The other day I was driving home, and passed a wrecked miata. Basically spun it on the 401, and bashed in all the panels. This, of course, got me thinking...

That car is likely going to be a write-off, but it still has good mechanicals. What happens to those cars if the owner doesn't buy them back? Where do they go? How can you buy them? Do you need to be a scrap yard?

 

From what I understand and have witnessed....

The owner of the vehicle has the option to purchse the damaged vehicle with salvage or repairable titles from their insurance company after they settle. For instance... I had a truck written off by a woman that came in to my lane. The adjustor offered me $1200 in damages. I said come take another look, he then offered me $1700, I said come take ANOTHER look (it had just been painted, etc. and he offered me $2400 to get me off his back. I inquired how much it would cost me to keep the truck with title and he said the salvage cost was $275. I bought it, and turned around and sold it as is to a gentleman for $1500. So in reality I received $3700 for a truck that they offered me $1700 for initially.

As for vehichles along the road/at an accident scene/abandoned I write down the VIN and pay the ministry $10 to do a search that provides me with the name of the owner. A little investigating and many phone calls later usually produces the owner and I approach him/her about purchasing their car. I've done it twice.

 

racerjason has it pretty much down pat!

I've done this once or twice as well.

there are also junkyards and auctions that specialize in selling "wrecked" vehicles.

 

Well from what I understand, the vehicles that the insurance company pays the customer for all go to the "impact auto auction" which is a real auction. Only registered motor vehicle dealers can attend these auction. The titles are all SUPPOSED to be branded now, so the vehicles do not appear back on the road as a undamaged or written vehicle. If you look at the top of a recent vehicle ownership in Ontario, the work "brand" is there, followed normally by the work none. It looks like this on an ownership "brand-none". So if you are buying back the vehicles, the insurance company is not supposed to do that!

 

That's kind of what I figured. Now if only I knew a registered dealer who could keep an eye out for mechanically sound wrecks.

 

FD / NSX shopping?

 

I see the impact truck hauling wrecks up to the auction all the time. And yes you do have to have a special license to purchase their cars.

 

DON'T! buy a wrecked NSX, no matter HOW nice it looks or HOW sweet the deal is...

ask jordan why...

 

I had a friend with a similar experience! A replacement door cost him $15K.... before paint! Wrecked NSX's are fine for parts - but they are hugely expensive to make them road worthy again.

 

Nope, Fine tuning the business plan.

 

I have a knack for buying wrecks......now if only I had KNOWN they were wrecks before I bought them........

 

I hear that man.

 

I have a knack for selling wrecks.

Want to buy an Audi Wagon?

 

Thats why the system is in place with the insurance companies. I am a regisitered dealer and I WOULDNT buy a wreck even for a friend. If that serial number ever found the road again and was not branded, it would be my licence that would go POOF!

 

Not even if you got to keep the vin plate?

 

I do a lot of collision repairs for enterprise rent a car, if you were ever looking to buy a wreck to fix as a little go getter, lemme tell ya they write off some pretty chinsey ****. ex. 2005 toyota camry, 9,000 kms - hit in the rear $2,300 damage - written off, sent to impact auction - that car would have been a nice cheap driver, basically no miles and obviously the cost to ACTUALLY repair is less than the estimate (i do run a business here right?) so say for 8-10 grand you could have a BRAND NEW driver...........seems like a good idea

the only problem is unless you know a good shop with a structural saftey license (cough cough cough, ahem)then you're dead in the water because a vehicle with a branded title CANNOT be put back on the road unless it has a structural saftey, and if someone else does the repairs and then you try to get the structural sfatey - you are fucked - because in order to do one the license holder must have documentation of the repairs ie. HAVE DONE THE REPAIRS AT THEIR SHOP, so really its a lot of work to save couple bucks and in the end the car is worth dick anyway because the title becomes SALVAGE once the vehicles structural has been ok'd.

 

After working for Budget for a summer, I'd seriously advise anyone against buying an ex-rental. Not only were these cars seriously abused by their hundreds of drivers, but the Jockeys treated them as go-karts. These cars have been put through hell and back, and there is ZERO maintenance done.

The cars are driven for 40,000kms and then sold. Their first oil change is done at..... 40,000kms. Otherwise the oil is just topped up as needed. The paint also gets seriously abused as well - constant car washes in the old-style brush washes!

I guess a 9,000km camry for cheap is about the best deal you can get for a rental car, but a Taurus with 42,000kms is trouble!

 

You guys think I am trying to rebuild. Not the case.

I am only looking for a reasonably priced source for engines, transmissions, and suspension components. As far as I am concerned, the structure is just a shipping container!

 

What happened to that guy?

 

I have NO idea... I've been trying to contact him for months now. he lost interest in rx7's a while back and last I knew he was going back to china, not sure if it happened or what... hope not, he was cool