Hi all. A few months ago my fiance got into a wreck in our old accord. It was totald by our insurance company. They gave us a very generous settlement, but took possession of the vehicle as part of it. We've been vehicleless since, but finally have our finance stuff in order and can purchase a vehicle.
Since then, I've spent probably way, way too much time and energy trying to decide on what vehicle to replace it with. I have a bit of an issue with analysis-paralysis, especially when it comes to purchases (the more expensive, the worse it is). This is the most expensive purchase I've made as an adult, our budget is roughly 14,000 with some wiggle room. Our financed amount is 10,000. This isn't my first rodeo when it comes to buying a vehicle though, I grew up going with my dad when he'd buy/sell cars which he did fairly regularly being a retired mechanic. I've helped past employers, friends, etc find and buy cars. I enjoy doing it to an extent.
However when it comes to myself and my fiance, It's been pretty bad. Though I attribute a lot of it to our financing situation only being resolved in the last week.
In anycase, I've gone from originally focusing pretty heavily on getting a TDI Beetle that I could flip through the buyback (was just a thought, a few months ago when I was researching. Didn't know about the settlement till then), Buick Regal/Verano, to a Kia Optima (12-13) SX/L Turbo, buying from Canada since it's hella cheaper up there, to Hyundai Sonata, to finding out we can't buy a canadian vehicle with our loan, to looking at TDIs again since they seem to be everywhere. To looking at Canadian cars again because our financing situation is resolved! All the while sometimes toying with the idea of buying a salvage auction vehicle.
Well, since our financing situation allows it, I've been more seriously looking at salvage vehicles. There are quite a few auction lots near me (PNW) which puts me in a fairly good position to purchase something from Copart or IAIA or whatever. I have no idea how to refurbish one myself, and would likely pay a shop to do it. I just want to know if anyone has experience with buying and refurbishing cars in general, at this point. What to look for when buying, what to write off completely, what to look for in a repair shop, how long it takes from lot -> fixed car, etc.
Getting a rebuilt title in WA is fairly straight forward, you need the title and an appointment to have a state trooper do an inspection. It doesn't cover any structural issues, just state/federal laws for lighting, exhausts, etc.
Thats not to say I want to get a piece of crap through inspection, this is something my fiance and I would be driving hopefully for 10+ years like our accord.
I've been looking at TDIs because I've found quite a few 15 TDI golfs with decent mileage, in or close to our price range. Especially after factoring in the secondary restitution check from the other modification.
Drove a few recently, including an unmodified '10 TDI Jetta we found the Monday after black Friday, we were pretty ecstatic because with the restitution + modification on it the car would only end up costing us ~8k instead of 14k which is nice when you're fairly poor (single income while I'm in school). In anycase, I liked the car. It accelerated nice, the engine was quiet, the interior was good (though the backseats weren't very comfortable), everything was in great shape. Some guy in HW bought it out from under us though while we were signing papers. Put 80% down over the phone. Guess he may have been a flipper?
After researching more thuroughly it seemed like the Jetta we had found then was basically a needle in a haystack, especially for it being local (and just down the road). I've since found unmodified TDIs but they've been all over the US, and really only a small handful that were truly unmodified and not just reporting that way.
This has gotten a bit away from me, as I was saying with salvage cars, finding an unmodified one (or modified for the 15 year ones) is a lot easier, though it's not a requirement of what we're doing. We're not looking to flip stuff, it just presents an opportunity for a way for us to get a car that would normally be quite outside of our budget, well within it. It's hard to pass up, and is a similar situation to us looking at CA cars. Like the Optima SX's being ~11.5-13k USD In CA, versus same mile/year being 19-23k here.
The whole time of course in the back of my head I've had a voice telling me that we don't deserve to get a nice car, that we should just get something basic within our budget and be happy about for it. I can't really reconcile that with my logic/thinking brain though. "Why would we settle for something worse in every way when we can get something quite good potentially cheaper?" Is always my response. I guess it's just some kind societal conditioning about being poor and having nice things being incompatible.
Huh, this is a very long post. Sorry about the live-journal entry here.
I guess the tl;dr is this: Is buying an auction salvage to refurb for personal use, a bad idea? Does anyone here buy/refurbish salvage cars? What should we look out for? Is getting the restitution/modification on a rebuilt car difficult?
Should we just try to get a clean '15, and take that restitution for part two?
Should we try to find an unmodified clean TDI?
Is buying a Canadian TDI a bad idea?
