What is the average value of a rebuilt title

Joined
7 July 2011
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14
Hi guys,

I have searched on this topic and it seems to be all over the place. What are your thoughts on the value of a salvage/rebuilt titles. What percentage of value should it retain if the car is back to it's original form. Also, what percentage should it retain if the car has a rebuilt title due the car being a stolen recovery car? The percentage seems to range from 50%-80% of the total value of the car depending on vehicle and how good it has been restored.

What are your opinions on this?
 
my opinion ....a rebuilt/salvage title car that looks and runs ok that if unmolested could sell for 25 k would be in the 17-20k range.
 
its only really worth what someone is willing to pay.

the only people that will know its salvage is you and your insurance company.

I am building my 2004 with 19K miles fire damage, every single part was replaced with OEM parts. its going to have an OEM paint job but will be better than any new mint NSX that ever came off the showroom floor.
so saying 17-20K is not really fair.

some people shun the salvage cars but when it comes to a car thats is still compared to newer cars its still an NSX.

there are some examples of NSX that have been repaired and the job they did just to move the car out the door onto some unknowing victim makes me sick.

an example there is a 2005 NSX that was originally black and the bone head painted it red, then put pop-up lights on the car huh????
why would someone do this to a beautiful car.

if you dont want to fix this machine properly then dont even try.

then there was another one that they got new body panels but didnt fix anything else on the car you could see were the tires almost touched the driver door. and they called this fixed and street legal. more like they wrecked it didnt report it and fixed in their backyard.

makes me sad. but the NSX will still turn heads even if its title says its not perfect. perfect in who's eyes lol

my first NSX I made sure it didnt have any damage to the car and had a clean Vin history but after having rebuilt one and working on my first one
I see how the car was made and how easy it is to fix.

Im just ranting now LOL sorry
 
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too general of a question to guess. What kind of accident, how well was it put together?



Also, remember that many finance companies will not loan on a salvaged car, that cuts down your potential buyer pool if looking to sell.
 
I'm not discussing Shawns's 04 rebuild...my fictitious example is your standard 91-93 mid to high millage car. Don't get all excited Shawn:wink:
 
I know Doc

I just got myself all worked up when I start talking about crapy work
tring to pass it off to other people.
 
These responses are exactly what I was looking for. Keep them coming.

Hey DocJohn,

What is your opinion on a good conditioned rebuilt 95-96 nsx with 100k miles?
 
"Hey DocJohn,

What is your opinion on a good conditioned rebuilt 95-96 nsx with 100k miles "

17-25K depending on alot.
 
I cannot understand why so many people get down about a car that has been fixed...so long as the work is done right! After all, cars break; sometimes real bad! If they are fixed within specs., with OEM parts, etc., what significant difference should it make?

Many of the old Ferrari's and original Ford GT's have been restored to near original condition. These cars sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars regardless of the mileage they originally had, if they had been wrecked, etc. Once they are restored, they are worth a fortune! How is this different from any other car that is restored back to its original condition?

Just my opinion!
 
I have owned salvage/rebuilt cars before and I would again but only if they were "regular cars". When it comes to sports cars i wouldn't touch one that was hit. I would love to locate a nice GPW 02+ after theft so that I could make it look like a NSX-R ;).
 
These responses are exactly what I was looking for. Keep them coming.

Hey DocJohn,

What is your opinion on a good conditioned rebuilt 95-96 nsx with 100k miles?

well a normal 95-96 with 100k miles might sell for around 30k so if your "conditioned" car was bent and fixed and looks/drives well it could go in the 20-25 range,but each car is unique and each rehab is unique.The more you know the better car you will buy.Don't get pissed if the car you passed on gets sold,because that buyer may not have known the full history.The reason we can talk about nsx depreciation after rebuild is because in the open market there are still too many good original cars competing with the dogs of war.Thus the GT-40 and other very low production rebuild examples are oranges to our quinces:wink:
 
Call you insurance company and see if they would even insure a salvage titled car before buying. Specify that it is an NSX. And, could you post back the results?

I'm insured through USAA and I bank with them as well. USAA informed me they would finance a salvaged vehicle so I can assume they'd insure it.
 
Call you insurance company and see if they would even insure a salvage titled car before buying. Specify that it is an NSX. And, could you post back the results?

Hey Anytime,

I called Progressive and they said they insure vehicles with rebuilt titles.
 
well a normal 95-96 with 100k miles might sell for around 30k so if your "conditioned" car was bent and fixed and looks/drives well it could go in the 20-25 range,but each car is unique and each rehab is unique.The more you know the better car you will buy.Don't get pissed if the car you passed on gets sold,because that buyer may not have known the full history.The reason we can talk about nsx depreciation after rebuild is because in the open market there are still too many good original cars competing with the dogs of war.Thus the GT-40 and other very low production rebuild examples are oranges to our quinces:wink:

If I pull the trigger I think I am getting a heck of a deal based on your opinion. Especially since the car does not seem to have been in any accident. Thanks guys for all the input.
 
