Coming back to RAM... though with a rebuilt title.... thoughts?

[ForTehNguyen]

salvage title voids warranty, this is a major thing to consider. Why on earth would a manufacture still honor a warranty on a car deemed totalled by insurance. Who knows how it was fixed. Its also a bigger pain to get financing and insurance for a salvaged vehicle.

 

[Biga]

I would just make sure the pictures you were showed of the damaged truck are of the same truck. It just seems hard to believe it would have a rebuild title on this new of a truck if the damage wasn't that extensive.

 

[SColang22]

Its all about the money involved in the insured repairs. the type of damage or repair needed has NOTHING to do with it. Its 100% a financial equation. Thats how several successful wholesale companies make VERY good money and keep hundreds of employees on a payroll. I just happen to luck out (I think) in that I was able to research and see via a neutral party site to see the actual damage, the cost estimate of repairs as well as exactly what the guy who bought the truck paid for the salvage vehicle, then saw the receipts for the materials he purchased with the VIN attached to his receipts mostly and then the State of Kentucky issued the Rebuilt title after the work was done, and then I looked it over and had it inspected mechanically by a neutral dealership and then the body worked looked at by the same neutral dealership. It was (and is) a gamble, and hopefully I dont lose..... but very happy so far with a luxury truck with 8k miles on it I could otherwise not afford

Hey I ain’t judging your decision. It’s just something I would be question pretty hard

 

[Barty88]

salvage title voids warranty, this is a major thing to consider. Why on earth would a manufacture still honor a warranty on a car deemed totalled by insurance. Who knows how it was fixed. Its also a bigger pain to get financing and insurance for a salvaged vehicle.

Right... which makes perfect sense... though I wish they had an exception based on the type of damage done... like completely void warranties for flood cars, frame damage cars, and cars that had engine or tranny damage (and repairs) but keep drive train warranty for cars with just expensive body panel damage. Either way I did go into that part with my eyes wide open, if there is no engine damage or repairs, no damage to pulleys, etc. I was comfortable given the cost savings. I also made sure my credit union and insurance companies covered it and didnt charge a premium to do so..... so that was all squared away prior to as well.

 

[Barty88]

Run the vin through this site. They should have pics of the truck from the auction.

autoauctions.io

Thanks, but that costs money...LOL I just google the VIN and it comes up on the IAAI site with pictures, description, estimated repair total and what the buyer paid.

 

[Majortom]

I

I had $38,000 in damage to my 2015 F150 after getting rear ended by an 18 wheeler. Had the frame replaced and still didn’t get a rebuilt title. Truck was less than a month old. Don’t make much sense at all

I had an Infiniti that was broken in to. They broke the driver window to get in and the glass cut the leather seats and was found to have gotten into the defrost vents. Add a couple small paint scratches and broken door lock and it was totaled out. Dealer’s body shop mentioned interior damage will total out a car often time faster than low speed collision will.

 

[SColang22]

I had an Infiniti that was broken in to. They broke the driver window to get in and the glass cut the leather seats and was found to have gotten into the defrost vents. Add a couple small paint scratches and broken door lock and it was totaled out. Dealer’s body shop mentioned interior damage will total out a car often time faster than low speed collision will.

Well mine was a high speed collision lol. I was at a dead stop on the highway and he hit me going 55. If I didn’t have a truck I would have been dead. Completely crumpled my bed, blew out every window except the windshield. Rear seat snapped. Center consule cracked needing replacement. Air bags blew. They pretty much rebuilt my truck and I still didn’t get a rebuilt title. Totaling is all about what they appraise. My truck was a month old when that happened so it got appraised as almost new and $38000 wasn’t enough of a percentage. What I’m saying is if a front end wreck is bad enough to get a rebuilt title and they say no mechanical issues that’s incredibly fishy

 

[Barty88]

