Money in selling salvage cars ?

Some states like California it happens a lot less often because the car will have a permanent salvage title. Salvage cars have been destroyed beyond the value of what it would cost to fix it and I would not recommend fixing salvage cars. Say you have a bit of damage and you fix it, there is so many things on salvage cars that can go wrong it's rediclious, like the alternator, cv joints, seals, ect. An impact on a car will effect many more things that are not visible like stated.

It's not very profitable and you would be better off parting out cars. Plus if you are making money on salvage cars you are not doing a very good job and selling people cars that you know are going to have problems down the road. that is a very slippery slope because I grantee that you will be sued.

Don't do it, just my 2 cents


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Muscleman...

I'm an ASE certified tech. Been one for 16-18 years. While you can make money flipping cars, salvage titles make ALOT of potential buyers run in any direction AWAY from the car.

I bought a 2003 Acura TL Type -S for $300. I had to do a ####-load of work to it, but nothing I couldn't handle. It was mostly time I put into it. I sold it for $3300 this past weekend. It had 250,934 miles on it when I sold it.

There has been a 2002 Acura TL on Craigslist for longer than i Can remember, and with she'll of a lot less miles than the one I sold...but, it has a Salvage title. The guy can't get rid of it.

Also, some of the better insurance companies will not insure a driver in a car with a salvage title. The kind of person you target for salvage title cars are in low income areas, where English is a second or third language, and where cash is king. You clean the car, if the CHECK ENGINE light is on, you take the bulb out, you price it low, you sell it fast, you sign the title over, and haul ass.

I once bought a 1987 Mazda 626 back in 1990 from a dealership for $2300. It was my second car, and I couldn't believe the deal I got on it. Until I saw it had a salvage title. But I was young, and with that came not giving a ####. But why I tried to sell it, took me about 8 months before I found a buyer. No one wants a salvage title.

Just my thoughts...

I guess it's a matter of opinion.
I know people who do this and make VERY good money doing it. You may be able to get a car for a few hundred dollars have a good body guy repair it on the side for a good price and flip the car. Reliability has NOTHING to do with a salvaged tittle, if you repair the car the right way, why would you have issues?
My detailing truck has a salvaged tittle and has never had any issues with it, I've had it now for about 4 years and it runs like a champ. If you do a good job, the car won't have issues, if you do a bad job you get bad results!

my old car wasn't salvaged

I was driving to work and there was construction going on and I was going straight. The guy in the right lane didn't merge like he was supposed to. He basically fender benderd me. (only the fender got damaged, it was cosmetic)

well I filed the claim and his insurance salvaged my car. I was 17 with $3,000.00 in my pocket

Well given the fact that my family is Auto Body, my car was perfect in no time. (not going to say the cost either, but less than pennies lol)

Salvaged title has a stigma which IMO it has earned..., better safe than sorry in the end...

I used to buy and sell clean title cars and my good friend bought and sold only salvaged title cars. I was doing at my peek 2 cars a week where he was doing one car a month. However we would profit around the same at the end of the month.

If u are planning on doing this stick with a car type that is appealing to younger people. Like STI and EVOs. Those cars get wrecked and repaired all the time. So a young person who can't afford a clean title one will see your salvage titled one as a huge deal and won't care what might be wrong with it. Don't do salvage family vans or salvage cars that will appeal to a young girl. They will have a hard time selling.

Most people see salvage title cars as a problematic money pit. So it needs to appeal to some one who wouldn't care or mind fixing a problem. Hope that helps

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The main thing to look for is the REASON it is salvaged in the first place.

A wreck can be fixed, might be problematic in the future.

Flood damage is not easily fixed (run as fast as you can from it)

Stolen car, detail it, apply for a clean title, sell as a clean title vehicle (where the money is)

Honestly, I am more scared of the clean title vehicles that had massive engine problems that a "mechanic" fixed and then you pay top dollar for it just for it to break down a be a money pit for you.

The point is, do research on the car you are looking to buy/flip and ensure that you can fix it easily without costing too much.

HOLY CRAP... I compiled a message for the last 45 minutes and hit the 'back' key on my mouse and lost it all!

E-mail me, I'll give you my number.

My wife has been doing title work (Title Manager) at a salvage auction for over 30 years. They have lots in all states, including AK and HI (over 10,000 employees). You want to know salvage, I friggin know salvage!

Bottom line, I'd stick to craigslist, local ads, even local car lots and see what they have wholesale (that they don't want to sell).

Way WAY too many hassles selling salvage!!!!!!

Try hitting CTRL, Z, Tony. Might work if not to late. Hit it over and over. Might pop up.

This is why I don't buy salvage cars - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjxM9chAe1k&feature=youtube_gdata_player]Fifth Gear - Used Car Repaired with Severe Economic Restraint in Crash Test - YouTube[/video]

hernandez.art13 said:

Try hitting CTRL, Z, Tony. Might work if not to late. Hit it over and over. Might pop up.

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I finally just gave up and reprogrammed my friggin' fancy mouse today. :laughing: If you only knew how many times I've lost messages because I BRUSHED that button. (Moved it to the top, made the bottom one the "forward" button.)

Salvage cars pay the bills around this house, have for over 30 years. Albeit indirectly.

I used to haul them for the auction from 85~90 then went out and started doing insurance, body shop and dealership work. Pays a LOT better! (Notice I didn't say roadside clubs like AAA... THAT IS REALLY BAD WORK!)

The thing is, there are so many caveats with salvage titles that unless you're setup to do the complete repair, start to finish, it'll be hard to make money.

