Buying a damaged repairable auto salvage car and repairing it yourself can really save you some money. If anyone is considering doing this, check out this auto salvage section. If you're not sure about something, just email the admin using the contact us page.
Thats in the United Kingdom, over here in the US if you buy a car from a junkyard, you have to get a salvage title in order to get a tag and most folks don't want a salvage title as it drops the value of a car 10 times over. Guess its ok if you just want it for yourself and don't plan to resell it.
It's a good idea if you know how to do all that kind of work yourself, and like donlin said you don't plan on reselling it.
In the USA salvage title on a vehicle usually lowers the vehicles value in half or a third of its original price.. so a $20,000 Clear Title car will be worth from $6,000-$10,000. The Salvage Title usually means that an insurance company issued the vehicle as a 'Total Loss.' That'll usually mean that the car at one time was in unsafe condition and may still be..
Once in a bad accident most cars are never the same, no matter how well you try to fix them. NO thanks, I'll take new
In the UK, a category system is allocated to damaged vehicles for which the owners have been paid out by the insurance companies. Category U or X means that the damage was very light ot negligible enough not to be recorded on the register e.g. if a car was stolen and then recovered in the same condition with maybe just the locks broken etc. Category D means light damage but substantial enough for insurance companies to pay out the owner rather than repair the vehicle. Cat D vehicles are recorded as damaged on the register but the details are only available when a new buyer does a HPI check on that vehicle ( usually costs money so most people dont bother with it. ) Category C means substantial damage and a VIC check is required for the vehicle once it has been repaired. Only then is a registration document for the cat C vehicle issued and the new owner can get it taxed to be used on UK roads. The new registration documents for cat C vehicles have the following statement printed on them " this vehicle has been damage repaired " so the least likely to fetch good money when it comes to selling. Category B is break only and can only be sold for parts. Cannot be repaired and put back on UK roads. I believe this is for vehicles where repair would involve welding a front and rear halves from 2 cars together Category A is a vehicle that has been completely incinerated like in a riot or an insurance job where some one has done a good job completely burning it to the ground. ---- This is a massive industry in the UK and if you're lucky enough to pick up a cat X, U or D Bentley, Mercedes S Class, BMW X5 etc. at a good price, then source cheap parts to do simple bolt on repairs yourself, you're looking at a nice little kill when it comes to resale. Another favourite with most people involved in buying and selling salvage is that they will buy cars with damaged front and back bumpers, then buy body kits and modify these cars before putting them back into the market.
BMW, Mercedes models are expensive everywhere. The more expensive a car, the more likely it is to have more gadgets and better safety features. An S Class Mercedes may have about 10-20 air bags depending on the model and even a light damaged one may have blown off quite a few air bags. Air bags are quite expensive to repair so most buyers tend to stay away from cars which may have blown air bags in an incident. A damaged car with no air bags blown off can also be indicative of the fact that the damage has not been extensive enough to reach the air bag sensors. Having said that, some auto salvage companies may just change the steering wheel with a blown air bag and take out the air bag light bulb from the dash so the buyers are none the wiser.
Not necessarily, the idea is not to go to the main dealership to get the repairs done. Original parts + dealership labour prices will put you the in the negative. You can easily source aftermarket or used parts, make an understanding with a local bodyshop/ mechanic by advising them that they will get regular work from you and you can easily make a killing even when you dont do all the fittings yourself. By the way, changing headlights, bumpers, wings/ fenders may sound tricky but its quite easy really and a lot of DIY guides are also available online. The feeling of achievement and satisfaction you get by repairing a car yourself is enormous and imagine making a nice little raise on top that when it comes to selling.
I agree with everyone else - steer clear of salvaged-title cars! Not worth the headaches. Unless... you buy them for pennies on the dollar and resell them. That is actually a pretty good money-making opportunity if you know your way around cars and can do a lot of the repair work yourself. Before I get flamed, I'm not talking about fixing wrecked cars and selling them as "new" to unsuspecting buyers. You'd still have to sell it as a salvaged-title car, but if you do the work yourself, you can sell it for profit (usually).