Need some advice if this is a good or bad buy for my daughter’s first car. Front end damage, salvage title due to the body work exceeding the car’s value. 77k miles, seems to run great, interior flawless. No ratteling, all doors are aligned properly. I have had one mechanic shop says VW are the worst cars always breaking down, and other reviews on google say they last forever 200k + miles.
I have the vin report, and pictures of the damage before. What I worry about is if it had any electrical problems due to front end collision.
Please let me know if this is a SAFE buy and worth the money. Only $5800, he is willing to negotiate and is offer $4,800.
Lets see, used Volkswagen , salvage title , company that has been fined several times , not an extensive dealer network , possible getting insurance on problems, unverified rumors of VW 's going many miles and if you ask I can list more reasons to look for something else.
There’s plenty to like about a new VW with its 60,000 mile nearly all-inclusive warranty. But this car does not have those qualities. Look at Consumer Reports for VW reliability. There are many better, safer, more reliable, more durable cars than a wrecked and repaired VW.
nadaguides.com shows $6200 full dealer retail for this car (in my area), clean title, etc. Clean trade is $4200. The owner’s asking prices appear way too high for a salvage title.
This type of car does not appeal to me, but if it did, I wouldn’t pay more than $3500 with a salvage title. Keep in mind that VW’s are not great when it comes to reliability and repair costs, and that a VW which has been in an accident might have ongoing problems.
Concur, the price seems quite a bit too high. I’d say anything beyond $3000 would lose my attention, and even at $3000 personally wouldn’t buy it. It would have to be less than $1000 before I’d be swayed with the car in that condition. VW Jetta’s are good cars, but from what I recall VW’s in general seem to get reports of unusual problems , often electrical system, here quite often. I had a late 70’s VW Rabbit and had some weird electrical system problems with that, as well as some difficult to diagnose fuel system problems as well. I expect VW’s fuel system problems have been overcome by now (at least for their gasoline engines). But the VW electrical system? The jury is still out on that I think. Suggest to type in VW Jetta into the forum search feature (that icon that looks like a magnifying glass above right) and see what sorts of problems you see reported. Compare those to what you get typing in Corolla or Civic.
Beyond that, check what Consurmer Reports Used Car Guide has to say about that make/model/year and whenever buying a used car, before writing any checks pay your own mechanic the $100 or so it takes to get a pre-purchase inspection. Hope I’m not appearing to being overly pessimistic. If you can get it for the right price, it might work out pretty nice as a ride for your daughter.
I don’t know where you live, but in my state, NY, you can’r register a salvage title car until it passes a safety inspection. I would not be afraid of buying a VW, they are not the worst cars on the road. All depends on price, as others have said, about $3000 seems right but don’t agree to purchase it until you agree on a price and pending inspection by YOUR mechanic.
I don’t know about their dealer betwok being sparse, there are certainly plenty of them around here.
I am with others here.VW is not known for reliability even though the Jetta and the Golf are their better models. Then you have the salvage title.
On the pics, how are you certain that this is the same car you are buying. Could be another silver Jetta and the one you are buying looked much worse.
You are trying to save money but might end up spending more. Bear in mind, if you don’t like the car for whatever reason, selling it would be close to impossible.
The 4 words above got this warning " body unclear, is this a complete sentence?" And would not post until I added all this extra crap. So in addition to the 10 character rule, we also have to use correct punctuation and grammar. Is spelling going to be next?
First, after repair I would question the crash worthiness of that car in the hands of a crash prone new driver.
Second, I would question the chance of a hidden problem rearing its ugly head later.
I like the idea of a new driver starting out with something modest, but this is a step too far IMHO.
Both can be true. Anything will last forever if you keep fixing it. If you have to ask, then you don’t know enough about fixing cars to save money by always fixing it yourself, so you will have to pay mechanics when it breaks. That’s great news for the mechanic, but not so much for you.
