... an interesting "rebuild" or a complete scam?
 

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ealerInventory

Hey guys, so I recently found this 2017 brz for sale for what seems like a pretty decent price near me, however, a few major things

1. it's a rebuilt title. Seller claims "front right bumper" damage

2. stems off #1. While the VIN checks out to be a 2017 car, the bumper is clearly from a pre-refresh model. Now, I personally prefer the older bumper style but with the refreshed headlights, but this is great. However, raises some concerns including: fitment, quality of work, quality of paint, etc. I'm assuming the bumper was either taken off another car or bought directly from subaru. Anyways from the pictures it looks OK, but will need to see it in person

3. THE BIGGEST CONCERN: the intake manifold is the old style plastic. Now i know absolutely nothing about engines but the stock 2017+ engine has an aluminum red intake manifold as you all know but the pre refresh had the black plastic with the "boxer" logo on it. HOWEVER motortrend has published pictures of a 2017 brz with the black intake manifold which is why this confuses me

Essentially I want to know if the engine has been replaced by one from an older BRZ, and if this in combination with the clearly replaced bumper would make it not a good buy. The rest of the car is clearly a 2017 (heads, tails, and the track mode button) except for these two parts which makes me suspicious.

if it's just the bumper from an older car then whatever, I like it anyways and if i don't or it breaks its a bumper i can replace it. HOWEVER if the engine turns out to be an older engine transplanted into a new one and because i don't know the quality of the work of this seller i will stay away. If it turns out to be a 2017 motor but with the old intake manifold (as in Motortrend's pictures apparently) then it's fine.

also... yes it's an automatic yes i'm a heathen but i've driven manuals before and it's really just not for me and my commute which is filled with hills. I wish these things had like a hill hold or something, then I could consider a manual model.

It's an automatic, the automatic model gets the old intake. As for the bumper, it was probably cheaper so they fitted it with the older style.

Dark covered the engine difference ^. The price is right for a 17 salvage title.
They sure are proud of their paint process to give every little detail in the ad.

Check it in person but all looks good to go.

Those fender gaps looks a little suspect too.

To me to much coin on a salvage title car. don't be afraid of 13's-15's or higher milage. Check the vin for valve sprint recall, but I got my 2013 Series 10 FRS 6SP MT for 12,999 with 58K on the ODO.

The 2017 manual models do have "hill assist." I turned it on ONCE just to make certain it works. It works. :)

It is a bit on the higher side for a salvage. I would recommend getting a 14/15 with higher mileage. You can find autos in that price range easy. Since you like the older bumper anyways it seems like the smart thing to do. Good luck

I disagree that the price is high for a salvage car in Ohio. I quick look at the sales sites shows that BRZs in general are pretty rare and selling for a bit of a premium over other regions. Yes, it would be high for California or Texas where you trip over the things every time you walk through a parking lot but for Ohio it appears to be a decent price.

The fender garnish is also from a pre-17.

most cars aren't going to total from "bumper damage" . Especially being a year or two old.
that does not equate to 75% of the cars value. I would suspect more than bumper damaged happened.
the vin tags appear to still be on the fenders in pics, I would check them and make sure they match the car and then make sure they don't appear to be re-glued on.
Do some serious investigating. Again, it shouldn't have totaled from bumper damage.

You can buy a new premium for around 22k... is it worth to buy a 3yr old car with a salvage title to save 6-7k... heck no. But that’s me. I won’t touch that car unless it’s around 10-12k

Good luck finding new ones in Ohio for $22K
It is not a premium it is a limited so new premium prices mean nothing if people want the extra features.
It isn't a 3 year old car. It is a 2 MY old car.
It is not a bad deal.

'17 Limited or not, that is still overpriced for an air bag deployed car.

One thing it has going for it is the VIN ends in '86' :lol:

https://s1.poctra.com/700/copart-p-2...t-37210767.jpg

https://s1.poctra.com/700/copart-p-2...z-37210767.jpg

https://s1.poctra.com/700/copart-p-2...z-37210767.jpg

https://s1.poctra.com/700/copart-p-2...z-37210767.jpg

https://s1.poctra.com/700/copart-p-2...z-37210767.jpg

Actually, unless I'm reading the VIN wrong, it IS #86 that model year.

$1,000,000!


In the Porsche world people would be drooling to get that thing.

I'd always be wary of a salvage car unless you have clear evidence of the damage done and the repair process. Even then, it's a risk.

Nope, the last 6 digits are the serial #. The carline # is on the VIN digit # 8 where the 86 is # 1, FYI...

Looks like it was originally salvaged and then sold at auction in North Carolina in November 2017.

https://www.copart.com/lot/37210767/Photos

The odometer in their pictures shows 24170 miles.

It was also on Ebay a couple of times after being repaired. The original odometer reading says 23495 miles.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2017-Subaru...orig_cvip=true

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2017-Subaru...orig_cvip=true

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2017-Subaru...orig_cvip=true

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2017-Subaru...orig_cvip=true

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2017-Subaru...orig_cvip=true

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2017-Subaru...orig_cvip=true


If you get it, check with your insurance company first. Some companies will not insure salvaged or prior salvage vehicles.

Oops, you are correct, I miscounted sideways. Even so, with the 8600086 it probably adds an extra $0.10 worth of value to it.

And as you mention the first "8" is the plant number.

