I read through most of your FAQ about salvage titles, so I know you don't recommend buying any car with a salvage title. However, I frequently watch videos on YouTube about rebuilding cars and trucks that have been totaled in crashes and have salvage titles. The thing I can't figure out is if these guys are making any money. Mostly I look at Vehcor, Samcrac and Car Wizard, but there are others as well. Samcrac frequently buys high-end cars from Copart and it appears that he tries to repair them to a point for resale. Vehcor is hands down just the best body man I've ever seen as well as an excellent mechanic. I figure you've got to transpot it back to where you can work on it, that's an expense. I also figure that if you don't work on it yourself you'll quickly be loosing money on any resale. I also gather that some states have laws about rebuilding a vehicle with stolen parts and I figure there's ways around replacing air bags that have been deployed. My question is this: is this a good way to make money or not?
There is a tremendous amount of fraud that happens around these vehicles. It's just not worth the risk.
Not.
I see why you might be curious about it. But... Go look at Craig’s list and see how many people are already in on that hustle. A lot. So there is a lot of competition. Plus, one bad pick and you can wipe out your profits from half a dozen flips.
I only see 2 scenarios where it makes sense: 1) you are an experienced mechanic with good tools and you know where to get parts for cheap, or 2) you are doing it as a quasi hobby to get a back up car for personal use (or family/friends).
Frankly, I think you would make more money working part time at Autozone, selling parts to the flippers.
No. If we talking about buying vehicles that have been in crashes then that is not a good idea at all. Because when you replace an airbag, it's a liability- are you sure that it'll still work even with the airbag replacement and wiring if you got into another crash? If you buy a salvage title from a junk yard that hasn't been in a crash, then it's a completely different story.
I think the main drawback to this as a business venture is that in order to sell the vehicles and make a profit, you are at some point going to have to trick unsuspecting people into a major purchase. This is dishonest on a fundamental level and God knows we really don't need any more dishonest people in an already probably 50% dishonest business; auto repair.
Body work is expensive, and even more expensive to get it right.
IMHO, I think there are different tiers of salvage title, because a total for one car could be minor damage, and a total for another car could be catastrophic damage. I personally steer away from salvage title cars because I don’t know what I am doing. Some of those guys have the expertise and the connections to make a profit. But the rest of us don’t have the time, money, or inclination to take on such a feat at a profit.
