zelig

Greetings,

I've found a 1995 Rx7 with a rebuilt/salvaged title. The guy claims that there's only 20K mi. on the vehicle (carfax verified) and he seems like an honest guy. The reason told to him for why it was issued a rebuilt/salvaged title was that the airbag, seats, rims, and tires were stolen.

I'm extremely wary and wouldn't consider purchasing this unless the price is right. So my questions to you are...

1. Assuming the car is in excellent condition, what would you pay for the vehicle?

2. Is it possible for a vehicle to be marked salvaged/rebuilt given the reasons cited above?

3. Do you know of any warranty companies that might be willing to cover this car given its title history? (I know most extended warranty companies won't cover cars with salvaged/rebuilt titles, if at all.)

4. Do the 95 RX7s have the same problems with turbos/engines going bad? If so, statistically, when should I expect them to go? Is there anything I can do to avoid this? How much would the mods cost and do you know of any websites detailing the modification procedures?


Thanks for your time...



Cheers and Regards,


Zelig

Tim McCreary

1. Dealer pays 1/2 of non reconstructed value. $15,000 tops. Good deal at around $12,000. (IN my opinion)

2. YES. If the car was "totaled" soon after initial production, it would be reasonably difficult to order parts and extremely expensive. I have heard of cars being totaled for having the seats only stolen. The replacement seat cost more than the car was worth and it was totaled. Also, body damage can cause total depending on who and where the estimate was written. Some smaller shops charge $28-45 per hour labor. Other specialty or high value shops charge $75-100 per hour labor. A car like this could be totaled if a tree limb falls on the roof and the car is written up for a new roof replacement with high labor rates. Another shop would be able to do the same job without totaling the car. (my brother is a VERY GOOD, VERY WELL PAID Frame-tech for local Mazda dealer).

3. NO IDEA.

4. All 93-95 had the same problems with engine failures. This is due to design short-sighted ideas like pre-cat, vacuum hose nightmares, marginal engine cooling capacities, etc. Definitely read the following website for information.

http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobinette/

Many of the computer problems with engines and trannys were 93-94 years. Many of the bugs worked out by the 95 year.

Let me know what they are asking for the vehicle. Email me at mccreary@cove.net I would love to know how much.

Hope you can get it. The way I see it, any RX7 R or good title, is still a great car.

Tim McCreary

DK

iTrader: (5)

I was about to offer some advice until I read your question #4. Based on that question, DO NOT buy that car. DO NOT consider buying an RX-7 because it's quite clear that you don't know the ins and and very long list of outs that accompany ownership of an FD.

Anyways, I'm not believing the salvage title reason ... why exactly would someone steal just the wheels, seats, and airbag? Stealing an airbag?! Sounds to me like the airbag was deployed in an accident. Actually, since it's a 95, both airbags.

zelig

DK:

Chill out man. I am obviously well aware of the problems that exist with 3rd Gen FDs. If you notice my question was specific to the 1995 model. The bulk of my research has been done on the 93 model as their resale is in my budget. This is the only 95' I've looked at because of its low cost.

At any rate, thanks for the tips and your time.


Regards,

Zelig

Tim McCreary

DK,

One of the newer scams in car thieft is to steal major components, store them, track the car, then buy the car back off of an insurance company after the car has been totaled. (at a local insurance auction). Original parts are reinstalled, car is moved to another state that doesn't track R titles, and the car is sold as a very good used car. It was on 60 minutes a few months back.

zelig,

I forgot to add to have the car taken to a good shop and pay to have the bodyman or frame-tech check the frame dimensions for any deviations. Should only cost you setup-time, maybe $100. A good tech can look at the telltale signs and let you know if he sees anything out of the ordinary without racking the car on the frame machine. Check for overspray, check for fender bolts that have been unbolted and paint chipped off, check for unusual wrinkles in the frame rails, etc.

Tim

zelig

Tim,


Thanks for the tips and your time. It is VERY MUCH appreciated. I do plan to have the car inspected throughly.



Thanks and Regards,

Zelig

Nameless

There is a difference between salvaged, and rebuilt from my understanding. You can have a rebuilt title, w/o salvaged. I saw this it once on a carfax report. I assume a rebuild would be better than salvaged right? Anyway good luck!

silvr94r2

iTrader: (3)

DK: your ? as to why would someone steal an airbag.......boy,you haven't been around many shady people huh? The airbag is very big on the list of things to steal. An airbag usually goes for around $600+.....x2=$1200+.....stock wheels $1200-1500.....stock seats $1200+....x2=$2400....total around $5 to 6 grand. Lot's of people steal car's just for there airbags......

Sounds to me like this one was a in-house job A little too much like the street book of how to do an insur. job

These are just my opinions......I'm not accusing anyone of anything. Just giving a little info on some stories I've heard.

zelig

I think DK's gotten the point.

Any more thoughts?

dhg11

I bought a 93 salvage titled R1 for $8200. It had 75,000 miles on it. It did not have a rebuilt title. The car runs great and so far I've only had the typical nagging FD3 related problems ( cracked vacuums, clunking hatch/suspension, lousy red paint, bubbling brake lines, dome light peeling off, etc.. ). Surprisingly the R1 seats look and feel brand new, the dash is not peeling, and engine compression checked out high. I used to have a lower mileage, clean titled, 94 PEP that exhibited more problems than this. If you're planning on keeping the car then I'd say go for it. If you plan on selling it in a year or two I'd recommend against buying salvaged. Your resell value and bargaining leverage with the car won't be in your benefit. I plan on keeping my 93 for a LONG time as a track racing project car and hobby so resell value was not an issue for me. Typical 93 R1's in the San Francisco Bay Area go anywhere from 12,000 to absurdly high 20,000 so I feel that I got a good bargain.

zelig

Thanks DHG...

