Simple question but the answer could be complicated.

If you had the time and mechanical knack, would buying a salvage title JK.
Initially the jeep would be a secondary (tertiary driver) with the possibility of it becoming primary if build/ rebuild went well.


Second aside from the resale complications are there any others? Insurance?

 

As a beater Jeep or something modified to the point where it'd only see trails and nothing else? Sure. As a Jeep you'd wanna to DD? No.

 

depends on why it has a salvage title imo.

 

Hard to sell because most banks will not loan on a salvage title.

If you can get into it cheaply, I would say sure.

I have an 03 SVT Cobra that was stolen and center punched a telephone pole. I had bought it and had it shipped from Texas to me in Pittsburgh. The car had 14K miles on it and already had about $25,000 in mods on it. My father and I stripped the front clip and rebuilt it and it has been a street legal 10 second toy that we have had for 6 years now. Since the rebuild, it's never had an issue. We have around $16,000 total invested, it has 25,000 miles on it now. Getting it inspected was the biggest thing, you have to go to a special salvage inspection station and have the vehicle deemed repaired to like new condition before you can get registration and stuff in PA. It's a bit of a PITA, but we got it done. I would do it again. To buy a clean, low mileage Terminator would have cost us around $25K-$30K and then we would have still needed to spend the additional $25K in parts to make it a drag car. So we are into it way lower doing it this way. We don't care about re-sell value.

If you want to sell, your looking for a person with cash in hand who trusts your work. I would want to keep it at around 25% of the normal value and know that I could get it all done at around 50% of the normal value.

 

ive done many salvage jks as daily drivers... it really depends on why it was salvaged... banks will loan on a savaged vehicle.. but not usually the full amount.. but you can find some great deals for sure if you know what you are doing.. never any issues with insurance. cant be a great way to save more money for mods if you find a good one

 

Great info.

Thanks

 

Very interesting angle. How do,you find salvage vehicles?

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In connection with salvage title sometimes there is Flood damage.

I know the issues with most flood damaged cars however given the nature of jeep usage which sometimes involves fording waters deep enough to flood. (With use of a snorkel ).


Do the standard flood warning carry the same weight as a non-jeep?

Trashed carpets and seats are not a big deal. Even doors can be found for cheap (or taken off completely).

I would think the wiring and electronics might be a little more resistant?


Any additional insight would be great.
(I would loathe to do a full engine breakdown - but if the price is great - that could be easy enough to get a great rig)

 

Scratch the flood: Seems jeeps are no more flood resistant than any other vehicle. Definitely something I don't want to dig into.

 

I've done several salvage title vehicles. When I buy one, I always look at them in person. My current JK is salvage, and will eventually get a new frame. It's more work, but it's getting moded pretty heavily. Will make it easier for the suspension mods when the time comes. My BMW was a salvage with very minimal damage. I bought a complete front clip, and took all the parts I needed to repair it. Much cheaper than buying individual pieces. Probably why it was salvaged in the first place. JK is not a daily driver, BMW was.