I'm looking at a 2012 G37 Sport 6MT with a rebuilt title from a private seller asking a bit under $16k. Car looks beautiful in the photos, interior looks almost brand new. 4x,xxx miles. Seller says it was rear ended; he bought it salvage from a body shop; claims the accident wasn’t bad. "There are absolutely zero cosmetic/mechanical/or alignment issues I’ve seen or experienced. They did a damn good job repairing it."

I'm planning to go see it, and then take it to a dealer for a prepurchase inspection. I assume they will run the Carfax for me. How does a prepurchase inspection typically work--I mean, who takes the car to the dealer?

Any other thoughts? Fair price (it's within KBB range but that's not taking into account the title)? Thanks in advance.

 

From my years in the car business, we used to evaluate with with a simple formula:
Clean title - trade value according to condition
Damage Disclosure - 25% of clean trade value
Salvage - 50% of clean trade value

While there are exceptional examples of salvage title vehicles, it was salvage (total loss) for a reason. And, more importantly, unless you know the re-builder you really don't know how it was repaired or the quality of parts used for the repair. If you are capable, buying a salvage and repairing it yourself is a great option if you plan on keeping it as many are mostly cosmetic. However, that "unknown" factor with the diminishes the price, many lenders won't loan on them, and few warranty companies will cover them (generally).

Not saying this is a bad vehicle or poorly repaired, but for a salvage title, and the potential headaches when trading it in the future, you need to get a significant deal on the vehicle and if it's in the range for a clean title G, then look for one of those without a branded title.

My $0.02.

-Eric

 

Ah 16k is a bit up there for a salvage title, I wouldn’t pay more than 10k or lower

 

Thanks for the input! Its clear he's asking too much. The question is, how to value it. If I get an inspection and they give it the OK, I suppose I should still offer less than the blue book value (which is $12-16k ish).