Unsure about purchasing '05 LR3 with 80K miles and Rebuilt title...

[spencermcle]

I'm looking into purchasing an '05 LR3, and I found one with 80K miles and in good condition, however the owner says that it was in a "small accident that was easy to repair" and has a "rebuilt title after the accident". Should I be wary of purchasing it? What kind of problems should I be aware of with a vehicle with a rebuilt title? It's listed at a good price, and looks nice from the pictures. I'll have to see it in person of course to make sure. What do you guys think?

 

[huelsmma]

NO...run as far away as u can. No warranty, rebuilt title?? These things cause enough headaches at times without having been in a previous accident. Who gets into a small accident with easy repair and has title changed??

 

[SoCal LR3]

assuming this is equivalent to what i call a "salvage title," i would steer clear.

on salvage cars, issues can become apparent down the line that you don't see on a test drive (impossible to align correctly, more squeaks than a non-repaired car, air bags not replaced, pinched wires causing mystery shorts, etc.).

if i couldn't resist the urge to buy the car, i would have an expert mechanic do a THOROUGH review of the car and the repair paperwork. i would also talk to the shop that did the repairs to see what they thought.

my $.02 anyway. good luck.

 

[kingfishgrapeja]

even if it checks out fine. You'll have trouble financing an R title. If you are paying cash, you'll lose big on resale. So if the scenario is that the price is 50% of blue book trade, you are paying cash, you are planning to drive it into the ground, and it checks out then you probably should look into buying it.

As far as I know R titled cars have had significant repairs done, enough for the insurance company to total them out.

 

[JackMac]

There are plenty of other fish in the sea. Don't waste your time and money on this one. Especially when the seller tries to downplay a repair that potentially exceeded 75-80% of the vehicle's value.

 

[spencermcle]

Alright thanks everyone for the advice. Back to car shopping! If anyone has an LR3 near Washington State for sale, please contact me.

 

[jptruck]

What was the pricetag on the car with the re-built title? Just curious.

 

[spencermcle]

What was the pricetag on the car with the re-built title? Just curious.

It was around $16K. What is the price a normal 2005 LR3 should be going at, with around 70K miles (not with a rebuilt title)? I'm wondering what listings I'm finding are too high, or just about right price wise.

 

[bscmich]

Take a look at these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2006...1725985?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3cb308a521

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/05-V...4834848?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4aa6bab920

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/V6-S...6492129?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item45f6fc9661

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Land...b05QQitemZ250736159493QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1-OW...6118517?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3a61098af5

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005...0508037?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item56412abf85

Quite a few out there.

 

[beantmt]

I don't know much about titles, but....

I can't imagine that a "small" and "easy to repair" accident would result in a rebuilt title. Doesn't it have to be a salvaged title and then rebuilt to get the "rebuilt title" status? My wife was involved in a collision in town and it messed up the whole front and middle passenger side of our previous SUV, and it still kept it's clean title. Lots of cars that show accidents on CarFax will still have clean titles; and you can even get those for quite a bit cheaper.

Personally, I probably wouldn't buy a rebuilt title vehicle unless I knew the exact history and/or I was getting it for DIRT cheap, and confident that it would run reliably for a decent amount of time.