What about titles

[andylaiphoto]

I have been shopping around as some of you already know by threads that I have posted. I was wondering about different title status. I have found a 2000 Honda S2000 with 50,000 miles for 10 grand. Only thing is the title is rebuilt. What exactly does a rebuilt title mean? Just some cosmetic damage that required replacement parts or could it be something more extensive?

The picture attached is of the damage that was under the driver side door sill. Everything has been repaired on the car looks perfect cosmetically. I have not test driven in the car yet but was wondering if you guys could give me a heads up of what to look for since the title has been rebuilt.

 

[MrMke]

Usually when there's frame or other structural damage.......

 

[DSF767]

I have been shopping around as some of you already know by threads that I have posted. I was wondering about different title status. I have found a 2000 Honda S2000 with 50,000 miles for 10 grand. Only thing is the title is rebuilt. What exactly does a rebuilt title mean? Just some cosmetic damage that required replacement parts or could it be something more extensive?

The picture attached is of the damage that was under the driver side door sill. Everything has been repaired on the car looks perfect cosmetically. I have not test driven in the car yet but was wondering if you guys could give me a heads up of what to look for since the title has been rebuilt.

View attachment 32262

Means the car was totaled but then someone bought it (eaither from the insurance company or at an auction) and they rebuilt the car to be street legal.

Looking at NADA a clean retail for this car would be ~$12,000

http://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/2000/Honda/S2000-4-Cyl-6-Spd/Roadster-2D/Values

with it having a rebuilt title I would not pay more then 50% of that so ~$6,000 and thats assuming you had a qualified mechanic go over it with a fine tooth comb.

If you PM me the VIN I can run an autocheck for you to try and see what was the cause of the rebuilt title.

 

[andylaiphoto]

Thanks guys.

 

[andylaiphoto]

What's the difference between rebuilt and salvage then?

 

[DSF767]

What's the difference between rebuilt and salvage then?

Really no difference at all, I think some states call it one and others call it the other.

Like I said if you have the VIN PM me and I will run an auto check on it.

 

[D Griff]

I would seriously consider it for maybe $8k or so if you can figure out exactly what the accident was and get it thoroughly checked over by an awesome mechanic. Could be a great deal. My Civic was a salvaged car, I wrecked it in highschool after I had all the body work done it was 10x better than before I wrecked it... but I didn't go halfway on it. Could be a great deal or a horrible nightmare, be careful!

 

[Stag]

In PA, a salvage title means several things. There is current structural damage preventing it being safe to drive, there's water damage, being sold with a blown engine etc. R title literally means "Rebuilt." There was some sort of structural damage and the vehicle is "supposed" to be safe to drive if the work was correctly done.

 

[DSF767]

So I PMed you the auto check with a link to take a look at it yourself. I was jsut looking over it once again. looks like this car has already had 6 owners which seems like a crazy number.

For the rest of you here is the autocheck on the car:

http://charlieobaugh.com/AutoCheckReport.aspx?vin=JHMAP11422T002291#full-history

 

[Stag]

Hahaha Some kid had it for less than 1k miles and totalled it :bellyroll:

 

[kec789]

I have dealt with a number of rebuilt/restored cars due to having a handful of friends who liked to buy them, fix them, and then sell them.

IMO a rebuilt/restored titled car will NEVER feel right. Yes, you can buy something for roughly half of what it's worth, but at what cost? I swear you will always be fixing something and many times you can't fix something that's very wrong with the car. A bent frame can lead to near impossible alignments, there can be frequent and difficult to fix electrical issues, body panels not matching up, squeeks, rattles and rolls, etc. you also gotta think about the safety of it. Will the airbags deploy if needed? How safe is the frame now?

You gotta remember, it was badged rebuilt/restored/salvaged because someone deemed it to be not worth fixing. Then down the road you will have a HELLUVA time trying to sell it to someone else.

To be fair I have seen them work out well for people, but it's not very often that it happens like that. Usually when it does work out it's on an older car with not a ton of value to begin with so branding it just makes better sense to the insurance company.

Anyway, proceed with caution when looking at a rebuilt/restored/salvaged title. Also, DSF767 is spot on in his comments on all, especially regarding book values.