I am looking for a Toyota mini van / 4 door Camry for my daughter to drive. I'm finding alot of savalage title stuff. I realize the hurricans & floods in NO & MS have flooded the market with cars, but are rebuilt vehicles safe? I guess it depends on who rebuilt it, and how much damage was done.

This will be a "drive it til it drops" vehicle.

Any words of wisdom from the DTR peanut gallery?

I could really use some sound advice here guys.

 

In my admittledly non expert opinion, if you can get one cheap enough, and view it as a disposable car, they can be great deals.

 

Funny...there are 2 almost identical threads by different people right now. Anyway...I have alot of experience with salvage vehicles. My father fixes them and sells them, I have owned several, and my wife's current Cherokee is a salvage vehicle. And no, my father doesn't rip people off with them...he usually does it on a fix-to-order basis, with people letting him know what they want, he finds it, lets them see it, then fixes it...and they know exactly what they are getting.

You pretty much answered your own question. Some salvage vehicles can be a great way to save money and get a better quality vehicle for less money, IF the damage was fixed properly and no shortcuts were taken, and if there is no hidden damage. When given a choice, I usually take recovered thefts or accident damage over storm damage. At least I can see everything that is wrong and know that I fixed everything. Even then some things can pop up and surprise you. But storm damage vehicles are much tougher. If you have been around them long enough, you can sometimes tell exactly what happened...sometimes you can't tell at all. I once purchased a '91 Plymouth Laser dirt cheap, because it was storm damaged. It hadn't been repaired yet. I crawled under and all over it and came to the conclusion that just 1 corner had gotten wet, and only up to about the lower part of the wheel bearing. I figured this out because of a line of rust that was on the left rear brake rotor. None of the others had rust, just half of that one. I took it home, put on a new wheel bearing (that bearing was making a little noise), new rotor, new brake pads, and thats it. It ran and drove great. On the other hand, you might not be able to tell if major components got water in them, then drained...such as the engine and transmission.

So be cautious, don't spend a lot of money, and be prepared for something to possibly pop up later and surprise you.

Jim

 

My experience/opinion, it all depends on the extent of the damage to the vehicle. I see a few salvaged vehicle and most of them have more probelm then what there worth, electronics are expensive. Example, I have some customers that just purchase a 99 cabriolet, 97,000 miles on and they have spent 3 grand on it all ready in the couple weeks they've had it. I'm not sure about other state emission laws, but here in Cali, check engine lights are pain. The vehicle will not pass smog with a ckeng light on, or if the light has been on in the past and shut itself off, readiness codes have been sprung, problem needs to be fixed.

Tye

 

Speaking of Camry's; a few years ago when we had some hurricane induced flooding in Annapolis, a buddy had a nice Camry lifted up by the flowing water and moved it across the parking lot.

He had some intermittent issues with the electrics and didn't worry about it and couldn't get much traction from the dealer to repair it until he was getting into the car one day and the airbag activated on him. Darn near dislocated his shoulder - he wore a sling for over a month. He is a big guy too.

The dealer replaced the entire wiring harness afterwards. He's still driving it as his DC beater car.

I guess its a crapshoot; and you don't know until you find out if its a good one or not. If its a good price, I say go for it.

 

I guess I would be super wary about buying one these days. Saltwater is super hard on electronics and such, and that's pretty much everything on a newer car these days. Hard telling how long it sat "wet" before someone came along, put the hook to it, and started drying it out.