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Buying a Salvage Title GTI

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Jarred767

Ready to race!
Did a little research on here and it doesn't seem to have been discussed much. I'm looking for a MK6, but have a fairly limited budget (up to $10-11k) and am considering being open to rebuilt title cars to help in the search and curious on opinions. This '11 GTI has 63k miles, with upgraded wheels, exhaust, intake, headlights, carbon fiber wrapped roof and a few other small mods. Current owner bought it with the rebuilt title, and has no records as of why - which is the most frustrating part, but states it's been a very solid car for the two years he's owned it.

What do you guys think, and for what price would you pull the trigger? KBB without upgrades and a clean title is $11,900 and it's listed for $10,400 which I feel is still high for a rebuilt title. I also live about 6 hours from it, so that makes it a little tougher too, but in my small town, there's extremely limited options for what can be available, so I'll most likely have to travel no matter what.











Thanks for your opinions!
 
J

Joveen

Ready to race!
Talk down the price. There are other cars out there for cheaper. Look on the forum and you'll see members with cars selling for less.

Sent from my Life One X2 using Tapatalk
 
Renck

Renck

Ready to race!
Yep, way too expensive - see this:

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/viewDetailsFilterViewInventoryListing.action?entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=c23007&newsletterSubscription=8574518&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity2=c24181&zip=30024&sourceContext=requestedNewsletter-ListingOverview-1S1_false_51141865&newSince=1499486400000&sntEmlId=1227134149&linkSectionId=priceChanges&utm_source=dealfinderSubscription&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1-1&utm_term=2017-07-08&utm_content=bodyPriceChangesViewDetailsCTA#listing=178851841
 
BlueE30

BlueE30

Ready to race!
Echo what everyone else is saying, it's a $8,000 car. Part of me wants to say yes to rebuilt cars, I have owned them without any real issues other than a few more rattles and creaks.

Going forward, I'll be staying away from rebuilt cars, most of them have had serious impact and who knows what other gremlins it could cause down the road. For me, it's tempting right now as there's a 2016 Golf R with 6,000 kms for 30,000 cdn, would probably take mid 20's for it (That's like 4,000 miles and 20,000 - 25,000 us).
 
BlueE30

BlueE30

Ready to race!
Jarred767 said:
I agree that it's way too expensive, just more curious at what price point it may be with it. 7-8k? Or am I better off looking at something closer to 100k miles with a clean title for 9-10k?
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7-8k for that car if you get it checked out and it's in good shape, you can't really go wrong. Definitely get it checked out though. Just go in knowing it will be tough to sell down the road as is cars with rebuilt titles and try not to dump too much money into it as you definitely won't get it back.
 
M

markus037

Ready to race!
unless you get it for super cheap, buy a clean one. i hope you plan on keeping it for a while. my mk5 gti had a mark on the carfax and nobody wanted to give me anything for it when i tried trading it in.
 
Renck

Renck

Ready to race!
markus037 said:
unless you get it for super cheap, buy a clean one. i hope you plan on keeping it for a while. my mk5 gti had a mark on the carfax and nobody wanted to give me anything for it when i tried trading it in.
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Really? So, what happened to the MK5? Did you sell it yourself?
 
riceburner

riceburner

Autocross Champion
op, check my build thread linked in my sig.

i got my rebuilt car with 45k this year for 10.5.

Depends on what the damage is/where it was really hit. Cars can be rebuilt for a lot of other reasons than an accident but mine was hit rear drivers side. body work was pretty good to the point where i'm fine with it. car drives arrow straight and is completely solid.

check the carfax and you will be able to see when it was issued a rebuilt title and hopefully see records showing that miles have been racking up since. if that's the case it may be a safe bet to get the car.

no regerts here! best decision I made, saved a TON of money on this thing and am loving it!

