Salvage Titles

[dt]

This is a hypothetical question...

Let's say that someone finds a bike for sale on Craigslist or someplace like that. That someone can find the resale values on Kelly Blue Book, NADA and a couple other places...and then work on a price based upon the condition of the bike. However, let's add that the bike has a salvage title. The question is whether, all other considerations aside at that point, the salvage title should further depress the value of the bike or not and, if so, how much (lets say in percentage of the estimated value with a clean title)? Don't consider the part-out opportunity, 'cuz the person wants a bike to ride.

I would say in very general terms that the percentage discount for a starting point would be 50%. I don't have a real basis for that, but minimally I would consider that resale value would be a significantly at risk. To emphasize that point, I probably wouldn't even consider buying a motorcycle with a salvage title...to actually use.

This is hypothetical only because a family friend already made her decision and bought one. If she'd consulted with me I'd have been able to ask this question before she bought it and it might have provided basis to negotiate the price she paid down.

[Croz]

I may be wrong... (hasn't happened yet, but it might ) but can a bike with a Florida salvage title be titled and plated in Florida? I recall seeing some ads on craigs and such saying bike x had a salvage title so it couldn't be plated in Florida, but could in another state.

A little googling doesn't give me an answer, but you might need to contact the tax collectors office to make sure it can be done first.

And I would agree with 50%, particularly if I didn't know who did the salvage. If it were someone I knew and I knew what they did to get the bike running, I'd do less, but you have no ideas what hidden problems might come up later. And "Salvage" is always going to follow that bike, killing future resale.

[dt]

I may be wrong... (hasn't happened yet, but it might ) but can a bike with a Florida salvage title be titled and plated in Florida? I recall seeing some ads on craigs and such saying bike x had a salvage title so it couldn't be plated in Florida, but could in another state.

Croz...good point, because I always thought that too. I thought that a bike with a salvage title could only be registered if the salvage title was converted to a rebuild title (those require inspections down at DMV). Well, our family friend shows up with this bike plated with an under-21 tag...it's really a mess, too...and as I'm going over it she admits that the seller gave her a salvage title and that the new title she got is stamped as a salvage title. Doing similar googling on this very point, I too am confused about the rule. But one thing that I'm pretty sure that I understand from the reading I did is that once it goes into salvage title mode, that can't be changed.

[v65infla]

Bike's a mess with a salvage title and the deal is already done??  Best thing to do from this point is to find a good frame with a title and make one good bike, fixing as you go. 

[dt]

Unfortunately, that’s not possible. This specific case is a young 18yo high school girl from a neighborhood over from ours. Not sure about the situation (none of my biz) but she’s mostly on her own as I understand it. She wanted a bike for her full-time commuter…school and work. She’s got income from work, but really doesn’t know too much about motorcycles so I don’t think a lot of work or money on the bike is forthcoming. I’ll help where I can of course.

She knows that I have motorcycles, as we always have two or three around here, so I guess she just wanted to show me the new bike. I was kind…told her I didn’t know anything about sport bikes. I did load her up with some gear though because she had zip…showed up with a half shell that didn’t say DOT approved anywhere on it. I gave her my son’s Shoei full face. I also gave her a good armored jacket that at least has a liner for colder weather. I also pulled out a couple pairs of gloves for her, including some nice cold weather ICONs. Couldn’t help with the pants or boots, but maybe I’ll think of something.

Anyway, on the bike. It’s a 2002 Kawasaki ZX-6R…a 600cc Ninja. On a positive note, I thought it sounded good; no weird mechanical noises. It made it through all the gears without any problem. Doesn’t smoke. Brakes seem to work…although see below.

On the bad side…it’s been on its sides (each) more than a couple times. There is lots of bad rash on the frame and engine components. The left bar handle has an enormous gash like the bike low sided fifty yards on it. The levers were obviously bent back into some form of usefulness from pretzels. It’s devoid of its fairings, gauges, turn signals, mirrors. When I sat on it, the seat slipped to the side; the plastic pan is all broken and doesn’t set in the bracket. The pedal part of the brake pedal is entirely broken off such that all she’s got is the little bar there to depress for rear brake. What else? There’s more but I forget.

So what did this gem cost? $1,250. Trade in, presumably for a model in good shape is $1,850 and a private deal is probably around $2,250…again, a model in good shape I presume. If you agree with me that the salvage title causes a big discount, I’m thinking the bike is worth $400 to $500, and that’s the point of the thread. She didn’t consider any discount related to the salvage title and I think she should have. If she’d of asked that would have been my advice. If I saw the bike I’d of told her to keep looking.

