owned some salvage cars in the past (all are accident related), they are nightmares. it was very hard to resell and none of them runs straight (and all of them had mysterious noise or rattle) . maybe i am just bad luck

but image you crush a tin can and try to bend it back in how it was before..... no matter how good you are, you will never make it as good as before.

 

Take the car to get it inspected before buying. That includes checking that the alignment is within spec.

 

although the alignments are in same direction or within spec, it does not means the geometry of the suspension, frame, sub-frame are in good shape as it suppose be.

 

True, but that is why any good shop will be able to tell these things. Don't take it to the oil lube place on the nearest corner, but rather a reputable shop who knows body and mechanics.

 

I would say if you have to ask about it on a forum you would probably be getting in over your head, you need to really know what you are looking at to buy a salvage title car.

I think I would rather buy one and repair it, then buy one that someone else repaired because then at least you know what you are getting into

 

One thing to think about is the crash protection of a rebuilt car. Cars are designed to "crinkle" in a crash in a very,very calculated way to absorb the crash energy. If the car is not rebuilt in the correct way, you will be sacrificing your safety in the event of a crash. A body shop friend of mine pointed this out to my girlfriends "rebuilt" car, and how it would be very bad if she was in an accident.

 

thats only true if they mess with the frame

 

called crush points . If you look at the frame and parts like the hood you will see circular or oval holes . Those holes are there by strategic placement so when you get in a accident those spots will fold and keep parts from crushingg or decapitating you .

 

Dont want to get too detailed but its a nightmare ... went through 9 salvage / rebuilt cars over 2 1/2 year ( my dad ) and i know the headaches associated with it first hand.

Also if your fixing it yourself never expect it to cost you what you think it will at the end of it all.

My personal opinion stay away !!

 

yeh man same here... I just bought a rebuilt g... it was hit in the rear and had a new trunk and bumper put on and was repainted... i saved around 10k on getting this fully loaded sedan. the rear airbags didnt go off and there wasnt frame damage.

sometimes the deals are out there. u just have to be very aware of what you are buying with rebuilt titles

 

I bought my G salvaged and rebuilt it since i work in autobody .

https://g35driver.com/forums/media-s...post-pics.html

To get a good deal and good car to rebuilt 99% of the time you need a licence to buy cars at insurance auctions . If you dont have a licence you will be buying a salvaged car that the seller got from a insurance auction therefore you will pay more money . At insurance auctions dealers and rebuilders also usually will hand pick the cars with minimal dammage(theft recovery etc) ,rebuild them easily and sell for higher .

For example if i had a licence i could have got my car for 2-4k instead of the 8k i paid from a reseller .

 

I hear ya'. One idea on that if you want to buy another one. Find a guy that goes in and bids for other dealers and you may get him to bid one out for you and you just slip him one or two bills. ($100 bills)

Every tote-your-note car lot out there is one that I'd steer away from. Tons of rebuilt cars there, and quite often not to the best of standards.

I contracted three trucks to the biggest salvage insurance auction east of the Mississippi for 6 years when I first started my business back in 85. Worst mistake of my freaking life!!! They paid worse than hauling donkeys!!!!!!!!! Still do to this day. Was driving over 70,000 mile a year and literally never being more than 90 minutes from Atlanta. Also did contract towing for CarMax with three dealerships here in town. Two cars for 37 miles paid $75 bucks even in 2001! Another dumba$$ idea, except of course when I was hauling three, and loaded each way. At least I could get $210 after getting a buck 5 each way.
Of course that was just barely more than I could get for towing a single Mitsubishi, Chevy, or similar, and less than I would get at the my Mercedes dealer for the same distance. Way less than we could charge towing to my body shop clients as everyone knows when the insurance company is paying, then it's easy to stick it to them like they stick it to us. I mean heck... whatever is charged going into the shop is marked up and passed on to the insurance company. If you charge $50 then the shop makes less in the long run, and we can't have that now can we?
And no... I didn't live to rip off insurance companies. Had three major ones that I towed for every week. Gave them killer deals as opposed to what the rates were when not doing 'direct work' for them.

Anywho... I digress.. (as I usually do)

The Insurance Auctions are what support our family as the wife has been there 28 years. Yes, it's possible to get a car and rebuild it. But as you've mentioned, you are in the autobody business. That is the way to do it! If you're having to buy a salvage car, then pay a shop to repair it, you would be better off just buying a clean used car... even if it's a year older to stay in budget.
You can bet when it's salvaged that it'll cost you more by the time it's repaired than the car books out at. (When you're paying someone else, AND... you're putting on new parts, or even crashed "factory oem" parts.)

Insurance companies typically will spend up to 70% of the value on a vehicle that's 1~3 years old to repair it. More than that and they total it. As the vehicle ages... well of course they'll spend less.

Keep on keeping on...

 

In most cases id stay away from it, unless you know how bad it was wrecked. Insurance companys will some times total a car out if the airbags pop. Was it a bad wreck to cause that maybe, maybe not.
If you got somebody you know is good to rebuild it and can trust their work. might not be so bad. My dad rebuilt my G and while it still has slight issues its in good shape. THose slight issues give me something to do though.
On a good note, the G35 is a well built car. When we tore it down during the rebuild. WE were shocked to see how well it held up to the hit it had taken

 

I had Rebuilt Tittle Altima before i bought the G it ran pretty good and never gave me any issues it ran straight.I just it depends what kinda of accident it got involved in and if the guy who fixed it did a good job or just a crappy one to make it run again and sell it.The only thing is that it would be reallly hard to resell if you plan that later on since most people stay away from those cars.