Well mine was a high speed collision lol. I was at a dead stop on the highway and he hit me going 55. If I didn’t have a truck I would have been dead. Completely crumpled my bed, blew out every window except the windshield. Rear seat snapped. Center consule cracked needing replacement. Air bags blew. They pretty much rebuilt my truck and I still didn’t get a rebuilt title. Totaling is all about what they appraise. My truck was a month old when that happened so it got appraised as almost new and $38000 wasn’t enough of a percentage. What I’m saying is if a front end wreck is bad enough to get a rebuilt title and they say no mechanical issues that’s incredibly fishy

Not to beat a dead horse, but you said exactly what we are saying "...its all about what they appraise". Again, the KIND of damage is 100% meaningless to an insurance company as to whether they decide to 'total' a vehicle, its all about how MUCH it costs to fix not WHAT needs fixing. If a vehicle valued at $40k hits a 3 foot high concrete block on one corner going just 25mph, all the body damage might just be a fender, headlight, and bumper assembly. But mechanically it could have bent the frame, destroyed the suspension on the front on one side and ripped the wheel clean off... I have seen it... and the repairs might only be $4K for the body and $6k for straightening the frame and new ball joints, tie rod ends, sway bar, etc. etc. etc. Thats not going to be 'totaled' but that could drive slightly 'off' for life of the truck. Same speed that $40k vehicle hits the same 3 foot high concrete block head on and airbags deploy.... now you have thousands in airbag replacement, new bumper, new grille, at least one fender, new hood, new radiator, new AC condenser, 2 new headlights, and all the tiny trim pieces that surround the grille and bumper and headlights and fenders plus all the hours to do the body work and paint, disassemble and reassemble, probably on paper for insurance purposes $24k to fix because body work on newer vehicles is insane. So again with the math $40k vehicle needs $24k in work done or an insurance company gives the insured a check for $40k and sells the car at auction for $23k... being net out of pocket just $17k instead of the $24k in repairs.... If the engine (and pulleys in the front, alternator, etc) weren't compromised I would rather have the truck that was 'totaled' and had extensive body work done than the truck that was not 'totaled' and had $9k worth of front end and frame damaged fixed, which you may never know about as Carfax and others list it as "Front end collision, air bags did not deploy" and the seller can claim whatever they want to to as far as what happened.

 

[SColang22]

Not to beat a dead horse, but you said exactly what we are saying "...its all about what they appraise". Again, the KIND of damage is 100% meaningless to an insurance company as to whether they decide to 'total' a vehicle, its all about how MUCH it costs to fix not WHAT needs fixing. If a vehicle valued at $40k hits a 3 foot high concrete block on one corner going just 25mph, all the body damage might just be a fender, headlight, and bumper assembly. But mechanically it could have bent the frame, destroyed the suspension on the front on one side and ripped the wheel clean off... I have seen it... and the repairs might only be $4K for the body and $6k for straightening the frame and new ball joints, tie rod ends, sway bar, etc. etc. etc. Thats not going to be 'totaled' but that could drive slightly 'off' for life of the truck. Same speed that $40k vehicle hits the same 3 foot high concrete block head on and airbags deploy.... now you have thousands in airbag replacement, new bumper, new grille, at least one fender, new hood, new radiator, new AC condenser, 2 new headlights, and all the tiny trim pieces that surround the grille and bumper and headlights and fenders plus all the hours to do the body work and paint, disassemble and reassemble, probably on paper for insurance purposes $24k to fix because body work on newer vehicles is insane. So again with the math $40k vehicle needs $24k in work done or an insurance company gives the insured a check for $40k and sells the car at auction for $23k... being net out of pocket just $17k instead of the $24k in repairs.... If the engine (and pulleys in the front, alternator, etc) weren't compromised I would rather have the truck that was 'totaled' and had extensive body work done than the truck that was not 'totaled' and had $9k worth of front end and frame damaged fixed, which you may never know about as Carfax and others list it as "Front end collision, air bags did not deploy" and the seller can claim whatever they want to to as far as what happened.