Just be wary of how your state handles rebuilt/salvage titles as I had a hard time getting plates on mine - basically the car started in IL, was wrecked, was rebuilt in IL, issued a rebuilt title, left state, I bought it, brought it back. Then it was flagged as a 'salvage' title, meaning I had to pay around 300 bucks and pass two inspections and wait about 5 months for real plates (had temps, no big deal). A bit of a pain but a little hassle is def worth it over paying a ton more money.

any questions feel free to PM me.
 
E

evo v

New member
I second that. I had two salvage cars in the past. One was flooded the other was salvaged because was in the garage that was on fire. Both VW - I bought them for around 4k and when the time came to part ways I sold them on Craigslist within 2-3 days. I priced them reasonably so I had no problems. Now I bought from an auction MK VI GTI (73k miles) for my daughter who turned 16. After all parts and repairs the car cost me around $6k. I think $7-9K is reasonable price to sell. I see GTI's in my area for around $10k but with higher mileage. The plates I got right after the inspection just as any other car - no problem here.
 
J

Jarred767

Ready to race!
BlueE30 said:
7-8k for that car if you get it checked out and it's in good shape, you can't really go wrong. Definitely get it checked out though. Just go in knowing it will be tough to sell down the road as is cars with rebuilt titles and try not to dump too much money into it as you definitely won't get it back.
Click to expand...

markus037 said:
unless you get it for super cheap, buy a clean one. i hope you plan on keeping it for a while. my mk5 gti had a mark on the carfax and nobody wanted to give me anything for it when i tried trading it in.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys, that is very helpful! I plan on having this car for quite an extended period of time, so resale value is less important to me. I feel like lower overall miles may be better as long as I'm thorough about what occurred. I also realize that I'll have to sell private party when the day comes, but I always do anyways, so not a huge factor.

riceburner said:
op, check my build thread linked in my sig.

i got my rebuilt car with 45k this year for 10.5.

Depends on what the damage is/where it was really hit. Cars can be rebuilt for a lot of other reasons than an accident but mine was hit rear drivers side. body work was pretty good to the point where i'm fine with it. car drives arrow straight and is completely solid.

check the carfax and you will be able to see when it was issued a rebuilt title and hopefully see records showing that miles have been racking up since. if that's the case it may be a safe bet to get the car.

no regerts here! best decision I made, saved a TON of money on this thing and am loving it!

Just be wary of how your state handles rebuilt/salvage titles as I had a hard time getting plates on mine - basically the car started in IL, was wrecked, was rebuilt in IL, issued a rebuilt title, left state, I bought it, brought it back. Then it was flagged as a 'salvage' title, meaning I had to pay around 300 bucks and pass two inspections and wait about 5 months for real plates (had temps, no big deal). A bit of a pain but a little hassle is def worth it over paying a ton more money.

any questions feel free to PM me.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! That's great to hear. I'll definitely check out your build thread and see what you've done and if I have any specific questions I'll shoot youna PM. Thanjs again!

evo v said:
I second that. I had two salvage cars in the past. One was flooded the other was salvaged because was in the garage that was on fire. Both VW - I bought them for around 4k and when the time came to part ways I sold them on Craigslist within 2-3 days. I priced them reasonably so I had no problems. Now I bought from an auction MK VI GTI (73k miles) for my daughter who turned 16. After all parts and repairs the car cost me around $6k. I think $7-9K is reasonable price to sell. I see GTI's in my area for around $10k but with higher mileage. The plates I got right after the inspection just as any other car - no problem here.
Click to expand...
Also great info! Good to hear some positive stories around salvage titles. Sounds like you just gotta be picky about it.

I'm definitely keeping all of my options open, just waitin for the right deal to show up! Thanks so much for the advice!!
 
R

Rabid rabbit

Passed Driver's Ed
OP where do you live.. I'll sell you my car!!

You just have to see who did the work and what was really damaged!


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nvturbo

nvturbo

Go Kart Champion
The only rebuilt-titled car I have and will only buy....is a beater (under $2K). Why spend that kind of money when you can get one with a clean title, for a lot less?

If you don't mind a higher mileage, tastefully modded, CW 4dr DSG GTI, buy mine. LOL ;)
 
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