Anyway, it is what it is. I got her geared up so I feel better about that. I also threw on those saddle bags that I got for the trip up to NC…wasn’t planning on using them anywhere. I know I’ve got some mirrors over in my storage unit that I can make work and I can’t sleep knowing about that broken brake pedal so I found and bought a used one on eBay for $15 for her. It’s an all around bummer. I understand caveat emptor and all that, but I think the seller took advantage of this situation.

[v65infla]

Hopefully Jr. is the benefactor of all of your kindness.   

[dt]

LOL! He seems more interested in destroying my Jeep. 

btw, how's you're son healing up?

[v65infla]

LOL! He seems more interested in destroying my Jeep. 

btw, how's you're son healing up?

He is a hurting puppy.  MRI today after working through the insurance company since Monday morning.  Now waiting for referral from main doc' to pediatric ortho.  They will try to squeeze us in tomorrow once the referral comes through.  Main Doc's office couldn't even tell me if the girl that does referral's will be tonight to do them or not.      Glad to have insurance but they sure do make you jump through hoop's.  In the mean time he fall's further behind in school.  He was doing great this year but struggling to keep up with Algebra (Doesn't everybody?) so this isn't going to help.   

[dt]

I flunked algebra in hs. Now I use it every day.   

[dt]

My wife handles all the insurance stuff. I can't deal with it. It's ridiculous!

[dt]

I take a pill for high cholesterol. The insurance company asks if I'd get pills two times the size I'm supposed to take and cut them in half. I say no, that's stupid. They say if I don't they won't pay for it. I ask if my premium goes down if they don't pay for the med. They say no...but we'll send you a free pill cutter. Idiots!

[mrbones]

I thought the whole point of a salvage title was to deem it not fit for the road. But you could repair it, have it inspected, and make it road worthy again. Is that not the case?

And yes, I think your value assessment is right. She did get ripped off.

[dt]

Here’s a brief discussion that I was looking at on Florida Salvage Titles.

http://usedcars.about.com/od/usedcarhistories/a/FloridaSalvageTitleLaws.htm

Most of what you can find to read on it relates to cars. It appears that salvage titles are something that happen after an insurance company replaces or pays off on a wreck…and note that it also says theft. Not all motorcycles have collision damage protection, but I know that most banks require it when loans are outstanding. From other things I’ve read, the vehicles make it back into the market when they are either sold back to the owner or sold to some outfit in the business of handling salvage vehicles (part out or fix and sell). It really says nothing about post-wreck inspections or anything like that to establish road worthiness.

[danh600]

I don't know much about how salvage titles work, but I am quite sure there is no one qualified to inspect the road worthiness of a motorcycle at my local DMV. That plus the fact there are no state inspection stations leads me to believe you are on your own as to the road worthiness of a salvaged bike.

[dt]

So as an update, the Ninja finally shows up yesterday so I can install the brake pedal. It’s now for sale. Yeah, apparently more than anything else, this bike has been a real cop magnet. I guess they see this pile and think (sorta exactly what I think) that it’s really an unsafe pos. Anyway, the owner asked if I knew anyone who’d be interested, so here are a couple photos I took of this jewel. She still wants a motorcycle…and a sportbike at that.







One additional thing, as I was moving it around (pushing it), I kept pinching my fingers between the bar and tank…damn sportbikes! Oh wait, that’s not it. The bars are bent.



Also, now apparently it’s overheating. Egad! That’s kinda hard to diagnose, but I looked it over. The first thing I found is a huge crack in the reservoir. That’s probably a $20 part from a part out, but...heck…don’t exactly have one laying around at the moment. That’s probably not the cause of overheating anyway, but it’s certainly a place to lose coolant.



In fact, the reservoir was empty and I drained a mere quart of coolant out of the engine/rad…spec is a little under four quarts…sealed the crack in the reservoir and refilled with Coolanol and burped it. I ran it for about 15-20 minutes and everything seemed to be okay, except the fan motor didn’t come on. Woulda thought it would have. I just sense that there are more issues there, maybe electrical, maybe the heat sensor, thermostat…not sure.

I honestly don’t think this has much value beyond a part-out deal and then there are so many scraped up and dented parts you’ve got to wonder what someone would pay for it…or if they’d buy it at all. Don’t forget that there’s a salvage title on the frame which started this whole thread. Anyway, let me know if you have any thoughts.

[mrbones]

I would think this would make a good stunt bike for somebody with a little fix up.

[Croz]

I would think this would make a good stunt bike for somebody with a little fix up.

There's a marketing approach I hadn't considered! And probably the best one out there. "Don't practice your stunts on your best bike, buy this beater and practice on it!"

I've seen weirder ads on Craigslist.