Yeah the insurance company will insure it UP-TO what your paid for it being a salvage. so if you paid 70K they would insure it for 70K

if you got a salvaged NSX for 20K they would only insure it for 20K
 
Yeah the insurance company will insure it UP-TO what your paid for it being a salvage. so if you paid 70K they would insure it for 70K

if you got a salvaged NSX for 20K they would only insure it for 20K

That kinda stinks if you get a really great deal on a salvage. Thanks for the great info I did not know that. If I decide to do any upgrades I will make sure to report it.
 
that will not work, if you paid 20K for the car and added 30K in mods
they will only give you 20K what you paid not 50K, they dont insure mods even on non salvaged cars.

they will look at the current market value of the car lets say its 35K that is not salvaged,
and what you paid for it at 20K they will give you the 20K since its salvage they are off the hook for giving you market value so they
would rather pay the 20K instead of the market value of 35K.

now I think if you paid 70K for a salvage
and the market value of a non salvage is 50K
they will give you around 50K
and will not give you 70K what you paid for it.

and I have never heard of one Insurance company say they will not insure a salvaged car. they may have higher fees but ALL will insure a salvaged car. as long as it passes the DMV inspections

but take my advise with a grain of salt. best think to do it call you insurance company and ask these question before you decide on which NSX you want ( mint or salvaged )
 
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that will not work, if you paid 20K for the car and added 30K in mods
they will only give you 20K what you paid not 50K, they dont insure mods even on non salvaged cars.

they will look at the current market value of the car lets say its 35K that is not salvaged,
and what you paid for it at 20K they will give you the 20K since its salvage they are off the hook for giving you market value so they
would rather pay the 20K instead of the market value of 35K.

now I think if you paid 70K for a salvage
and the market value of a non salvage is 50K
they will give you around 50K
and will not give you 70K what you paid for it.

and I have never heard of one Insurance company say they will not insure a salvaged car. they may have higher fees but ALL will insure a salvaged car. as long as it passes the DMV inspections

but take my advise with a grain of salt. best think to do it call you insurance company and ask these question before you decide on which NSX you want ( mint or salvaged )


Thanks again for the great info! I think I need to ask the insurance company a few more questions.
 
Only thing i can add coming from more of a blue collar metal bender/engineer guy is for me it depends totally on whether their wase major structural members, ie frame involvement. If there was, don't touch it, period on a car you will be running hard. Not that their aren't excellent folks out there, but the % of hacks out there is just way to high. And of course your resale is screwed. IF the frame was not bent and you are going to keep it forever, yes it's a hell of a deal. Now days they total just about everything. I've got a salvage title van that was hardly damaged at all.
 
Only thing i can add coming from more of a blue collar metal bender/engineer guy is for me it depends totally on whether their wase major structural members, ie frame involvement. If there was, don't touch it, period on a car you will be running hard. Not that their aren't excellent folks out there, but the % of hacks out there is just way to high. And of course your resale is screwed. IF the frame was not bent and you are going to keep it forever, yes it's a hell of a deal. Now days they total just about everything. I've got a salvage title van that was hardly damaged at all.

Thanks for the input. I agree, I would stay away from a car that had major structural damage.
 
The question can't really be answered. Here's why. There are thousands of NSXs that have clean titles and have never been rebuilt. Right now there are 109 NSXs for sale on Autotrader. Not that they are all identical, but there are enough around, and they are similar enough (aside from the minority that have been heavily modified), that you can find a bunch of cars of a given year and mileage and they're all priced close enough that you can come up with an idea of how much a similar car will go for.

With rebuilt title cars, you don't have that similarity thing working for you. Each one has had some sort of catastrophic incident, and the damage it incurred is unique from all other cars. Plus, there aren't all that many rebuilt title cars to begin with. So you just can't go find ten other cars for sale of the same year and mileage that have had the exact same damage.

A car with a rebuilt title will sell for significantly less than an otherwise similar car with a clean title and no rebuild history. But it's impossible to assign an exact number to how much any particular car would be discounted.
 
The question can't really be answered. Here's why. There are thousands of NSXs that have clean titles and have never been rebuilt. Right now there are 109 NSXs for sale on Autotrader. Not that they are all identical, but there are enough around, and they are similar enough (aside from the minority that have been heavily modified), that you can find a bunch of cars of a given year and mileage and they're all priced close enough that you can come up with an idea of how much a similar car will go for.

With rebuilt title cars, you don't have that similarity thing working for you. Each one has had some sort of catastrophic incident, and the damage it incurred is unique from all other cars. Plus, there aren't all that many rebuilt title cars to begin with. So you just can't go find ten other cars for sale of the same year and mileage that have had the exact same damage.

A car with a rebuilt title will sell for significantly less than an otherwise similar car with a clean title and no rebuild history. But it's impossible to assign an exact number to how much any particular car would be discounted.

Some good points there. I have been looking for a while and have turned down some clean titled cars at great prices. I still feel more comfortable getting this car over the other cars that I have looked at. I am going to go with my gut feeling on this. I already have a garage queen and this will be my daily so the car does not have to be perfect.


Thanks everyone for all the inputs. :smile:
 
Yeah the insurance company will insure it UP-TO what your paid for it being a salvage. so if you paid 70K they would insure it for 70K

if you got a salvaged NSX for 20K they would only insure it for 20K


that is such BS just ask smoore what he got foe his 05, and after i got my 350z totaled insurance would not pay more then 50% of its value
 
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