Thanks for reading. if you made it this far hats off. Also to any moderation who may read this: Apologies if this is the wrong forum, I realize it is a long post but since my question(s) aren't super specific I wasn't positive where to put it!
Since then, I've spent probably way, way too much time and energy trying to decide on what vehicle to replace it with. I have a bit of an issue with analysis-paralysis, especially when it comes to purchases (the more expensive, the worse it is). This is the most expensive purchase I've made as an adult, our budget is roughly 14,000 with some wiggle room. Our financed amount is 10,000. This isn't my first rodeo when it comes to buying a vehicle though, I grew up going with my dad when he'd buy/sell cars which he did fairly regularly being a retired mechanic. I've helped past employers, friends, etc find and buy cars. I enjoy doing it to an extent.
However when it comes to myself and my fiance, It's been pretty bad. Though I attribute a lot of it to our financing situation only being resolved in the last week.
In anycase, I've gone from originally focusing pretty heavily on getting a TDI Beetle that I could flip through the buyback (was just a thought, a few months ago when I was researching. Didn't know about the settlement till then), Buick Regal/Verano, to a Kia Optima (12-13) SX/L Turbo, buying from Canada since it's hella cheaper up there, to Hyundai Sonata, to finding out we can't buy a canadian vehicle with our loan, to looking at TDIs again since they seem to be everywhere. To looking at Canadian cars again because our financing situation is resolved! All the while sometimes toying with the idea of buying a salvage auction vehicle.
Well, since our financing situation allows it, I've been more seriously looking at salvage vehicles. There are quite a few auction lots near me (PNW) which puts me in a fairly good position to purchase something from Copart or IAIA or whatever. I have no idea how to refurbish one myself, and would likely pay a shop to do it. I just want to know if anyone has experience with buying and refurbishing cars in general, at this point. What to look for when buying, what to write off completely, what to look for in a repair shop, how long it takes from lot -> fixed car, etc.
Getting a rebuilt title in WA is fairly straight forward, you need the title and an appointment to have a state trooper do an inspection. It doesn't cover any structural issues, just state/federal laws for lighting, exhausts, etc.
Thats not to say I want to get a piece of crap through inspection, this is something my fiance and I would be driving hopefully for 10+ years like our accord.
I've been looking at TDIs because I've found quite a few 15 TDI golfs with decent mileage, in or close to our price range. Especially after factoring in the secondary restitution check from the other modification.
Drove a few recently, including an unmodified '10 TDI Jetta we found the Monday after black Friday, we were pretty ecstatic because with the restitution + modification on it the car would only end up costing us ~8k instead of 14k which is nice when you're fairly poor (single income while I'm in school). In anycase, I liked the car. It accelerated nice, the engine was quiet, the interior was good (though the backseats weren't very comfortable), everything was in great shape. Some guy in HW bought it out from under us though while we were signing papers. Put 80% down over the phone. Guess he may have been a flipper?
After researching more thuroughly it seemed like the Jetta we had found then was basically a needle in a haystack, especially for it being local (and just down the road). I've since found unmodified TDIs but they've been all over the US, and really only a small handful that were truly unmodified and not just reporting that way.
This has gotten a bit away from me, as I was saying with salvage cars, finding an unmodified one (or modified for the 15 year ones) is a lot easier, though it's not a requirement of what we're doing. We're not looking to flip stuff, it just presents an opportunity for a way for us to get a car that would normally be quite outside of our budget, well within it. It's hard to pass up, and is a similar situation to us looking at CA cars. Like the Optima SX's being ~11.5-13k USD In CA, versus same mile/year being 19-23k here.
The whole time of course in the back of my head I've had a voice telling me that we don't deserve to get a nice car, that we should just get something basic within our budget and be happy about for it. I can't really reconcile that with my logic/thinking brain though. "Why would we settle for something worse in every way when we can get something quite good potentially cheaper?" Is always my response. I guess it's just some kind societal conditioning about being poor and having nice things being incompatible.
Huh, this is a very long post. Sorry about the live-journal entry here.
I guess the tl;dr is this: Is buying an auction salvage to refurb for personal use, a bad idea? Does anyone here buy/refurbish salvage cars? What should we look out for? Is getting the restitution/modification on a rebuilt car difficult?
Should we just try to get a clean '15, and take that restitution for part two?
Should we try to find an unmodified clean TDI?
Is buying a Canadian TDI a bad idea?
Thanks for reading. if you made it this far hats off. Also to any moderation who may read this: Apologies if this is the wrong forum, I realize it is a long post but since my question(s) aren't super specific I wasn't positive where to put it!
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