Looking for buying advice - 1990 with 1994 Salvage Title in

[smooth]

right on! sounds great

[Mwishlist]

Thanks for the advice / discussion. I picked her up this morning after a pretty extensive look over and test drive last night.

Pros:
Body is phenomenal - zero rust that I can find and the paint, while not my favorite color is in amazing shape (calypsorot metallic). I have to look closer to see if it's been resprayed and see if I can take off the pin stripes without leaving a line.

I looked under the mats in the trunk, under the battery tray, under the car, the frame rails - everything looks super straight and rust free.

Engine is solid - The older woman I bought it from has only had it a short time and she is putting me in contact with the former owner, who supposedly is a mechanic. The front end of the motor that I can see; radiator, hoses, alternator all look pretty recent. I know that doesn't mean shit about the timing belt but it looks like it was gone over fairly recently. Unless I can talk to the guy and get a super good feeling about him I will do the belt, water pump etc. ASAP. Regardless I am still going to do it, I was just hoping to take it up to my father in law's next weekend and get some driving in while the weather's nice - and see if anything else pops up before getting in there.

Everything is good on the interior, everything (except below) works and all buttons and do-dads are in place.

Seats are phenomenal. I'm sure that they reupholstered at some point, the back seat seams look slightly different than I am used to seeing, but they all look good. Not sure if they are leather or a vinyl job, but the stitching looks good. Support is good and everything works.

Factory seat heaters - work!

Top is in great shape.

AC System was converted to R134 on 7-12 according to the sticker in the engine bay and it blows cold. Heat is hot and the blower motor is super strong.


Cons:
The panel in the trunk under the cover, has had some sheet metal cut out, probably from some jackass putting in a sub box poorly to fire in to the back seat, so that concerned me but I can't see any other signs of abuse on the car anywhere.

Slight leak on the differential. looks like the front seal. Not dripping but wet.

Odometer broken, or course, but the car fax has a nice history of the car so it looks like the 150K is pretty close based on that.

Dash does has several small cracks. That sucked cause it was the one thing I wasn't expecting from the photos but pretty standard and they aren't too bad. I can live with them for now.

Brake lining light is on.

Bottlecaps and metal bumpers, which I am not really into, but a front valence which I love but it has a few cracks in it from curbs that need to be addressed.


I got a grand knocked off the price based on the timing belt, diff and the sheet metal in the trunk which I am sure she had no idea about. The small things like the odometer and brake light helped too. I'll take some pics at home and start a members ride's thread. I've been lurking around the forum for a couple of years at this point and I appreciate all the good advice on here. It really helped in my search and making the decision.

[mkcman17]

This differs by state and can range from 50% to as high as 100%. In our state, California, there isn't a threshold at all. Insurance companies calculate a total loss formula in our state rather than a threshold.

With the company I work for (CA) if estimate is greater than 80% ACV - salvage it becomes total loss. It's sort of a total loss formula but we still consider it a threshold.

Edit: In the end it's all semantics, but I know allstate and state farm have similar numbers for t/l

[smooth]

New Jersey, August 1st, 1994. Which means it could have been a theft too since I think NJ gives salvage titles to cars stolen and later recovered.

possibly, but NJ uses TLF like California. That means once the cost of repairs plus the salvage value exceeds the cost of the actual cash value they'll total it.

[Mwishlist]

Mwishlist, which state did the salvage occur in? Again, not that it matters much. After 20 years you test drive it and have it inspected. You'd have to do that with any car because, as mkcman pointed out, there are plenty of cars that have been totaled without the brand on the title.

New Jersey, August 1st, 1994. Which means it could have been a theft too since I think NJ gives salvage titles to cars stolen and later recovered.

[smooth]

Haha sorry to derail you! Insurance will total at 75-80% threshold estimate vs value. That was proportionally a much bigger number in 94.

This differs by state and can range from 50% to as high as 100%. In our state, California, there isn't a threshold at all. Insurance companies calculate a total loss formula in our state rather than a threshold.

