Guilty as charged. I'm putting this Vanagon back on the street w/o putting in the airbags! ;-)

BenT

sent from my electronic leash

On Apr 15, 2011, at 4:53 PM, Jeff Schwaia <vw.doka@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Actually, insurance companies will total at 75% of value.  And they usually
> use a "worse-case scenario" for repair costs.
> 
> Go to the salvage auctions sometime (IAAI or Copart), you'll see some pretty
> nice, late model cars with minor front-end damage.  Problem is... the
> airbags were deployed, and airbags are expensive!  So are the dash covers
> that were split open when they deployed.
> 
> This leads to another big problem here in California (elsewhere too, I'm
> sure)... people buy these easy-to-fix cars and make them pretty again.  Only
> problem is that they decide not to replace the airbags.  This is really
> common here in Sacramento in the "undercover" Russian auto industry.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Jeff
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Roland
> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 4:11 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Would you buy this salvage title Vanagon?
> 
> I think it depends completely on how old the car was when it was salvaged.
> Salvage most often means that the cost of the repairs were more than the
> value of the vehicle, and the insurance company chooses the lowest cost
> option to pay the owner the current fair market value rather than pay for
> repairs.
> 
> If a Vanagon was salvaged when it was already 15-20 years old, that is no
> big deal.  If it is worth $3,500 and the repair estimate was $3,900 then it
> is salvaged.  If you consider simply repaint costs for a commercial body
> shop, then it probably didn't have much damage.
> 
> If a 2008 Mercedes was salvaged, it must have been twisted and contorted
> beyond belief.
> 
> The insurance company always makes their repair estimate quite high;
> estimates are made from simple inspection, thus they worry a great deal
> about the risk of unforeseen problems discovered during the repair process.
> 
> We salvaged 2 cars in the last 3 years (both of them created by my beautiful
> offspring).
> - Porsche 968 (my other DD besides the Vanagon).  Insurance would not repair
> it, they offered me about $12,500.  I bought it back on salvage for $1,460,
> repaired it (mostly cosmetic / light mechanical) for about $3,200 (including
> tools), pocketed the rest, and now have a very nice car back to how it was
> (although I know resale will be lower with salvage title).
> 
> - My son's 4 Runner:  Insurance offered $6,500, we bought it back for $750,
> repaired for about $1,200 and pocketed the rest (I should add it is not back
> to before, there are some dents he has to live with).  This is basically a
> discard car, so no point in bringing it back to perfect.
> 
> The buyback price is what the insurance company estimates they would get for
> the damaged hulk at auction.
> 
> Like Jeffrey said, the process in California is a pain but not hard or
> expensive:
> go to DMV and start the papers get temp permit, pay $
> then "brake and light test" at a certified shop,
> then DMV inspection (not much, does it have a horn and 4 wheels?)
> then smog test,
> then back to DMV turn in old plates and get new plates.
> 
> Salvaged isn't such a big deal depending on what the buyer can determine
> about the vehicle history.  We have pictures and all the paper trail so we
> can illustrate to a potential buyer what was wrong during the accident.  And
> they can thus choose if the "salvageness" is something they care about or
> not.
> 
> Roland
> 
> On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 3:25 PM, Jeffrey Vickers
> <jeff@vickersdesign.com>wrote:
> 
>> BenT
>> 
>> The last time I went through the salvage thing here in CA was many
>> years ago with an old Nissan P/U that I had bought from a guy not
>> knowing it was salvage (DOH!).
>> 
>> The paperwork was no big deal but the CA inspection was. I had to
>> replace all the tail light lenses and one headlight, fix the horn and
>> get the headlights adjusted to pass inspection. It was a pain. You
>> can't have a single crack in any lens or glass anywhere on the vehicle
>> or you will fail. Not a huge expense just more of a PITA.
>> 
>> Jeff in Marin
>> On Apr 15, 2011, at 11:17 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>> 
>> Date:    Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:56:51 -0400
>>> From:    Bill Glenn <idahobill@GMAIL.COM>
>>> 
>>> Subject: Re: Would you buy this salvage title Vanagon?
>>> 
>>> On Fri, 15 Apr 2011 09:22:45 -0700, BenT Syncro <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> ...Would you devalue to buy such a thing because of the resulting
>>> salvage
>>> 
>>> title...
>>> 
>>> Ben,
>>> Rules vary from state to state, but I have encountered the
>>> requirement that
>>> if repaired rather than scrapped, a vehicle carring a salvage title
>>> must be
>>> inspected for completeness of repairs to insure road worthiness
>>> prior to
>>> registration. I have been told that his can be a rather thorough
>>> inspection, such that things that could normally be mutually ignored
>>> by the
>>> seller and buyer of a used car, might have to be repaired (a cracked
>>> windshield or a slightly damaged body panel comes to mind).
>>> 
>>> Further, for a vehicle that carries a salvage title, many if not most
>>> insurance companies will only offer liability insurance, even if the
>>> vehicle has been fully repaired.  I think the view is that if the
>>> previous
>>> damage was sufficent enough to warrant a salvage title, the insurance
>>> companies do not want anything to do with possible future repairs,
>>> perhaps
>>> because repairs could be complicated by the previous repair work.
>>> 
>>> I know you said the vehicle in question has not been in a collision,
>>> but an
>>> insurance company will likely not being inspecting your van, but
>>> will go by
>>> what the title says.  And that's the very purpose of a salvage
>>> title, to
>>> put others on notice that some major event has taken place that may
>>> well
>>> compromise the integrity of the vehicle (think flood-damaged cars
>>> being
>>> cleaned up and resold to unsuspecting buyers).
>>> 
>>> To save the van you must add value in carrying out the repairs, and
>>> a buyer
>>> who wishes to insure that value against possible loss will likely
>>> pass on
>>> the purchase if he cannot do so.
>>> 
>>> For these reasons, a vehicle carrying a salvage title generally
>>> appeals to
>>> few buyers, and intrinsically carries a lower value as a result.
>>> 
>>> Bill
>>> 
>>