Did you have any problems getting full insurance coverage?



Forum: Any other thoughts?

dhg11

Nope. not problems getting insurance coverage - (full coverage).

badass7

Let me give you an example of this very same situation. I was looking into getting an FD with salvage title. It only had 23k miles as well!!! I passed on it and another local ended up getting it. Well....just a year after he now has had his engine changed, turbos, transmission, radiator, radiator fans and I may have missed a few things but he said that his warranty company has paid a total of $18 k for repairs....NOT shitting you! I can even give you his email address if you would like to talk to him. If I were you I would walk away....no....Run away from this car!!

zelig

I'm sure every rebuilt is different, though risky nonetheless. I would like to talk with him if you don't mind... There are a few things specific to rebuilt/salvaged cars that I would like to get advice on. So if you don't mind, please send me his E-mail address.

stevenjhahn@home.com

Mr. Belvi

Trust me, it is very hard to sell a car with a salvaged title. If down the line you do choose to sell the car, you will be hard pressed to find someone that is willing to buy one with such a title. Think of all the questions and reservations that you have about buying a salvaged title car right now, when you try to sell it, those same things will be going through the next buyers head.

You would be better off buying a used one with a blown engine and rebuilding it than to buy one with a salvaged title. As always, have the cars frame checked out to see if it actually has been in an accident. One easy way to tell is by the engine bay, if it's the original paint and the bolts around the frame still have all paint on them (doesn't look like a wrench had been taken to it) then that probably means that it wasn't in an accident. Take it to a 3rd party mechanic that has nothing to gain by looking at your car and see what they say.

Now to answer your questions....

1. If the car was in perfect condition I would not buy the car, just because of that salvaged title on it. I had an Integra LS with only 55k on it, that had a salvaged title, eventhough it looked better than it did when it was new, it was a lot harder to sell at the end. You really have to find someone that wants the car bad enough to not care what has happened to it, and you will learn that is no easy task.

2. It is possible for it to be marked salvaged for theft. But it depends on the type of theft, such as when the car was found if it was driveable. If the wheels and airbag were taken off, the insurance company might consider that undriveable, or if the car was taken away for any length of time. My moms car got stolen for 3 days, when we got it back it had no problems with it at all, but it still has a salvage title on it now.

The theft of an airbag is not uncommon, but the theft of seats, airbag and wheels at the same time is. Think of how much time it would take to remove all of those things, they could have just taken the entire car in that time. Safest thing for you to do is call the Police department where the report was filed and ask. It won't hurt to ask about this and research before you buy. 9 times out of 10 if the guy is bullshitting you and you tell him you are going to research it further, he will come clean.

3. I am uncertain about this, but it would depend on the warrenty company. Best thing for you to do again is research it. Some warrenty companies don't even cover turboed cars, so I don't doubt there are ones out there that wouldn't cover cars with salvage titles because usually if a car has that title on it, it's an indicator that there might be problems in the future with that car.

4. The reason why you hear about less problems with 95's isn't because there were actually less problems, but because that was the year the least amount of FD's were sold. Of course you would hear about 93's having more problems than any other year, but that's because it's the same year that the most FD's were sold.

You really shouldn't expect anything to go wrong with the car provided you take care of it. Just do your regular oil changes every 3000 miles and add oil every 1500 miles, get rid of the pre-cat and put a downpipe in there, get a boost gauge as well. If you plan to modify the car any further, make sure you do the accompanying ecu upgrades. A rule of thumb would be any combination of 3 modifications (ie: intake/downpipe/cat-back or downpipe/midpipe/catback or intake/IC/cat-back...and so on), you need to get an ecu upgrade, or if you see that you are boosting more than 11-11.5psi. You don't get an ecu upgrade and you pretty much dig a grave for your car.

There are plenty of websites with modification orders and outlines, but you can check the archives here in this section for some info and you can buy parts from the RX-7 Store here as well.

zelig

Damn Lee... that's some solid advice - really appreciate it.


but hear this... I'm buying the car for around 12K. So it's already discounted about 40%, from retail, because of its rebuilt title. I've already had the car inpected by Edgar at Rotary World Miami. Per Rotary World, the car checked out cosmetically and mechanically. When asked to rate the car on a scale of 1-10, Edgar gave it a 9.5. He gave it a real comprehensive look over - he even checked for the airbags. What's more, compression in both chambers came out to 8.7 (Factory specs them at 8.5?). Talking with him really boosted my confidence.

At any rate, I plan to pretty much keep the car for ATLEAST 3 years. At that time, even if I can't sell the car, I only paid 12K... that comes out to only 4K a year and I'll still have the car with, at most, 50K mi.

In short, buying a salvaged car, even one that's been throughly inpected, is not advisable if you don't plan on keeping the car for an extended period of time. However, if do plan on keeping it, you can find yourself a pretty good deal. I also understand there are more risks associated with buying "rebuilt", but if you do your research like you've said, you can easily minimize them.

1993fd3sracer1

iTrader: (1)

i have a 1993 FD with rebuilt title but i also have full coverage insurance through gieco and the rear fender got messed up thats why it got rebuilt on it but a great body shop put a new rear quarter fender on it and its been 5 years now and still looks and drives great and i am now pushing 500hp to the wheels and still no probs with frame or anything do your research and if you want it get it its your life your fav car so dont let others pick for you you will never be happy that way so i say go for it

Gringo Grande

iTrader: (97)

Holy Necro! 10yr old thread! Is this a record?