Mwishlist, which state did the salvage occur in? Again, not that it matters much. After 20 years you test drive it and have it inspected. You'd have to do that with any car because, as mkcman pointed out, there are plenty of cars that have been totaled without the brand on the title.

[Mwishlist]

No problem. I have been on the recording forums for years, I know how it goes! :D

[mkcman17]

IF the owner kept it. I see totals that sold in our auction back on craigslist on a regular basis...some of them not so pretty.

[smooth]

But my point is that you can smash up your liability-only car and not get a salvage title, however for those of us that do carry collision these days it doesn't take much to get one from an insurance company.

Insurance companies don't like paying for new cars. If it was given a salvage title in 94 the damage most likely was structural to some extent.

a sideswipe could have taken it out. so could being tapped in the back and hitting the person in front of the driver. the difference here is that the records show the car went back to the driver for another 30,000 miles. If it was a structural hit the owner would have simply taken the write-off and walked away, in all probability.

[mkcman17]

Haha sorry to derail you! Insurance will total at 75-80% threshold estimate vs value. That was proportionally a much bigger number in 94.

[Mwishlist]

All good points. Thanks!

[mkcman17]

But my point is that you can smash up your liability-only car and not get a salvage title, however for those of us that do carry collision these days it doesn't take much to get one from an insurance company.

Insurance companies don't like paying for new cars. If it was given a salvage title in 94 the damage most likely was structural to some extent.

[smooth]

So if it took a major hit or accident what should I look for? I have been reading the forum for a while and anything I can find on what to look for when buying an E30, but I wasn't expecting a salvage title on the first E30 I was really interested in. So I'm open on tips on what to look for.

If you're really that worried about it then take it to a body shop and they'll be able to tell you where it was hit and what kinds of damage it sustained. When you drive it over check whether the car drives straight. You can look at the frame rails and see if they are wrinkled up and where those are. Main concern would be a bent frame rail between wheels.

But at the end of the day it's been on the road for twenty years and it's hard to believe there'd be really huge problems this long afterwards. Far more likely it was stolen and written off or a large smash that was repairable.

[smooth]

Sorry, but that's incorrect. The term 'full coverage' doesn't actually mean anything, but usually refers to having comprehensive, collision and liability coverages. Collision coverage pays for your damages up front with a deductible. Under a collision claim, an insurance company has an obligation to oversee and warantee repairs completed, or if the repairs exceed the threshold for repair total the car out.

It sounds like you didn't carry collision, meaning you were at the mercy of the claimant's carrier. A claimant carrier often does write an estimate and can cash-out either the repair cost or total loss under the other party's property damage liability coverage.

I never said there was a difference between full coverage and collision. You piped in with that comment in response to me stating that a financed car has to be fully insured and that repairs would have been done at an authorized repair center.

Most people here are going to be driving cars with basic liability *only* and are responsible for their own repairs and can go wherever they want to repair their cars. That wouldn't have been the case in 1994 when the 1990 car was in an accident.

It could have, for example, hit a tree and ruined the front end and taken out the engine. The car would have been repaired to how it rolled off the car lot back then. Now you can just grab a used engine from anywhere and roll around with an off-color hood and smashed grill. So saying it must have taken a lot of damage is misleading because that ignores a whole lot of other factors that go into repairing and totaling a brand new car that is still being financed.

[Mwishlist]

From the pics, the interior is in phenomenal shape and it looks all original / unmolested. The are no cracks in the dash, no tears in the seats, body looks straight with no rust, etc. The last two owners had it for about 3 years each and it looks like they each put a few thousand miles on it. They current owners are asking $4500 for it. Only negative is its an auto. I can not find a manual convertible anywhere close to me.

The proof will be once I get to actually drive it which may be tomorrow but probably Thursday.

So if it took a major hit or accident what should I look for? I have been reading the forum for a while and anything I can find on what to look for when buying an E30, but I wasn't expecting a salvage title on the first E30 I was really interested in. So I'm open on tips on what to look for.

A little background, I had a 1966 Mustang previously that I completely rebuilt and drive a 2008 328i E90 now. I am mainly looking for a rust free body with decent paint because I can't do body work, but mechanically I can fix just about anything.