Need Advice on 2000 Golf TDI - Salvage Title

Hi guys. Hope you can help me. I've been thinking about getting a TDI for some time now and finally the other day found one and almost made the deal. It's a 2000 Golf TDI with just over 100,000km which as you know is very low for that year. It's in great shape with no rust. Timing belt and water pump was changed at 90k. I test drove it and it drove well and everything checked out good from what I could see. I gave a deposit and said I will check the VIN# on Carfax and if there are no probs he can get it certified and we have a deal. Well when I got home I ran the VIN# and found out it had been in an accident in 2002. I based my offer on the fact that it had no been in any accidents as the owner claims he was not aware it had been in an accident. He is a student and is selling the car because he didn't get the job he had expected after school. He claims he has not had any probs with the car since he owned it and purchased it now knowing the car had been in an accident himself. I have never bought a car that has been in accident and I'm not dead set against it as long as it is safe and repaired properly. I can still get a refund of my deposit and back out of the deal but I thought I'd ask you guys for help. I was going to buy the car for $8500CAD which is decent for that mileage and condition ,compared to other TDI's I have seen with much more KM for more. I would probably get it for less then that now and would not want to pay that much for salvage title car but how much I'm not sure, or I'm not even sure what the owner will take for it know that he knows it has been in an accident and harder to sell. I also found out the car was originally in the USA and came to Ontario, Canada at some point where I am now looking to buy the car. VIN# report on the car is below...

http://www.carfax.com/viewEmailReport.do?a=pOzrWSQYQ2CURus8jiXq1ALVpDsd9f2nALCaJGTr2%2BZIcX5x2qyAptbDgDaCTSi3&language=EN


Any advice is appreciated...

Too phunny

This car seems to have been registered in ON without the prior PA salvage title. This may be a case of title washing. If you are considering buying this vehicle, make sure you account for this problem title history in your decision.

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and

Hmmm...hard to tell whether this reading represents an odometer rollback or a clerical error. Confirm the mileage with your dealer or qualified mechanic.

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Well, if it was issued a salvage title just over 2 years after it was originally purchased, that must have been one heck of a crash...

Add to that the uncertain total milage, and I assume missing maintenance history, and I'd say: Run, don't walk away - unless you get it for next-to-nothing...

In addition, the price is a bit high... (especially since Diesel is so expensive these days... you should be able to find a reasonably-priced one in decent shape with a known history...)

All the best,

Yuri.

i wouldn't go near that car. It said on the carfax something about the air bags being deployed - that's gotta be 1 hell of a hit!

When I was shoppng for a TDI I found a beautiful one in California and it was cheap with low miles. The VIN as in the ad, and in going back and forth with the seller about my driving 350+ miles to come check out the car he never mentioned the salvage title. As I was preparring to check it and another carout in California I ran Carfaxes on them. sure enough it was salvage title. Upon closer inspection of the pics you could see the nose sagging no doubt from bent panels underneith.

I walked away from it right then and there.

Salvage title cars are worth much less than the sum of their parts. If I recall correctly you can't even get full coverage insurance for a restored salvage car.

Shawn

run, dont walk away from that car.

it also occurs to me that if you ever want to move that car on (assuming you buy it), you will have a much harder time finding a buyer

its funny how many people on here say so much crap about salvage title without knowing anything about the specific car. Just because it was given a salvage title by an insurance company doesnt mean the car was not fixable. Im on my 3rd tdi jetta, and all were salvage titles, the one i currently drive had so little damage that i was suprised it was totaled. Actually alot of people on here wreck their tdi and either keep it and fix it or never report the accident to the insurance company and fix the car....does this mean the car is unsafe to drive? no. What i recommend is to get the car inspected by a reputable body shop and a tdi guru as well and then if you like what you see after the inspection, work out a price. If the seller is being honest about not knowing about the previous accident then you have a buyers advantage if you still want to purchase it. I would offer him/her a low price due to the salvage title and go from there.

by the way yes you can get full coverage insurance for a salvage title car.

My State Farm agent won't insure a salvage vehicle....no matter what.

You should pass on this vehicle. I can give you a laundry lists of reasons or just leave it there.

cfm56 said:

its funny how many people on here say so much crap about salvage title without knowing anything about the specific car. Just because it was given a salvage title by an insurance company doesnt mean the car was not fixable. Im on my 3rd tdi jetta, and all were salvage titles, the one i currently drive had so little damage that i was suprised it was totaled. Actually alot of people on here wreck their tdi and either keep it and fix it or never report the accident to the insurance company and fix the car....does this mean the car is unsafe to drive? no. What i recommend is to get the car inspected by a reputable body shop and a tdi guru as well and then if you like what you see after the inspection, work out a price. If the seller is being honest about not knowing about the previous accident then you have a buyers advantage if you still want to purchase it. I would offer him/her a low price due to the salvage title and go from there.

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I don't think anyone was saying anything was wrong with the car, just the salvage title itself. Heck if it's still a salvage and not restored salvage it isn't even deemed roadworthy yet (this may be an AZ thing).

Salvage title cars are fine if:
#1 - You aren't going to sell it, ever.
#2 - You are confident whatever 'salvaged' the car has been corrected.
#3 - The price is right

Salvage title doesn't always mean the car was balled up in a wreck. Some friends and I rebuilt several Fox body Mustangs that were salvaged due to theft. If you have an 'in' at a yard you can mix and match parts to build a pretty nice car .