Hey I’m not saying it’s not possible. I’m saying it’s super fishy. To get the dollar value to be totaled on a head on wreck you would most likely need more than just cosmetic to get to (depending on state) 75%. On a 40k that’s 30k in damages. Unless your putting platinum bumpers and a gold steering wheel and a dash made of titanium it’s very hard to see how nothing mechanical was damaged. Insurance companies do all they can and so do the repair shops to not total vehicles so to get there is very difficult (as I found out with that POS Ford). Not saying it can’t be done and it ain’t my money. Just saying it’s very very very fishy

 

[Willwork4truck]

Well the OP bought it, doesn't much matter anymore. Best we give him some "breathing space" and ask he reports back in 180 days or so and lets us know how it's doing.

For grins and info for others considering salvage/rebuilt titles we can discuss how vehicles get totaled, which ones are the "chanciest" (flood, ft end hit etc) and that might be good information for someone else but in the long run, the OP did what he believed was his due diligence and he bought it. 9/10 of us may not have thought it was a great idea but it was his decision/his $.
I hope it works out for him.
There's plenty of YT videos about the auctions, rebuilders and how they do things, so there's obviously a lot of action on that front.

 

[Patsy1099]

The ironic thing is this truck probably has an AC that blows ice cubes and doesn’t have a single leak

 

[NJC1684]

Hey I’m not saying it’s not possible. I’m saying it’s super fishy. To get the dollar value to be totaled on a head on wreck you would most likely need more than just cosmetic to get to (depending on state) 75%. On a 40k that’s 30k in damages. Unless your putting platinum bumpers and a gold steering wheel and a dash made of titanium it’s very hard to see how nothing mechanical was damaged. Insurance companies do all they can and so do the repair shops to not total vehicles so to get there is very difficult (as I found out with that POS Ford). Not saying it can’t be done and it ain’t my money. Just saying it’s very very very fishy

What does mechanical have to do with insurance and a vehicles title? Nothing - unless bought back by the manufacture as a lemon.

 

[NJC1684]

Well, I did it. I was very wary given most of the feedback, but I also agreed with the points of having this to drive for a long time (not worried about resale value at this point). I met the guy at very reputable dealer at a neutral site far from either one of our hometowns and they did a multi-point inspection as well as showing them before pictures so they could get under and look all around. They saw nothing and said it looked great. I then drove it over to the same dealer chain (different brand store) to their collision department and had their guy (big shout out to Ben at Goldsteins collision in Alabany, NY!) who was super nice, donated some time and pointed out a couple minor things he could pick up on in some very small spots on the hood that he said were just aesthetic (from 8 inches away) and that overall all the gaps looked good, paint was a good job (not great by his standards) and didn't see anything to be concerned about. I also looked more closely at some before pictures and talking to the guy and reading the independent report prior to insurance auction that it ran and drove and nothing past the AC compressor in the front was damaged, nothing got pushed too far in. Most importantly it drives amazing, the tires are wearing exactly as they should for almost 10,000 miles, even, truck doesn't pull or edge sideways or anything like that at all. I spent a few more hours on the train researching other rebuilt title truck at the similar price point and found none as nice and none priced as low save one much lesser trimmed flood truck for the same money. I know its a gamble but I did the best I could due diligence wise and felt comfortable. At the end of the day I could not afford nearly as nice of a truck even with a lot of miles on it so my trade was a carefully inspected rebuild fully loaded vs a basic Big Horn with some factory warranty left and a clean title for roughly the same price.... Hope I wasnt wrong but it felt right. Thanks for everyone's input and honesty.... dont hammer me too hard now, I own it!....

Congratulations! Now show us the photos.

 

[SColang22]

What does mechanical have to do with insurance and a vehicles title? Nothing - unless bought back by the manufacture as a lemon.

Has to do with how much it costs to fix