Useful site for VIN decoding by the way. Works for pretty much any car regardless of make/model

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vindecoder.php

I would be wary, the circumstances around the car are questionable. Your better off buying a used one from the original owner, ideally someone who needs to buy a family car and sell their beloved 86. Also at 16k, no way. For a salvage this should be more like 13k. The frame could be bent, other issues that are not so easy to detect. Also all that jazz about how their paint is so top notch is also suspicious, makes me think it was done on the cheap. My vote is to stay away and buy used form an original owner.

When buying a salvage or any other car with a title that has been branded for some reason, keep another thing in mind. How long you plan on keeping the car. If you plan on driving it for a very long time, it probably doesn't matter about the salvage title, provided the repair is good. You'll get a good deal and many good years out of the car.

The problem comes when YOU try to sell it. If you only keep the car a couple of years, it will be difficult to sale. Most people will need to finance the car since it will still be high enough in value that they can't pay cash. Even as a really good deal from the salvage. Most banks will not finance a salvage. Even though someone really wants your car, they can't buy it.

I ran into this problem when I got a killer deal on a 2011 Mini Cooper Clubman S. It had been a dealer buy back (aka lemon law). Car was perfect, but the title was branded as "Dealer Buy Back". It had been lemon lawed due to a check engine light with 3K miles on it. Ended up being a bad spark plug. Fixed and warrantied by Mini and then sold at auction. I ended up with the car with about 35K miles on it and got a great deal. Saved many thousands of dollars. It was flawless. Perfect condition. Thought I would drive it into the ground, but fell in love with the BRZ and bought one. Tried to sell the Mini and had a hell of a time. Had a ridiculous good price on it, but no one could get financing. I was probably 4-5K below the comps. Forget about trading it, dealers don't want it. I'm mean the car was in perfect shape except for the stupid title. And that wasn't even a Salvage.

Now, if you plan on driving the car for a long time until the value is worth in the $5k-7k (or less) range. It won't matter. People can probably afford that without a bank.

Something to think about. I thought I'd keep my Mini a long time, but didn't. Ended up having to finance, acting as the bank, for the person who bought it. Sold it for 10k. A lot of little dealers were interested in it as well, until they saw the title.

Holy crap! That's one hell of a "front right bumper damage."

I have a really good family friend that happens to be a mechanic, so I was thinking about taking it to him to see if anything else major is damaged. Also, according to some eBay posts, this car has been sitting since 2018 at least, so I was thinking of offering around 14k to get it off their hands, and yeah, it's salvage title so def. not the 17k they're asking. Thank you so much for these pictures!!

I was planning on taking this to my good friend who is a mechanic and making an offer of 14k because the car's been sitting on lot for almost a year now and it's a salvage title. I'll work from there. thanks!

I'm not really looking into selling this car anytime soon, it will actually be my first car purchase so I plan on keeping it for a while.

That's good. Just something to think about. Sometimes things change, so holding out for the best price is definitely worth doing (especially if its been sitting for a while).

And unfortunately they decided chassis '86' should be an automatic... then again, this is the "Subaru" version.

Funny enough, both my FR-S and BRZ ended in '8'

No problem. This car's story is one of the reasons why my friends and I created VINwiki. We also have a Youtube channel for the more interesting car stories.

If you do buy it, please continue the BRZ's story via our VINwiki app! I found out my wrecked FR-S eventually got crushed from another VINwiki member. :party0030:

Lol.. just cause you are in Ohio doesn’t mean you can’t go buy elsewhere for cheap. For a salvage car.. this is expensive. A new limited without PP can be had for around 24k. Pay 500-600 to ship it anywhere in the states.

Or, you could have a perfectly fine (even rebuilt) 2 year old car and $8,000 in your pocket.

Yup. While I technically do have 25k or so to spend, if this specific brz checks out with my mechanic friend, then why not save 8-10k and spend some on mods or other non-car things? For example, if I were to buy a new limited, I would still be taking the front bumper off and replacing it with an older one costing idk how much. IF the frame is Ok and the bumper was installed well, then what's the risk?

The risk is you have no idea how to work was performed. Maybe it looks fine, I think the body gaps look terrible. The bumper and fenders/trim are wrong, the only reason to back date a front end is to save money on the repair.

Maybe it looks fine. Maybe nothing rattles or falls off. How does it respond in the next front end collision? Was the SRS module replaced or reset in a garage by a dude named Vlad?

Salvage cars are cheap for a reason. I would hesitate to finance anything with a salvage title and rely on it as a daily. Cash out of pocket for a second car? Sure. But it's going to be sub $10k.

I'd run away from spending any money on that junk chassis.

8k isn’t worth the hassle of having a rebuilt car for me.. I’d rather a new car with no bad history ... a clean title 17 is only maybe a grand or more at this price.

Me too in fact I personally would not even buy used but it doesn’t make it bad for the right person. I don’t see many 17s going for anywhere near that price. It is also the asking price not the sold price so he could get it even cheaper.

Buy this one from these guys for much cheaper....
http://www.challengepromotions.com/Wills/FRSO/50.jpg
2013 w74k, Auto, Rebuild documented here, all recalls done, no shortcuts taken.

Please follow member classified rule#2 or ichi will delete the thread.

LOL, the whole rebuild thread is here...it's legit.

Editted…

forewarning, my first, second, AND third vehicles, i said that about all of them.

1st ate itself
2nd got boring
3rd got wrecked in 4 months.

keep your options open.

I know. I have visited it frequently.
That Dave guy is a bit shady though.

I said it about my 1st thru 15th.

i've learned to change the wording. now, cars "fit my current needs, and i've got no reason to get rid of them."

it's also part of the reason i named this 4th car "chance the goldfish"(i've never named my cars before), to remind me that cars are entirely replaceable consumer goods manufactured in large quantities.