I'm looking to pick up my 4th FD next week. The one i'm currently looking for is a 1993
with 169,744 Miles on the chassis and 15k on a rebuilt engine. It's a Ca registered salvage fd.

Exterior




Interior



The seller wants 10k for the car, but with the title I'm wondering if its worth that.
Or would it be better to continue my search?

 

I believe that's a reasonable price for a rebuilt FD. Rebuilt cars generally go 3-5K less that clean title ones in this class (sport/compact). I can't recall the exact number but bodyshops usually have a percentage figure by which they decrease the price of a rebuilt car. Some high end mercedes go for a much as 10K below the value if it is rebuilt/ has rebuilt title.

The car looks very clean, from what I can see in the pics the paint looks great, over all I think it's a nice car, I'd say it's worth it, especially since it has a freshly rebuilt motor. Locally, 93-94 Fd's go for $15-18K Canadian, with rebuilt title and over 150K miles on original motors (kinda makes me wonder how much longer it will last). I think it's like $12-14K US.

Did you look through the classifieds on here? I don't remember but I think I saw a couple FD's a while ago for something like $12K with clean title. In my opinion as long as it has been fixed right, it is fine, just a piece of paper says that it was rebuilt. I've been driving rebuilt cars ever since I had my licence and never had any problems. (I did drive one new minivan).

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I still say the price is reasonable.

 

well, i bought my FD a few months ago for 10,500 with >3k on a rebuild 135k and no stereo. So I think that that's a little steep for a salvage title car.

 

"169,744 Miles" for 10 grand and a salvage title. Yikes!

Seems really high to me.

 

I think the previous owner of that car is on this forum..

 

Yeah, it's high. I got mine for $10k with a clean title, 125k miles chassis, 40k motor, 2k turbos... & a crappy paint job...

 

a better question to ask the seller is why does it have a salvage title. more than likely is was in a fender bender, or a theft recovery(although the title would sometimes say its a theft recovery) and stripped interior or something... its better to ask the seller to be up fron with the car and tell you why its a salvaged title. if you really like the car and if it drives fine for you i dont think you should worry.

oh BTW, sometimes when ppl repaint(complete color change), replaced blown engine, fender bender ended up having to replace entire front end, they calim on the insurance and the insurance sompany will have the title as salvaged or rebuilt.


just ask the guy, take it for a drive...and decide

 

The car would probably be fine... until it comes time for YOU to sell it (which will EVENTUALLY happen)...

Cars with salvaged titles will get less $$ & much less interest from buyers. So if you're buying the car with a salvaged title... you should get a discount of a couple thousand $$s

 

For some people a salvage title price difference means the difference between being able to afford a certain model, or not.

I had a salvaged titled Lamborghini that was in "perfect" condition. Drove the **** out of it for over 5 years and sold it exactly for what I paid for. Having said that, $10K is not a lot if the car is kept up, aging/worn parts replaced, paint/interior is nice. Many of us could buy a non-salvaged car for thousands more and pour many more thounsand into replacing those aging parts, paint and interior.

I'd say, if you love the car, looks good and runs good, go for it and have the pleasure of driving it. I hardly ever go into an enthusiast car purchase with the worry on how much higher or lower I would be able to sell it in the future. The nature of this hobby is that most of the time we'll loose or spend a lot of money on our cars over the years than you could ever expect to get back at the time of sale.

Albert

 

But since this is would be his 4th FD... he may not hold on to it for very long before getting the urge to sell it & buy something different...

 

Negotiate!

 

its ok if your going to keep the car but resale will be for far less. so don't expect to recover your money. just enjoy the car

Jeff

 

This is the email I wrote to him:

Buyer,

We never really got around to the nature of the salvage title. Before I run a carfax I just wanted to know why the car was salvaged and all the reason behind it. I hope you understand my persistance it's just that I've bought salvage 7's before and I dont know how many of the owners have not been truely upfront about the "nature of the beast" so to speak.

-Are there any 5th gear syncro ( or any syncro) grinds?
When put into reverse is there a clunking sound? ( indicating toe
link or rear bushing issues)
-Does the ac work?
-Does the power work? i.e; power locks , power windows
-Is the key a spare of the original?
-Is the salvage due to front end damage, theft, fire, flood, or any combination
of the aforementioned?
-What condition was the car in when you obtained it?

Thanks,
Jay

 

I forgot some things like "what color exhaust smoke" or " is there any coolant leaking"?
I've already asked for a compression test from him, and he does have a boost controller so
I also asked him to check out the boost pattern as well.

 

& I had a salvaged FC vert (they stole the car then stripped interior). Never had problems with it except that the vert top leaked when it rained... but you just have to know that re-sell will probably be lower than the usual going price...

But since you say you've bought salvaged RX7s in the past... you know this...

 

I would not pay 10k for the salvaged title fd with the miles that are on it...I would offer something more in the 7500-8500 range.

 

Can anyone shoot me a carfax?

vin : JM1FD3316P0201531

And also I found out it's the second rebuild.

Hi Jay,

I have all the paper work from the first and second engine rebuild (first engine rebuild was with the previous owner). The engine and suspension were all changed back to stock (I had aftermarket parts but sold them to a friend). A compression test would be fine, but how would i go about taking one? Thanks.

Seller