Back when I started insurance companies would total a vehicle if the repair went to 52% of book value. Later it went to 60%, then 70% and now they'll go to about 75%. Of course all of that takes into account, year, make, model, mileage, ACV, etc. That DOES NOT include what you owe on the vehicle however. Which means if you take one of those 7 year loans and are upside down for the first 3 (at least) you better well not get in a serious accident!!!!!

What totals a vehicle?
Typically more than 2 major components. IE: "front clip", "rear clip", "engine and/or transmission", "major suspension", "passenger compartment", and of course "roof". Especially the roof!

Take out the front clip and rear clip and you'll probably be OK. Crack the tranny in the deal and guess what? Probably totaled! Even if it's fairly new. If it's more than 2 years old it's a goner.

In the hurricane Sandy storm there were so many cars that salvage auctions didn't even have places to store them all. They actually had to rent an airport on Long Island for storage. Not just my wife's company, but their main rival as well. One got the runways, (hers) the other got the grass and other areas.

From the NY Post article.





Interesting FOX News video on this page.
Airport runways become parking lots for cars damaged by Sandy

Notice the forklift? Don't think everything goes unscathed there.

Flood cars are your NIGHTMARE! Even when it's freshwater, but "Sandy" was a saltwater flood, and took out 15,000 cars just in that area that ONE company pulled in. The scary part is you'll see more of them on the road now than you did for YEARS prior to the Sandy damage.

Bottom line is unless you're in the Paint & Body business, it'll cost you a fortune to rebuild salvage vehicles.

Say you do decide to go down that road. First thing is getting the vehicle repaired (properly), then you need to go to a state inspection station. Typically manned by DMV inspectors. Once it's been repaired, and all the paperwork completed you can then get a "rebuilt" title. Used to you could "wash" those titles by crossing state lines, getting a new title (over there) then go back to another state and re-title it AGAIN there. Thank GOD that they've been working to totally eliminate that sickness over the last decade. (Still you'll find guys working around it as hard as possible... but it's not as easy as it once was.)

Best to just avoid the hassle. Buy "clean" title vehicles, fix them... flip them. These days people are keeping vehicles longer than they have in the last 30 years due to the economy. The market for used cars is a lot better than it used to be 10 years ago. The key is finding those cars, and deciding what market you want to fit into.

Do you want "cash money" cars, that are all under $5K or do you want to try to specialize in something a bit more of a niche market? I've known guys that do it all. Although it seems easier to make money on the "beaters" than on the BMW's.

If you do decide to buy auction cars, GO TO THE AUCTION! Don't buy over the internet (which they all do these days) unless you are buying "parts cars". Unless you go, and PUT YOUR HANDS on it. Smell it, get inside it, check the oil, look at the coolant, you'll never know if it'll ever run again. Just too many "what if's" when you're not on site.

What you will find at the salvage auctions these days though is a LOT of foreign buyers. And if you think you'll buy an import SUV (especially a 4WD model) from underneath them... THINK AGAIN! They are buying them by the thousands, and shipping them to third world countries. Typically to be filled with roving bands of guys carrying AK47's. Ask me how I know? Remember.... over 30 years in the business.

Insurance Auto Auctions Inc. and Copart.

They are the two Main Online Salvage auctions.

Like others have stated, salvage cars can be a hassle and take forever to sell if its not something you can sell cheap. Also its best if you can stick to one kind of car.. As cheap as they may seem my neighbor made a absolute killing flipping Geo's they were so cheap to begin with he could buy 2-3 at a time super cheap make 1 good one out of the bunch and keep the rest of the good parts for the next one...he was selling 4-5 a month. He got me into it and now I do it... I usually stick to ford trucks, rangers/f150 mainly and while my end goal is to have my own small car lot right now I can sell/trade whatever 2/3 a month and its a pretty good little way to make money

dude i have no such experience about the re sale the car because i am not interested into the re sale the car i have car but i can not salvage the cars..If any one have experience shared with me...

buick_gn said:

Insurance Auto Auctions Inc. and Copart.

They are the two Main Online Salvage auctions.

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You ate absolutely right sir!

The company my wife started with wad privately owned for over 40 years, one family. Grew from one lot in Ashville to 9 before they sold out to IAA. From the early 90's for a good 10~12 years her lot was the largest single volume (weekly salvage auction) east of the Mississippi. They averaged 550+ week and they they were ALL sold "live on the spot". That was before Internet bidding, and BOY was it a madhouse! :laughing:

Things have taken a drastic change these days for everyone in the business. Because there are SO MANY LOTS within just an hour of the other one. (And that's all the companies doing that.)


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A good friend of mine just flipped a Sandy salvaged Excursion. He'll never do a salvaged title again. It was a total money pit, caused him countless headaches, gremlins popped up one after another, and by the time he sold it he only just broke even.

Angus said:

A good friend of mine just flipped a Sandy salvaged Excursion. He'll never do a salvaged title again. It was a total money pit, caused him countless headaches, gremlins popped up one after another, and by the time he sold it he only just broke even.

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And therein the problem lies! :nomore:

What they should have done is brand ALL those vehicles as "parts" and be done with it.

The problem is, some insurance companies will automatically put a parts title on water vehicles, while others refuse to. Then you have the different state laws and how you can take a salvage title from one state to another to "wash" the title, then get it retitled, effectively hiding it's history. Like I mentioned earlier, it's nowhere near as easy these days as it used to be (thank goodness) but people will still go out of their way to try and skirt the law, just skimming by enough to make it legal.

Your buddy is LUCKY that he managed to break even on a salt water flood. Lesson's learned and all that.

Do reports like carfax not catch those washed title vehicles?

cardaddy said:

Your buddy is LUCKY that he managed to break even on a salt water flood. Lesson's learned and all that.

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Oh heck yeah - I agree with you. I sure as heck hope it's the last time he tries it. Blew my mind when I found out.