Should I Buy FRS R-Titled From Hail Damage?

[Caspeed]

This just doesn't look like a hail total. Not enough damage evident to total....unless it's a flood car. From what the pics show $2k would be more than enough to fix it. There's another 10-12k worth of damage that needs to be accounted for to total it...Just saying.

[Rally]

Originally Posted by Caspeed

This just doesn't look like a hail total. Not enough damage evident to total....unless it's a flood car. From what the pics show $2k would be more than enough to fix it. There's another 10-12k worth of damage that needs to be accounted for to total it...Just saying.

Yea guess I will see. Lets hope the VIN number shows. haha

[fledonfoot]

PM back. Just discovered I can access TIS/NSH from home and pulled it up for you.

Also, I agree with @Caspeed. Something's fishy there. There should be no way that car was totaled from those pictures. There's maybe $2-3 k of hail damage through PDR from what I can see there. ~600 for rear glass.

We have sold new cars that were hail damaged and repaired (no water damage as they were on the high ground) with a state required damage disclosure to the customer before... we took a hell of a loss on the cars, but they were nowhere close to totaled.

If the car books out at $16,000 fair market value, you're looking at needing something like $13k in total damaged to write that thing off.

Hell, a roof panel is a few hundred bucks, fenders a few hundred... if you gave it all new roof, fenders, hood, trunk, bumpers and paint I'm still struggling to get to $10k.

There's something missing here. I would have an independent inspection of the car specifically looking for signs of flood damage.

[fledonfoot]

@Rally -- This car was retailed in PA and saw several service visits there. Is it still in PA? If so, are they sitting on it with a certificate of salvage, or do they have the reconstructed title work done already?

[Rally]

Originally Posted by fledonfoot

PM back. Just discovered I can access TIS/NSH from home and pulled it up for you.

Also, I agree with @Caspeed. Something's fishy there. There should be no way that car was totaled from those pictures. There's maybe $2-3 k of hail damage through PDR from what I can see there. ~600 for rear glass.

We have sold new cars that were hail damaged and repaired (no water damage as they were on the high ground) with a state required damage disclosure to the customer before... we took a hell of a loss on the cars, but they were nowhere close to totaled.

If the car books out at $16,000 fair market value, you're looking at needing something like $13k in total damaged to write that thing off.

Hell, a roof panel is a few hundred bucks, fenders a few hundred... if you gave it all new roof, fenders, hood, trunk, bumpers and paint I'm still struggling to get to $10k.

There's something missing here. I would have an independent inspection of the car specifically looking for signs of flood damage.

Replied! And yea its very fishy. The company that did the work has repaired many hail damaged cars and they have good feedback. I wonder whats up with this.... And the car is in Delaware now so it didn't move far.

[Caspeed]

Originally Posted by Rally

Replied! And yea its very fishy. The company that did the work has repaired many hail damaged cars and they have good feedback. I wonder whats up with this.... And the car is in Delaware now so it didn't move far.

Totaled cars are often moved from state to state to clear the title. I've seen totaled cars that were welded up from 2 cars front to rear but still had a clean title. We had to disassemble the interior to find the joint.

[Rally]

Originally Posted by Caspeed

Totaled cars are often moved from state to state to clear the title. I've seen totaled cars that were welded up from 2 cars front to rear but still had a clean title. We had to disassemble the interior to find the joint.

The thing different with this car is that it's vin says it was just salvage in October 2014 2 months ago. And supposedly a clean serviced car before that. So frustrating.. Maybe the pics are really bad quality and there was worse hail damage then looked hahaha

[Caspeed]

You have to look at risk vs gain. You would be saving 2-3k over a good used unit. Is it worth the risk?

You could ask the service manager at your local dealer to look at it for you. You will have to pay maybe $100-$200 to cover a tech's time to look it over but it's money well spent if they find a problem.

Even though I ran dealership service departments. When I was looking at a 911 a few years back I took it to a Porsche specialist that found several thousand $ worth of repairs that the car needed that my techs and I would have never found. Best $100 I ever spent.

[Rally]

Originally Posted by Caspeed

You have to look at risk vs gain. You would be saving 2-3k over a good used unit. Is it worth the risk?

You could ask the service manager at your local dealer to look at it for you. You will have to pay maybe $100-$200 to cover a tech's time to look it over but it's money well spent if they find a problem.

Even though I ran dealership service departments. When I was looking at a 911 a few years back I took it to a Porsche specialist that found several thousand $ worth of repairs that the car needed that my techs and I would have never found. Best $100 I ever spent.

Yea I completely agree. I have seen clean titles in the 16k range with decent miles. I'm going to consider it and possibly check it out since I'm close. If I can get it even cheaper I'd be more interested and have a specialist look at it. I'll be keeping my eyes open on all deals under 16k

[Rally]

Originally Posted by fledonfoot

@Rally -- This car was retailed in PA and saw several service visits there. Is it still in PA? If so, are they sitting on it with a certificate of salvage, or do they have the reconstructed title work done already?

The reconstructed title will be ready within 10 days I was told. And it's now in delaware

[fledonfoot]

for comparison's sake, I just traded my FR-S in. It's currently sitting on the lot at the dealer for $18,000 with 46k on the clock, and comes as a Certified Pre Owned vehicle with a 100k power train warranty.

I still think something is a bit off. I also would tell you if you buy it, do so with zero expectation of a factory warranty by the time the new title is issued on that car and it updates.

I would absolutely ask to have the vehicle inspected. I would recommend to take it to a good independent mechanic, or contact a Toyota dealer and ask for them to have it inspected as if it was going through the Toyota/Scion Certified Used Vehicle program.

[Rally]

Originally Posted by fledonfoot

for comparison's sake, I just traded my FR-S in. It's currently sitting on the lot at the dealer for $18,000 with 46k on the clock, and comes as a Certified Pre Owned vehicle with a 100k power train warranty.

I still think something is a bit off. I also would tell you if you buy it, do so with zero expectation of a factory warranty by the time the new title is issued on that car and it updates.

I would absolutely ask to have the vehicle inspected. I would recommend to take it to a good independent mechanic, or contact a Toyota dealer and ask for them to have it inspected as if it was going through the Toyota/Scion Certified Used Vehicle program.

Yea I hear ya. Ill really have to look into having someone check it out. If I can talk the price down that would definitely leave some money room to have it inspected.

I looked at the vin number again and it was actually in May 2014 and when i searched hail storm in Pa this came up. http://lancasteronline.com/news/loca...a4bcf6878.html Seems like lots of cars were totaled for the sake of to many cars needed to be fixed and all the shops were flooded and keeping them in storage wasn't worth the payment of insurance companies so lots of cars severe and not so severe were totaled. Also the insurance companies would of had to supply a large amount of rental cars.

And this link states that any car with a broken window involved in the PA hail storm was deemed totaled ! Im really liking this now haha
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...hip_selli.html

[fledonfoot]

Don't forget broken window = water in the car in a hail storm.

[Rally]

Originally Posted by fledonfoot

Don't forget broken window = water in the car in a hail storm.

Yea that is definitely true, Im glad its the rear window though. I would not even consider the purchase if i knew the water came in over the front dash.

And unlike a flood title, we no that the storm was short and the car was not drenched for a long period of time!