A vehicle with a salvage
history is worth only 40% to 50% of what an identical car with a
clean history is worth, and that is after the car has been fully
repaired and made road ready. If someone wants to sell you a salvage
vehicle, and claims they can save you money, make sure that you
understand it is worth less than half of what a non-salvage vehicle
is worth. My advice to you is to never buy a salvage car.
Beware of unethical car dealers who will sell you a salvage
vehicle without disclosing the fact, or will lie and tell you the
car has a clean history when it doesn’t.
Salvage titles are issued for cars that have been totaled in an
accident, or sustained major damage from fire, flood or other
causes. Insurance companies obtain damaged cars in claims
settlements, and then resell them to salvage yards, auto
dismantlers, and rebuild shops. In most cases a salvage vehicle is
only good for spare parts. Yet auto rebuild shops will repair these
cars anyway, and put them back on the road. Sometimes by piecing
together 2 or more salvage cars to make one.
If one car has been damaged in a front-end collision, and another
car has been damaged in a rear-end collision, an auto rebuild shop
can literally cut both cars in half and weld the 2 good halves back
together.
A salvage car will never have the structural integrity it should
have. Once metal has been bent it can be straightened, but it loses
some of it’s tensile strength. A car that has been in a major
accident may be unsafe even after it has been repaired.
You’ll also experience problems like wind noise, water leaks,
wheel misalignment, electrical malfunctions, squeaks and rattles in
salvage vehicles.
Once a car has had major damage it can never be put back to it’s
original condition.
It’s illegal to sell a salvage vehicle without disclosing that
fact to the buyer. Yet some dealers will do so anyway. Some
dealers even try
weasel out by hiding the disclosure in some obscure piece of
paperwork they have you sign. That’s why it’s important to read
everything carefully before signing.
The best protection against buying a salvage vehicle is to check
the vehicle on CARFAX. You can quickly find the truth about any
vehicle. Has it ever been in an accident, or a flood. Has it had the
odometer rolled back?
Another reason to stay away from salvage vehicles is the legal
liability it puts on you. When it comes time to sell or trade the
car you are required to tell the buyer about any salvage history. Be sure to put it in writing
or you could wind up in a lawsuit yourself.
