Should my father sell his salvage car now or later? Or keep it?

I'd say keep it as a weekend car, but that's just me.

 

He clearly needs a bigger garage!

 

A car don't get salvage title by just hitting a curb.
He must've got it dirt cheap because salvage loses a lot of the value. I don't care how old it is.
Sell that somebitch right now for whatever, that value ain't going up.

 

Tell him to give it to you. Then you can pimp it up, color it purple, add tv's and xboxes and a sofabed with a fridge in the back.

 

Sell it to somebody who cares. A guy who doesn't want to maintain a car, shouldn't have one that has 600 hp.

 

Ditto.

If a $50K has a salvage title, assuming it is not due to flood, that means it had at least $30K in damage (maybe more).

Having a salvage title is more about stigma than any existing issues. The car may be cosmetically, structurally and mechanically fine, but the pool of potential buyers is drastically reduced.

Keep in mind, most insurers will not insure a car with a salvage title (other than liability or special circumstances).

I would contact some Benz specialty shops and see if anyone is interested. They may want it for the engine alone. Take the top offer and be done with it.

 

As others have said, you don't total a car for hitting a curb.

I would try and find out why the car was salvaged. You could always chop it and sell it for parts.

 

Salvage from hitting a curb....and no frame/body damage?

Sounds fishy.

As for getting more than the salvage value....not going to happen. Why would someone over look the actual value of the car to pay you more?

It's value is only going to diminish more. If he doesn't want it, sell it. The parts should be worth something.

 

You should part it out .. probably get much more than 15k

 

Secretly trying to use thread to sell the car.

 

i particularly like the "600 hp engine which rockets the car to 60mph in just over 4 seconds".

What kind of Benz is it exactly?

 

Yes, it actually should still lose that value.

 

No buyer is gonna come along and realize it's real worth when it holds a salvage title. That's just wishful thinking. The value will only continue to drop over time. Sell it for what the market is going for a salvaged title for your model.

 

Hey dmc89, if you have all the details on the car, call John Clay Wolfe tomorrow morning during his radio show on 97.5fm (or streaming on his gowolfe website). He gives quotes over the phone that his auto lot will write a check for, within 7 days of the quote.

Obviously you won't be selling it to him, his lots are dfw & hou only, but he'll give you a more real world idea of the value on it, based on what he knows he could sell it for, deduct more appropriately for not having a good carfax etc. Sometimes that varies significantly from blue book, higher or lower, just depending on what the market is for something. For instance certain random colors he can sell better or worse, there are kind of magic mile marks that make disproportionate jumps etc. but you have to know every detail, he will want to know everything (& will assume it doesn't have that detail for quote purposes, if you're not sure). If he's really interested, he'll ask you to send pics if it's something he likes & wants to know more than "average, rough, or clean" descriptions.

It's funny, he also knows when people are lying about it being their car, or calling on behalf of someone else just from a short conversation, or out them when he thinks they are in the car business themselves. one of my favorite radio shows.