ima55r2

Besides some bent body pieces, can you imagine what else could have happened to it to get a salvage title. Would the car still have a MB warranty?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ayphotohosting

Josh K

I don't know if the warranty will still apply to salvaged vehicles, you should check out the warranty restrictions on the official site.

Some other things that could lead to a salvage title would be theft recovery and flood damage.

moa4r

how would the dealer know the title was salvaged?!

Josh K

When a vehicle is given a salvage title, that's tied to its VIN number forever.

CynCarvin32

Most dealerships would never sell a car with a salvage title. I know I would never get involved in such a deal.

Ask to see photos of the car before it was fixed. Then ask to see the paper work from the repairs.

corgiman

Warranty WILL NOT APPLY to a salvage vehicle - it's in the fine print.

cschow

It might have been flooded...

SUNILP

I don't understand why the car has a salvage title for a fender bender, and bumper replacement. Something is fishy. Might have been flooded.

BlownV8

The car could be a theft recovery.

Dr Chill

There's something fishy here. The auction states the car is in Indianapolis but the description lists a Broward county FL number. Also, the picture of the interior appears to show a Comand radio/nav unt but this is supposedly an 03 which didn't offer Comand.

ima55r2

After a flurry of bidding, it looks like it stalled just under 37k. Isn't the engine alone supposed to be worth $35,000?

CynCarvin32

Good point. I thought the radio looked like a 2004 spec part but I did not worry about it given that it was a salvage title car. If you ever noticed before, there was a salvage title silver E55 in Indy on E-bay about a month ago. That car had a front suspension which looked totally collapsed and completely out of adjustment. That other car was also sitting in a salvage yard.

The car in the pics says 04 on the window I think and is at a dealership. Doubt any dealership would put a salvage title vehicle on their lot for it involves far too much liability.

The best way to see what is up with that car is to run the Carfax and a MB netstar query to see A) what happened to the car and B) if that car is the one in the photos. The netstar will list the options and interior color so you can see if the items line up with the car in the pictures.

Chappy

Lemon? Would the car receive a salvage title if MB purchased the car back under a lemon law case?

The other strong possibility is a flood car.

corgiman

I've seen factory buy-backs on e-bay and the title supposedly indicates factory repurchase - not salvage. This car was declared a total loss for some reason. Caveat emptor.................

Blocktrader

I called the number in the ad. He said that the owner was one of those that paid a big premium. Then he got in an accident and refused the car. The insurance had to buy it back or something. The guy was on a cell and I got cut off, but if you guys want to find out the whole story, why not just call the guy?

Dr Chill

That would be too easy!

corgiman

Still sounds fishy. Why would your insurance buy the car back. It's either a total loss or repairable. Ask him the name of the insurance company so that next time I'm in a fender bender I can say I want a neew car and get mine totaled!

3199cc

if it was in a front end accident you could be looking at some frame damage, along with major mechanical repair. If the car bottomed out at some point in the accident, who knows maybe the oil pan was torn off and internals damaged. (unlikely, but possible).

Anyway, the damage is not what you should be concerned about. The quality of the repair work is what you should be looking at. If the frame was straigtened properly and OEM parts used at a reputable and professional body shop, it should be no problem.

I have a friend who bought a salvaged M3 and it drives perfectly, so check it out it could be a good deal.

Wolfman

If you are really interested, just spend a few bucks and run a carfax report... With a salvage title there should be enough info to follow-up on as well...

Wolfman

ThemisN

Carfax is unreliable. I know of an instance where the car was stolen, had significant damage done to it, and carfax was clean.

Wolfman

Wow. Never would have guessed that given that MB uses carfax as a key criteria to starmark a car...

Wolfman

Marcus Frost

I don't believe this "big premium payer" stuff... in order for cars to be totaled and get salvage titles, they need to have SIGNIFICANT damage, especially on car like an '03 E55 that is still worth $70,000. Different companies have different policies, but you are figuring that it had at least $40k worth of damage done to it, with as much as $60k... that is more than just a hood, bumper, and fender... plus not having a warranty on a car that can be as finnicky as an MB is an expensive tradeoff.

Regards,

Marcus

moa4r

starmark will still sell u a car thats been in an acciedent repaired, they're only criteria is that the car does not have prior frame damage

moa4r

the repaired hood bumper and fender is complete that alone wouldn't even come CLOSE to salvaging a car....IMO you can probably get lucky w/deals like this, but for the most part, stay away from anything without a clean title...

Blocktrader

I don`t get it. This isn`t someone from Indonesia wth an e-mail. The guy has his phone # posted. Instead of trying to guess the story, why not just call and ask?