Going to look at rebuilt title RX7...Need some advice.
 

Hey guys, so I'm just starting to get into RX7s and just found one near me for sale. It is a '93 touring model with around 60k original on the chassis. The motor has a Greddy T66 and intercooler upgrade. The kicker is it has a bad title. The guys says that the original owner clipped someone in the rear which broke the wiring harness on the rx7. Since the car was new, a new harness was $7500 so the car was totaled out and the owner bought the car back and fixed it up. He is asking high $9k. He may even be reading this forum lol What are you opinions and what do you think? The car would need new paint, and overall all aesthetics. It's been sitting outside......

ok, more like what would this car be worth guys?

I would like to see the invoice for that $7.5k wiring harness.

If it was new why would $7500 total lost the car..

That's what I thought, but I think it will just be easier to see the damage in person. I'm going tomorrow to take a look. I see clean title 100k cars sell for 10-13k on here, so I'm thinking this thing is only worth 5-6K?

I bought a clean title 67k for 10k here

hmm...that makes me think this one is worth like 5k then...it appears to need some other work too, hasn't been driven in a year

I over paid for my car. Clean title, but found when dissasembling that it was hit. Sometimes a rebuilt title really means nothing, just a few dings. You really have to check it out to know what happened, measure the frame rails up, see if they are even on both sides.

the frame and front support is the biggest thing im concerned about, especially if the car was involved in a front accident

Also check the quality of the repair work. on my car they made a plate in the shape of the frame rail to reinforce it, and the skill of the welder was incredible which made me feel better. If you can tell the repair wasn't a botch job then you can be confident in the car while negotiating.

thanks! the issue is these cars are already money-pits when not taken care of properly and this car will need some work. Originally, the greddy turbo was the first thing to go on but they never did the intercooler upgrade... plus the car has been sitting so I'm figuring the engine may need a rebuild, plus the 1000's in exterior work it needs...hmm I'll just have to see it in person and figure it out then.

I overpaid for mine aswell, was told it just needed a tune and it ended up being a bad engine..
buy it then come trade it for my rx8..

In my opinion a salvage title car is always worth less, maybe $2k to $5k less, maybe more. It just depends. The problem is, regardless of what happened to cause the insurance company to salvage the car, and it could be something non mechanical like hail damage or a theft recovery the next buyer will always wonder why the car was salvaged and how bad the damage was (or still is). So while you may feel comfortable with the story and that the fix is satisfactory you will get less when you go to sell it.

It looks like you know that based on your earlier post. But you can see how the stories can grow and feed the uncertainty. Totaling a fairly new $32,000 car for a $7500 electrical harness. It's too bad there isn't an official way to document salvage damage so future owners know what went transpired.

Good luck.

Thank you, your post has definitely made me think. I will of course always wonder if that was the only thing that caused the title to be bad. Of course with it being front damage it could have weakened the front supports significantly which could cost be a lot in the end or even my life if I wreck.... I do plan on racing my FD significantly when I buy one ( there is a local track to me that has many open race days- no SCCA license needed) so this could very much be a deciding factor. FD's are just so hard to place a value on, since there just aren't that many out there being bought and sold.

Just remember that you can get a regular titled FD for about the same price. Salvage title kills the resell value of the car, I currently own a salvage titled 3000gt. Ive had the car for two years and its been a very good car, it never breaks and drives well. Not all salvage titled cars are junk but all salvage titled car are worth significantly less.

In your case it sounds like not only is it salvaged but it needs plenty of work and doesnt run. All this added together should result in a cheap FD.

Think about how much it would cost to fix it the way you want it and add that to his asking price. You could be stuck with spending 15k plus on your FD and you have a salvage title or you could get a good FD if you wait for the same price.

That's another good point. You end up putting another $10k to $15k in the car and you end up with a $20k car that's worth maybe $5k to $7k because of the title.

Too bad you're not near Albuquerque...

http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/2340772021.html

I have of course in the past bought project cars and invested wayyyy more money into them that has resulted in me losing a significant amount when it came time to sell. The one thing I notice about FDs for sale on here is that it seems i can get a clean title one that needs nothing but a drive home for around 10-13k, plus people can usually vouch for one and other. I know this car will need 2-3k in aesthetics, and much more mechanically. However, I'm about to go look at it, so I think I'll provide some pictures to give the thread a better idea.

IMO that car is worth as much as a roller. Body is bad, engine hasn't been fired up in a year, and to top it off it has a salvage tittle.

If it was me I'd walk away. Even when these cars have been well taken cared of, they still can be a handful.

pics would help, they don't total a 30K car for a $7500 wiring harness ($7500 would have to be parts an labor, BTW the most expensive harness is like $3k).

it also sounds like the car is a pile of crap regardless of the title

Run for the hills. Sounds like the current owner has alreaday lied many times, thats always a bad sign.

You can find great, reasonably low mileage, fd's for 10-12k. Look nation wide, shipping will cost 1k or less. Worth it to have a broader choice.

I'm going tomorrow to take a look at it ( was supposed to go today but it rained) I'll have good pics then, but I have a link to pictures the owner provided me.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1029599...49712417013682

To me that car doesnt look so bad. I dont see any signs of repair work on the engine bay, and the body desnt look that bad, excluding tail lights. In all it might look better than my car, (kinda upsets me actually).

haha the tail lights are pretty bad..it def looks like original paint to me. As you can see it will just need all that bodywork...hopefully it will look better tomorrow in person!

It sounds like it's stolen and he probably welded in a new vin number plate or something. Run away fast.

for 10k I wouldn't buy it.