I know some of you are pretty car savvy... I am not. I'm looking to buy a used Scion tC (2005, 55K miles, manual), but there's one thing that has me pretty nervous. It's a rebuilt title, which I'm told can be bad. Anyone have experience with these kind of cars?

I'm not sure whether it's smarter to go with a dealer or a private owner. Is a clean title that big of a deal? If I were to take this car on a test drive and it feels great, is that a pretty good measure of it's condition? I just don't want to make a stupid expensive mistake. Any thoughts or experiences shared would be helpful.

Why was it rebuilt? Stay away from flood recovery vehicles.

Keep in mind, if it has a rebuilt title it was (typically) totalled out since there was so much damage the insurance company deemed it not worthwhile to repair. Seeing as that's a pretty common car, I'd try to find one with a clean title (unless you get a screaming deal on this one and don't plan on re-selling it).

I'm pretty sure with a salvage title you will have a ***** of a time trying to get a bank that will give you a loan for it.

How much is the one you're looking at?

This rebuilt one is about $6K... best deal I've seen for a 50K mile car. The guy seems nice enough, and he's telling me he wants to get rid of it since he's having a kid soon. There's another Scion tC that's about $10K, same mileage, but it has a clean title. Is $4K really worth a clean title? I guess it depends on how it drives. I'm gonna test drive it tomorrow, and I'll let you know my thoughts.

What is the reason for the rebuilt title? I wouldn't even consider it if they couldn't tell me a reason.

Have a good mechanic go through it too. There could be something not noticeable in a test drive.

I would definitely hire a mechanic to look over it. Maybe even negotiate it so the seller pays for it.

Did you do a vehicle history report? In some states a salvage title is issued when a vehicle is stolen and recovered, so it's possible no damage was done to it. I'm not sure if rebuilt titles are issued for stolen cars or not, you should find this out.

Other than that......

Run like hell.

Run like hell.

Run like hell.

Rebuilt title means at one point it was salvaged and then fixed to remove the salvage title and get "rebuilt" status. That probably means at least $7,500 - $9,000 worth of damage was done to the car. You have no way of knowing the extent of this damage or what really was fixed. Do not listen to a word the seller tells you. They all lie, or at the least, bend the truth. Hear what he has to say of course, but take it with a grain of salt.

If you were buying a classic car, a beater, or a hobby car my advice might be a bit different. But in a case like this (the market is flooded with these cars) my advice is to be more picky and move on to the next one.


About your other question, I would stick to private parties. Reasons:

You can meet the person who actually owned the vehicle before you. Not a dooshbag in a suit who doesn't want you to know who owned the vehicle before you.

You will pay more for a car from a dealer when you aren't really getting anything more for the price. (30 day warranty? 90 day? lol.) The car was a trade-in from somebody else who bought a car from them. They washed it, vacuumed the floors, and parked it on their lot. If a dealer has something for a price competitive with the private market, I will stray from this rule.

Yes, it's been said but keep in mind that it's really hard to sell a car with a rebuilt title. Even at 4k below market value it hasn't sold yet. That tells you something.

1 more thing, picking a car in your price range doesn't mean picking a car that's double your price range and then looking for one with a salvage/rebuilt title

This is good stuff, especially from Dash... thanks. Brian, I contacted the seller hours after it was posted, so I'm going to be the first person to look at it... so that gives me a little hope. I'm going to be super careful though; I'll probably just pass on it if I have an inkling of doubt about the car.

Does anyone here own a rebuilt car or have friends that do? I know that each situation is different, but as a fairly poor college kid, I don't expect (or want) a car that will last years and years... just something reliable (and stylish) for the time being that I'll sell for cheap later on.

It really depends on whether it was fixed professionally or by some dude in his garage. Generally if people buy the car back from their insurance company after it was totalled they do the work themselves and don't usually do a really good job. SOMETIMES you get an edge case where the value of the car was low to begin with so even with comparatively minor damage the insurance company can total it out.

