Ben, Not entirely correct - there are many reasons that a car can receive a "Salvage" title, not just from damage sustained and the insurance deciding that repair cost is more expensive than declaring it a loss. For example, if a car is stolen and recovered *after* the insurance has already paid the original owner, they may avoid the hassle of dealing with the old car - even if there is no scratch on that car and it is in the same state as before the theft, so they give it s Salvage title and deal it it that way. Another cause is *any* vehicle that is sent to a junk yard, whether it is fully functional or damaged or not, will get a Salvage title. I know this because my EV truck was sent by the City of Santa Rosa to the Pick-n-Pull when it did not sell in their freet sale. Consequently it received a Salvage title even though there was no physical damage - just neglected batteries and dry-rot tires and such. Someone bought it, put new batteries in, put good tires on, added a better charger and started driving it, then sold it to me.
If I am not mistaken, a "Salvage" title means that the vehicle is rebuildable and can be re-titled without much problem (just a brake and light inspection, a DMV check and if applicable, smog check, in California) whereas there are other designations for vehicles that cannot be re-titled, so they only have value as a parts-car. This is for example the case when a vehicle has many years of past-due DMV fees and penalties, causing the cost to title (and pay the backlog) to be higher than the value of the vehicle. Cor van de Water Chief Scientist Proxim Wireless Corporation http://www.proxim.com Email: [email protected] Private: http://www.cvandewater.info Skype: cor_van_de_water Tel: +1 408 383 7626 -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ben Goren via EV Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2014 12:38 PM To: Collin Kidder; Electric Vehicle Discussion List Subject: Re: [EVDL] EValert: !Don't buy a salvaged Tesla EV to repair&drive! (video) On Oct 2, 2014, at 12:15 PM, Collin Kidder via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > It is very common. People buy cars with a salvage title and fix them. Exactly -- the car basically becomes a kit and / or homemade car...very much like the overwhelming majority of EVs owned by the people reading these words, save that the sleds might or might not have had quite so dramatic an history. It's also worth noting that a salvage title only happens when the car is "totaled" by the insurance company: when the cost to repair is more than the value the car is insured for. That can happen from cosmetic damage, or from damage limited to an easily-repairable but expensive part, like an engine. For example, try to drive the car across a flooded wash, suck water into the intake, and the engine is dead...but the rest of the car may well still be in perfect condition. Insurance might not be willing to pay the price to replace the engine, and the owner might not care to, either, so the car is totaled...but somebody else might even have a perfectly-serviceable engine sitting on the shelf and be happy to drop it into the car and drive away. And, think about it: wouldn't one of the ultimate DIY EV projects be to resurrect one of the flagship commercial models? Ignoring this remote-disable nonsense, who _wouldn't_ want a Tesla? Imagine some pimply-faced teenager scouring the junkyard for the hotrod of her dreams, towing it home, and bringing it back to life over the course of the next year or so with money she saves from her job as a clerk at the auto parts store. How is what this guy is trying to do any different? ...except, of course, that Tesla took the keys, still has them, and won't give them up, and designed the car in such a way that you can't reasonably replace the lock without their help that they won't give. b& -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 801 bytes Desc: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20141002/d89e 1e12/attachment.pgp> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
