Opposition to Salvage?

I am looking at an 04 extra cab with 100000 miles.

....salvage title.

the guy wants 7900 no less.

what is the opinion?

 

Doesn't take much of a fender-bender to total a car/truck these days. I'd crawl under there and see if you can detect trauma to the frame. See if the body panels line up properly. See how it tracks on the highway. Do the sellers seem trustworthy. Does the seller have the smog cert.

If all that checks out, and its exactly the truck you want, then go for it. I've had a few salvage vehicles in the past, and they turned out to be great cars. Verify that your insurance company will insure a salvaged car.

Keep in mind that if you total it, the insurance company may only give you half value.

 

Where I'm from it costs more to insure a salvage title.. It does decrease the value of the truck. I'd say its not quite worth that much

 

That sounds awful high for an '04 with average miles that's got a salvage title. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a vehicle with a salvage title provided it looks ok on close inspection and the seller could provide photos of the damage that totalled it (and it didn't look too severe). But on something that (relatively) new and common, I wouldn't pay anywhere near the non-salvage price for it simply because the likelihood of you finding another sucker who would do so when you go to sell it is pretty low.

Plus the aforementioned insurance concerns. They won't pay out full value in an accident, and some companies won't even insure a salvage vehicle.

So with all that said, without knowing the options on it and such, can't know what the truck would be worth non-salvage, so can't comment for sure on this one. Would probably be looking for somewhere around 60% of the book price or less, assuming it actually stands up to a thorough inspection.

His price is "firm", but if you show up with a stack of $100 bills in hand at the amount you're willing to pay (with maybe a few more in the back pocket if you're willing to go up a small amount) you'd be surprised how "firm" prices soften up.

 

a clean title could go for that. something is wrong like frame damage or he's not aware that salvage titles are nowhere the value of clean titles, regardless of this truck's amazing resale resale value. he wants to be firm? he'll be firm with a salvage truck for months