Buying a car to part out - is it worth it?

[Lair]

I found a mostly complete 325i coupe at a local machine shop. The car's an auto, and the wheels are missing, but the rest of the car is present and accounted for.

Machine shop owner says that he rebuilt the head for a customer, then the wheels got stolen from his parking lot while he was waiting for the customer to pick it up.

Apparently the original owner decided he didn't want the car back, so the machine shop owner is stuck with it. It's been sitting for a while, and shop guy's asking for $1K. I can probably get it for $700. We didn't discuss titles, either. He may have a title or just a mechanic's lien.

Anyway. . .if any of you guys have opinions or experiences, I'd appreciate hearing them. I'm on the fence.

BTW, I'll try to get pics of it tomorrow.

[Jand3rson]

Depending on the condition, and what kind of extras it has, you should be able to clear at least $1000, probably more, after your $700 investment.

[golde30]

does it have the rebuilt head on it also? if so u can make back a good part of your money rite there...

[MR 325]

I just picked up an 87 iS from a buddy to part out. Got hit on the side by a tow truck.

[ZinRot325i]

I don't know if I'd personally pay anything to then have to part it out...if you could recoup your money plus, if that's what you're asking...I dunno, I'd prolly shoot for about $500 ideally.

Figure out how much your time is worth and how long it'll take to disassemble it.

[Lair]

does it have the rebuilt head on it also? if so u can make back a good part of your money rite there...

The shop owner said he rebuilt the head, and there's a head on the car.

It looks like a pretty decent car overall. Most of the cool bits are still on it. Bumpers are complete, too.

[delphini]

You didn't say what year..... why not get it put wheels back on and re-sell it outright????

[Bimmerfanatik]

Is it worth the money? Sure. Always lowball with cash in hand, you never know just how low he's willing to go if you're serious with greenbacks.

But, the better question - is it worth the time and hassle? I'm still undecided on that. Just make sure you know what you're getting into. It takes a lot of time to take the car apart correctly, separate everything, determine what's worth selling and what's junk, take pictures, post them on here, determine accurate asking prices, find interested buyers, negotiate price, determine shipping, find suitable packing for the shipping, get them to the shipping station of your choice, hope nothing happens to it on the way, and that there's no hassle if it does get damage.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Your definition of mint or low mileage could be very different to someone else. Even with pics people may not agree with the part they end up with.

I've parted and sold at least 10 e30's - I'm taking a break and focusing on my car and other things for a while. I've still got 3 or 4 that need to get parted, I'll either strip them and get rid of the shells, selling the parts in the spring, or just junk them.

Just make sure you know what you're getting into before you do...good luck either way! :)

[Lair]

Is it worth the money? Sure. Always lowball with cash in hand, you never know just how low he's willing to go if you're serious with greenbacks.

But, the better question - is it worth the time and hassle? I'm still undecided on that. Just make sure you know what you're getting into. It takes a lot of time to take the car apart correctly, separate everything, determine what's worth selling and what's junk, take pictures, post them on here, determine accurate asking prices, find interested buyers, negotiate price, determine shipping, find suitable packing for the shipping, get them to the shipping station of your choice, hope nothing happens to it on the way, and that there's no hassle if it does get damage.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Your definition of mint or low mileage could be very different to someone else. Even with pics people may not agree with the part they end up with.

I've parted and sold at least 10 e30's - I'm taking a break and focusing on my car and other things for a while. I've still got 3 or 4 that need to get parted, I'll either strip them and get rid of the shells, selling the parts in the spring, or just junk them.

Just make sure you know what you're getting into before you do...good luck either way! :)

Good advice.

I've owned at least 50 cars in my life, and I used to part vintage Vw's back in the day.

I'm familiar with the process. I just don't know what the market is like for E30 bits. I don't want to be stuck with a truckload of E30 junk for the next 6 months.

The car looks like an '89 or '90. I didn't check the VIN. I'll take a look tomorrow or Thursday. The car is 50 miles away, and I'll wait to make the trip in the company car.

As far as making it run and selling it as-is. . .it's an autotragic, and I'm not sure that shop owner has a title.

[StereoInstaller1]

Lair, you will learn so much from parting just one car. Things you will never see in any book, anywhere.

If the money won't kill you, do it.

If it is plastic bumpers, selling that would recoup a big part of the cost in the first place!

Luke

[Marvin_Hecht]

I've posted a similar question before, check this thread out..

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=54289&highlight=Process

Also search for parting, scrap metal, junkyards, etc.
'
I bought a "parts car" to pull certain key items and then sell the whole car later, and couldn't sell the whole thing even for $300 so now I'm starting to part the thing for real, slowly. I still need to go to the DMV and straighten up the mess as while I have the pinkslip, but title never officially transferred over to me since smog was never done. I am now looking at a light parting then have the thing towed away to a picknpull, Double 02 salvage, or roll it to the local fire station for training. While it is cool to be able to pull parts and have spare everything to sub out, the burden of dealing with this leadweight on my driveway is too much somedays. Its a sore spot with my wife, and now I know why the guy I bought it from kept saying that he just
needed to sell the thing whole because it had become an eyesore for him and the neighbors.

I kind of have two minds about the thing: one, I think if I made this a little family business, got to know all the title/DMV issues real well, got to know some metal recyclers who would pick up the carcasses for free, and bought
a little tow-dolly for my minivan, I could probably do ok as a little side business, because every week someone around here blows a timing belt and wants to sell the carcass desparately. I know another guy who was too cheap to haul the shell to the picknpull and literally sawed the thing apart in his yard, but told me he'd never do that again since all the fluids literally made his yard into a toxic waste dump. So even if I did it again I wouldn't go more than down to a rolling shell.

On the other hand, I think --- jeez why burden myself with these kind of things. Especially when you can go to a picknpull to get stuff yourself or
even get things cheap to resell (eg spoilers, clusters, seats etc).

[Lair]

That's my main concern. I don't want some POS hulk taking up space in my driveway. The neighbors would LOVE to see that for 6 or 8 months.

Plus, most salvage yards won't take a car that has no title.

[HST]

If it has plastic bumpers, a re-bulit head, and some good interior parts, you could make some money off of it. I would only pay $500 to $700 for the car.

[Bill 84 318i]

That's my main concern. I don't want some POS hulk taking up space in my driveway. The neighbors would LOVE to see that for 6 or 8 months.

Plus, most salvage yards won't take a car that has no title.

I think you just answered your own question.

Personally, I think parting out cars is a ridiculous pain in the ass for very little money.

[Lair]

It was a PITA 15 years ago when I was parting Kafers and Ghias. I had a 10 x 15 storage room that was always crammed full of parts.

If the web had been around back then, I could have made bank. I still managed to make a tidy profit - especially after the mags came out. I got calls from all over the country after that.

HST - it has all that stuff, but I can't remember if the seats are sport or not. I looked at it when I started the e30 quest a few months ago. The front end was a little beat, and the headlights were sealed beams, but I really don't remember much about the rest of it.