So here are the things you may run into with a salvaged car:

severe body damage that has been fixed with bondo and painted over -- basically, the body of the car can fall apart easily, rust can form underneath, etc.

air bag deployments -- if the airbags deployed it's really expensive to put them back so people just cut them out and put it back together -- it means if you get in a wreck no airbags are there anymore

bent frame -- look at all the joints between all the body pieces, they should have even gaps. Look at the tires, if they are brand new that may be a bad sign because they may be covering up alignment problems that can't be fixed because the frame is tweaked (if tires can't align, you get severe uneven wear and end up burning through tires in just a couple hundred miles)

Look at all the window and door seals, you can also get misaligned or leaky windows which allow water to come into the car -- even if it's just a drop every now and again if it makes its way behind the dash onto any electrical components you're screwed.

If it wasn't from a wreck, but instead flood or storm damage, you can get severe electrical issues, mold growth, bad smells, etc. If there are any strong air fresheners in the car they are trying to cover something up.

You really should have a mechanic look it over, but for a cursory inspection I'd look for:

bad body/paint work
smells
shaky brakes
weird noises from engine, transmission, drivetrain
doors that don't open/close properly
windows that don't open/close properly
uneven wear on tires
dirty/dingy oil
dark (not bright red) transmission fluid (might also smell burnt if it's bad)
coolant not in good condition; if it's not bright green or bright orange it hasn't been maintained properly
when you're testing driving, make sure there are no weird knocks or shakes, especially going around corners (can indicate transaxle issues) or hitting bumps (other suspension issues like shocks/struts, sway bars, u-joints, ball joints, etc.)

Also get a carfax, it may have some more information on why it was totalled. It also might tell you the original state of origin so if it was licensed, for example, in New Orleans during the hurricane, run away.

A buddy of mine has an '02 MR2 Spyder with a salvage title, but it was purchased wrecked and he runs a body shop, so he knows exactly what was wrong and he can fix it himself. Other than that.., I don't think I know anyone who has a car with a rebuilt title.

Thanks for the list Brian...I'm glad to see you keeping my soul has benefits. It helped as I checked out the car today.

So I test drove it and it felt great. It had a turbo and aftermarket exhaust. The bank owns the title, and he had no idea why it was a rebuilt title... his parents bought it for him 2 years ago, and the only problem he said he ran into was a clogged fuel filter because he put regular gas into it. I wish I could've seen the title myself, but whatever.

I'm getting the feeling I'll wait for some more money to roll in, and buy one with a clean title. That way I have a decent resale value on it.

My program manager bought a salvage title C5 Corvette, and really got taken on it. The frame had been majorly tweaked, so you could fit two fingers between the wheel and the wheel well on one side and four on the other, wind noise, etc. After sinking a bit of money into it, he gave up and got next to nothing for it on a trade-in.

As has been said, consider that you aren't going to get much back when you sell it (if you can), and consider that it might have some major gremlins. I can think of a lot of cars I'd have over a salvage Scion tC.

Good plan. Especially considering the '05 is meh compared to newer models. The '08 is pretty plentiful and you can usually get a really good deal on lower milage cars. I only payed 16k for mine and it had less than 15,000 miles.

This sounds fishy to me. Do you mean that he used regular gas as opposed to a higher octane? If so, AFAIK, that would have no bearing on the fuel filter. If the car specs call for higher octane gas and regular gas was put in it, the knock sensor would simply adjust the timing of the engine and you would maybe lose a bit of power and maybe some fuel economy.

That said, a clogged fuel filter doesn't indicate anything other than that it had probably never been replaced in the time that he owned it or prior to that. Could indicate that the car was not really kept up on regular maintenance. But his comment would make me thing he either 1) doesn't know very much about cars, or 2) is trying to pull one over on you somehow. Either of these things are bad.

Carfax... should tell you why it's a rebuilt.