I know. it’s also a state where salvage titled cars went to be cleaned of their “salvage” brand.
Carfax and the such has helped put a stop to it but some do fit through the cracks.
personally, I LOVE salvage cars. Cars are over priced anyways.
I am driving a 2000 Cavalier that a tree fell on. Couple of dents in the hood and a 50 cent piece sized hole in the dash board where a limb went through. I had to put a windshield in it.
Cost of the car. 350. Glass installed 175. Same car with out the salvage title (to be fair, I could hit a salvage yard and get a new hood and dash pad for about 100 bucks) is 3995 at our local dealerships. I have 625 in this one.
My wife is driving a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan ES. Loaded to the gills. Everything works in it. Very light rear end hit. replaced the bumper and tailgate with pickapart parts. Paid 400 for the van, 100 for the parts. (even got the right color!)
We where offered 2500 for it the other day.
Same van on the dealer lots sell in the 2500-4000 range. Ours would likely be at the top. It has all the options you could buy in 1997 and less than 100K on it.
Both cars have been with us for over 10,000 miles. Neither has given us any mechanical problems and no problems related to the damage (well.. my dash creeks a bit.. but I don’t care)
You have to know what your looking at when you go to look at the cars at the auction. You also can’t get your heart set on one car. Honda/toyota forget about it. They bring near retail and head over seas.
Domestics go cheap. Common cars go really cheap because if there is 1 dodge caravan in the auction there are 10. Another nice bonus when buying the cheap common ones. Parts are also cheap and common. finding body parts in color saves you TONS.
When/if one of these cars dies to the point it’s not worth fixing I will be right back at the copart lot checking out the next one.
We also keep a cargo van around for when I need it for work. It’s also nice to have a spare around. If something breaks down we don’t have to rush to get it repaired.
The way it works here is anywhere there is a wreck, if it is considered “totaled” the auto is moved to Missouri for salvage. Instead of salvage it is cleaned, repaired where any damage does not show, and moved into Arkansas.
There are lots of “salvage” places along the Missouri border just north of us. Now they have been found to be running these ruined autos into other states.
Back about 35 years ago, the company I worked for decided they needed a new auto for the plant manager. They bought a “Brand New” one with less than 60 miles on it.
After several years, I noticed some cracks in the paint, and that the color of the trunk and rear panel did not exactly match the other parts. A quick look under some of the padding showed dents, and lots of bondo.
Years ago I had a wreck on the front of an auto I had, and it was considered “totaled”. We sold it to a local junk yard where it sat for a few days, then I went by and it was gone. There in the junk yard was the entire front end which had been removed and replaced from another junked auto.
Many years later, I had another wreck (caused by another driver) in which my truck was “totaled”. The local truck dealer took it in and a few weeks later I saw it going down the road. I know it was mine because of minor blemishes on the off side where no damage occured.