I would walk away from a salvage TDI mostly because I don't know enough about the cars to tell what's what. Now having owned mine close to a month now and learning what I can here and there, these cars are tempermental enough (especially electrical) without throwing possible damage to a harness in the mix.

Shawn

macs4me said:

My State Farm agent won't insure a salvage vehicle....no matter what.

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state farm has given all my salvage TDI's full coverage, salvage was never an issue, now some banks won't loan with salvage title but credit unions will, a large number of used cars on dealer lots have had a salvage title, you can't drive a salvage car in TX till its repaired, its then considered reconditioned. If the car is repaired properly it will drive just fine

guys - this car is located in Ontario, therefore the insurance laws are different.

You just have no way to know whether the car was repaired properly. If it wasn't, you can put yourself or your family at risk. Ever seen a non-original airbag go off? If there is too much pyro in the airbag, it can cause massive injuries to who ever is sitting behind it. So should a potential buys ask to look at all the airbags?

The fact that any car is repaired after being declared salvage is because corners are cut. The insurance has decided that it is not worth repairing, so why did someone repair it? Used parts, jobber parts and corner's being cut.

Personally right now if my car was totaled i would probably spend the extra $$ to get it fixed. But i live in MA and TDI's seem to be very rare to come by and i really like this car.
But your right most often if a car is repaired after it is totaled its because the owner is trying to reclaim some lost money on the car after getting the insurance check to cover the cost of the new car. So it was probably repaired as cheap as possable it might even have the same airbag computer which from what i understand are really surposed to be 1 use devices.

meetis said:

Personally right now if my car was totaled i would probably spend the extra $$ to get it fixed. But i live in MA and TDI's seem to be very rare to come by and i really like this car.
But your right most often if a car is repaired after it is totaled its because the owner is trying to reclaim some lost money on the car after getting the insurance check to cover the cost of the new car. So it was probably repaired as cheap as possable it might even have the same airbag computer which from what i understand are really surposed to be 1 use devices.

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If the airbags had blown in the previous accident, the airbag computer module would require R&R. If the computer is not removed and replaced then your airbag light will stay on and the computer will not work properly...it wont reset either. Again i would get the car checked out by a body shop and tdi guru then if you like what you hear and see you can bargain a even lower price due to a salvage title. This is how i would approach it

yatzee said:

guys - this car is located in Ontario, therefore the insurance laws are different.

You just have no way to know whether the car was repaired properly. If it wasn't, you can put yourself or your family at risk. Ever seen a non-original airbag go off? have you? so lets say you change an airbag out with a oem part (by the way i have never heard of aftermarket airbags) does this make the new airbag your installing defect since its not the "original bag installed"?


If there is too much pyro in the airbag, so what, is there a way to add or remove "pyro"? never heard this one before (to much pyro in a bag)

it can cause massive injuries to who ever is sitting behind it. So should a potential buys ask to look at all the airbags?

The fact that any car is repaired after being declared salvage is because corners are cut. So your saying anyone on here who has decided to keep their TDI after the insurance company wanted to total it is trying to cut corners? Most insurance adjustors use values that are not realistic to the current TDI market value and this is one of the reasons that alot of TDI's are salvaged. I've seen some really banged up and yes they deserved to be salvaged, but like my current TDI, the car had damage that did not warrent it being totaled. Even the previous owner was tempted to keep it and fix it but decided not to due to no experiance in dealing with a wrecked car. If your not experianced with "salvage-titled" cars i personally would not make some ridiculous claims concerning them.

The insurance has decided that it is not worth repairing, so why did someone repair it? Used parts, jobber parts and corner's being cut. this is a stupid assumption

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Note: i've seen pictures of cars that were wrecked on diff forums and at a family friends body shop that were being repaired by the insurance company and some of them in my opinion should of been totaled....then some that should not have been totaled...

As you will notice in my signature I own a few salvage title vehicles, including my '01 Jetta. I have repaired several for my kids. I would probably NEVER buy one unrepaired. You cann't trust or take someone's word on the extent of the damage/repairs. I have no issue with going to the salvage reseller and picking out one to repair for my own, with the intent to drive it a long time. Dealers do not want them as trade-ins and resale is poor to say the least. There are ways to wash titles clean by transferring them from one state (certain ones) to another and I'm sure many are and CarFax only follows those that are turned into insurance as claims. It does not take much damage to "total" a car, even a fairly new one. Many I have bought have hit a deer, etc. A fender or two, headlite, hood, bumper cover, cooling system and airbags (which usually breaks the windshield) and its salvage. Mostly all bolt on stuff and paint. They make great value if you can do most of the work and keep them.

Don't buy them w/o seeing firsthand prior to the repair.

jettawreck said:

It does not take much damage to "total" a car, even a fairly new one.

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Absolutely true !!!

When I had a collision on my (then) 20-month-old 2003 Jetta, the insurance paid out over C$9000 to a local dealership for the repair. I don't think there was a single structural element that had been compromised... Between airbags, seat belt igniters, a/b controller, dashboard, and the very few front-end parts (one headlight assembly, radiator support, etc.), not to mention the lousy paint job, that's what the total was... If a similar collision were to happen to my 2001 Golf right now, the insurance would total the car, but I'm sure that I could replace what would need replacing for a tiny fraction of that...

Just the economics (or lack of same) of the automobile repair and insurance industry...

Still, one wants to know who did the repair and how it was done...

Yuri.