Dangers of Buying a Rebuilt Title Vehicle
Rebuilt title cars can be great buys but only when you know what to watch out for and how to avoid risks.
Not all rebuilt vehicles are good and not for everyone, and in certain cases they are simply dangerous - not just for your pocket but also for you life. Unfortunately, having a rebuilt title and being recognized operable by the state does not necessarily mean that be car, motorcycle, truck or RV is save to drive. If the car has been in a severe crash and received damage to functional parts and systems, sometimes there is no guarantee that they were fixed properly and your can put your family inside and drive it. Read more in rebuilt title and safety section.
Rebuilt Cars May Be Dangerous Form Safety Viewpoint
Safety should always be your primary concern, regardless of the car title or being brand new or used. There is no need to explain why. Although rebuilt titles are officially operable and roadworthy vehicles, there is no guarantee that they meet up to all the safety requirements so that you can put your family into that car and leave all the worries behind. The reason is simple - some states do not inspect vehicles for safety issues prior to giving them a rebuilt title, only for stolen parts. And even if they do and have minimum technical requirements a rebuilt vehicle has to conform to, it's not the inspection officer who's life depends on how well the car was fixed. He is just doing a routine work and the dealers do their best to conceal all the defects and flaws. There were cases when rebuilt vehicles literally broke in 2 parts...Get a car history report and then hire an independent mechanic for the pre-purchase inspection and test-driving if you really care about the safety of rebuilt cars. Another issue is non-functional airbags . Make sure there were no accidents with airbag deployment anywhere back in the vehicle's history.
Financial Dangers Of Buying Rebuilt Cars
As you see from the previous paragraph, in some states there is no guarantee that a wrecked car was fixed properly and that all the vital components, like engine, airbags, transmission, ignition, lights and other function properly. And which is worse, the seller who repaired the vehicle is in most cases clean from legal viewpoint as long as he discloses rebuilt of salvage title on the car - unless you prove that purposeful misrepresentation took place and you were sold not what your were promised. This means not just low value of the car you bought but also unplanned future expenses when all sorts of problems suddenly start to jump out at you from under the hood and all other imaginable places. If you want to buy a 1-year-old car of your dream for a price cut by 60%, think well - it can be a wiser idea by a normal car of a lower class or an older car but without prior damage. Chances are that the damage received by that car your are looking at is so severe that no person who has experience with cars would even look at it. If the seller keeps telling you that a new $65.000 salvage / rebuilt car received insignificant damage - don't have any business with that dealer for what he says is a blatant lie. Read more about rebuilt title valuation to understand why.
Selling a rebuilt vehicle is not easy, not may dealerships will take it as a trade-in, and the resale price will be really low, even if the car never failed you and you invested a ton of money into fixing and upgrading it even after buying. The Rebuilt brand is a red flag not just for you, but for other buyers as well. Numerous (and often totally groundless and unprofessional) claims like "stay away form rebuilt cars, they are scrap metal, you can't insure them etc" only add fuel to the fire. However, if the vehicles turns out a sour buy - things are even worse. An expert will never buy a rebuilt vehicle of that sort, so you will either have to sell it dirt cheap, possibly to a junk yard for scrap, give it away, or try to persuade another victim that your lovely car is great and safe, and you are selling it that cheap only because you dear aunt just died and you inherited billions and you just want to make sure this dear old car is in good caring hands, and taking at least some money for it is the only way to guarantee that the buyer will treat it well. Sound disgusting, doesn't it? Read how to buy rebuilt cars to avoid such situations.
