Oh, go ahead, put Bruce in it.

On Fri Apr 15 17:39 , BenT Syncro  sent:

>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 [vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com','','','')">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
>>>> 
>>> 

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