A 93 Salvage title that I found on craigslist

"This vehicle has a manual transmission. I purchased this vehicle as a theft recovery - the odometer, seats and wheels were missing and are from a different vehicle. There are a few more misc things that are missing ie: roofliner, etc.. see pics. The odometer shows 44000miles. This car runs and drives."

What kinds of questions should I ask since he doesn't know the mileage?

 

You gonna fix it or part it?

 

I would fix it. Is it not worth it?

 

you didn't post a price so how can anyone know if it's worth it!?

anyway don't spend more than 7 or 8k on a salvage title car in that kind of condition, unless the engine bay is spotless and the thing has fantastic vacuum at idle.

ideally if the fixing project goes to **** you want to be able to part it for at least what you bought it for.

 

He's asking 7.
I was wonder if I should offer him way less.
The engine looks clean.

 

The engine looks really clean. I tend to look at an engine bay and the interior to reflect in "usage." This car looks to be a 44k car. The most important things that can be done would be a compression test and hydrocarbon test. Anything more or less than that is aesthetics...

 

I say offer 4

 

If he's asking $7k I doubt very seriously he'll even consider $4k. Besides, I'd think it was worth what he's asking, probably more if you were parting it out.

 

Offer 5 to test the waters and see his reaction. The second question is how much can you afford? Are you fixing it up? If so, what is your budget?

 

Run a carfax. Odo's been replaced, so without it you really don't know anything about the mileage.

 

what is fantastic vaccum at idle? Numbers?

 

i believe 16 in. is the norm.

but it would be better to just get the compression tested. this will really help determine if its worth the money

 

Here's the car fax report.

Does this mean the car has been crashed before?

 

I will offer 3.5 k

 

IMO, I wouldn't bother with the car unless you plan to gut it and make it a dedicated track/autoX car. The reason is, you'll quickly spend more money on it than it's going to be worth since it's a Salvage.

If you can't afford to purchase an FD in the $14-16k, then you'll probably have financial issues later trying to maintain one.

 

Looks like its been salvaged several times in different states.

 

it would be a bit of a headfuck, i would just spend the extra 3K and get a more mainstream car

 

i wouldnt mess with that car, save more money and buy a better one

 

So mazdadude was dead on before the car fax....

 

stolen cars are often re-titled salvage because no one knows what they do to them.