Davidson parts add up quick too.

[STINEY]

^^^ this!

Salvage titles are a joke. I fully understand the intent, but in the real world...... The intent misses the mark. Cars that should carry the stigma are washed, and good cars are stigmatized. The whole concept made lots of money for car fax and such though.....was probably the true intent.

[Deaf Bob]

^^^ this!

Salvage titles are a joke. I fully understand the intent, but in the real world...... The intent misses the mark. Cars that should carry the stigma are washed, and good cars are stigmatized. The whole concept made lots of money for car fax and such though.....was probably the true intent.

My wife got hit in the left rear tire on her rustbucket Travelall.. Ins company gave her $250 and totaled it.. I said hell no! She drove it 2 more years (life of the tags) could not enven tell it was hit! Drove fine before and after...

[RustyRodder]

Never take the first offer is great advice...


my idiot friend didnt listen to me or that. Took the first 3000 dollar offer on his cherry Z28 he was offered- after seeing that replacement cost was 7-8k.

[38P]

then there may be some validity to the argument that you cant avoid the salvage title regardless...as the "Buyer Beware" can now be assisted with facts

That's exactly what a branded title is supposed to do . . give notice to potential buyers to look closer. It's not a substitute for careful inspection.

No system is perfect and nearly anything devised by bureaucrats can be scammed. But I'd rather know that I'm buying something that's been pieced together after major "trama" or been consigned to the junkyard at some point. And title branding accomplishes that in more cases than not.

If I sell something, I'm going to be honest about its condition when I started working on it. But I'm not the oracle on automotive ethics. Other sellers have to choose what ethical standards they want to follow.

[38P]

My Trans Am came from a wrecking yard.. Got it before one part was taken off.. What did I get? A salvage title
Why? Merely because the yard is required to turn the titles in to DMV, and anything from them after that is a salvage title.. There was nothing wrong with it.. Just tires, rims and gas!

While that may be an extreme case, the line for a salvage title has to be drawn somewhere. Somebody thought the car was salvage or they wouldn't have sold it to a recycler. And if the recycler then sells the car, at what point does it become "salvage?" How many parts have to be removed? A "bright line" that requires recyclers to turn in titles is certainly easier to enforce and cheaper for taxpayers.

[38P]

My wife got hit in the left rear tire on her rustbucket Travelall.. Ins company gave her $250 and totaled it.. I said hell no! She drove it 2 more years (life of the tags) could not enven tell it was hit! Drove fine before and after...

But all "totaling" means is that the cost of proper repair (including damage under the skin) is greater than fair market value. It doesn't mean the car is not drivable.

Most of the vehicles in self-serve JYs have been "totaled" by their owners. In other words, some small thing went wrong with a perfectly serviceable older vehicle and the owner took the junkman's quick cash instead of spending more with a mechanic to diagnose it and fix it.

[Scott Liggett]

My Caprice came from the salvage yard. I bought it missing hood hinges, shifter linkage, battery and keys. The salvage yard gave me everything but the keys as part of the deal I made with them. There was a guy who made keys right in the parking lot. (there was a glass guy too.) It was a stolen recovery. Kids got caught while trying to move it, trying to turn a corner with steering wheel locked. Didn't work, why rear valance was mangled. Owner was dead, sat in daughter's back yard for 6 years, daughter didn't want it back, sold at police auction to yard I bought it from.

It has a salvage title. Two words in the car world that will kill value faster than anything. Even though my car was not a repaired wrecked car, or a four year old Porsche stolen, stripped, then recovered. It is something Scott will have to consider if he does decide to fix it. The value will be less than it was before no matter how well it was repaired simply because of the Salvage Title.

He will also need to find a DMV approved mechanic who does "Brake and Lamp Inspections" in order to get any title back on the car at all. They are fewer each year. I was lucky to find one in Culver City. They check every single exterior light for function and do a road test. They car has to stop within a certain distance at 30 mph and not be scary. 12 years ago it cost $150.

[TheSilverBuick]

Friend of mine's Dad had his '86 Caprice stolen. The only thing wrong with it when he got it back was the ignition cylinder busted out, but got tagged as a salvaged vehicle which has the double penalty of requiring a smog check every year rather than every other year.

[SuperBuickGuy]

But all "totaling" means is that the cost of proper repair (including damage under the skin) is greater than fair market value. It doesn't mean the car is not drivable.

Most of the vehicles in self-serve JYs have been "totaled" by their owners. In other words, some small thing went wrong with a perfectly serviceable older vehicle and the owner took the junkman's quick cash instead of spending more with a mechanic to diagnose it and fix it.

Expanding the definition of a word until it's meaningless. Ain't it great?

[38P]

Expanding the definition of a word until it's meaningless. Ain't it great?

Is it delimiting a word or is it looking at analogous occurrences (the junking of a vehicle) at a different level of abstraction?

[NewEnglandRaceFan]

what type of shops are you dealing with that can't put a flexie flier ford on a frame rack and fix the twist.. and straight'n the core support without replacement.. it's not 7k to rack a car.. Honestly.. this sounds like a guy that had a car for sale that just doesn't want it.. And has no desire to have it fixed.... sad that this rust free car is going to get parted for a simple fix..

[SuperBuickGuy]

Is it delimiting a word or is it looking at analogous occurrences (the junking of a vehicle) at a different level of abstraction?

branding of a title should have some relation to the value of the car e.g. the $250.00 Traveller total - any 7 passenger SUV is worth more than $250 if it's legal to drive down the street (even if $250 is 50%-70% of its retail value). As Bob said, it was still safe to drive - so what would "branding" the title actually mean? it's not telling the world that the car is any more or less safe.

What about the SUVs that people cut up to drive off-road? by any definition those cars would be totalled; yet most of them have thousands in upgrades which make them more capable on or off road... for my latest whipping boy the NCRS (national corvette restoration society of sociopaths) to them, taking a C3 and doing what I did to mine is totally the car....

Some states have cut-off years where they'll brand the title of a car (such as no older than 10 years old) - others, rebuild a 55 Chevrolet that you pulled from a field and it's a total. What about the Crusher Camaro? by any measure, that would be a totalled vehicle and should have a branded title.

Getting closer to your zip code, any Fox bodied mustang that's used for street/race duty would certainly be totaled because the cost to put the car back to stock shape would certainly exceed it's retail value.