This is my first post so please bear with me here. I'm ditching my 350Z and I'm planning on jumping ship to the S2K in a few months. I have a connect through my brother with a re-builders license which would be able to get me a salvage S2K from the insurance auctions. I'm looking mainly at the theft recovered cars but I noticed alot of them are missing the entire dash, steering wheel, radio and sometimes seats so they are listed as untested. I'm aware that the S2K uses a push button start so would I just be able to buy an OEM dash and have it installed for the car to be able to start? Or is there more involved? Also are there any other potential start up risk in getting a S2K that is missing a dash?

 

which aution are you planning buying from? also which state are you in? My bro has a dealer license too and i will getting an s2000 from an auction. I'd say check the VIN and stay AWAY from theft....they will give a lot of problems.... its better if it wrecked....check to make sure that it says "car turns on" or something like that....good luck

 

I'm not sure exactly which auction it will be. I should know the specifics on all of the available auctions within a couple days.. I've been doing most of my looking on iaai.com though. I'm in Illinois to be exact.

 

ohh cool thats where I am buying from too.....try to buy from your state....if you buy from another state its a lot off hassel..... and again stay away from theft....coz u dont know what has been done to that car....
BTW I got the unlimited VIN check at autocheck for like 60 days....so if you want me to check a few VIN's for you...that be no problem...

 

Thanks alot. I'll definitely stay away from theft now.

 

uhh, not sure why this guy posted for you to stay away from theft, but theft is probably what you would want to look into.

1. 99% theft = no collision, I cannot justify enough about why not to get a car that was in a wreck....obvious reasons

2. theft cars might seem harder to work on because you might have to replace a lot of things. If the ecu/ignition was stolen, then you might havea harder time to located a ecu for the car, and get a key programmed specifically for that ecu, but any dealer and knowledgeable place can get this done or you.

Would you want a car that has frame damage, or simply missing a couple things that can be replaced....seats/rims/interior pieces, etc....?

3.Any theft that is past 30 days, or is more than 50% of the value of the car is considered salvage.

think about that one for a minute...what does this mean?
It means that the insurance gets quotes on the stolen parts from the dealership.

we all know at s2ki that s2k seats cost how much from the dealership?
If you dont know, it's roughly 9k for all the pieces of the seats.

So, if your car is 18k or less, and your seats were stolen, you hae a high chance that the insurance comp will salvage out your vehicle, but usually thefts are more than just seats, it goes on to other parts as well.

I dont know what maniac is referring to when he is telling you to stay away from theft, and go w/ a collision car? But that is the total opposite in my book....

I can go on, but it's late....

anyone else feel free to chime in.

 

I'm on a tight budget and so I avoid two types of cars, new (too expensive) and salvaged (too much headache). It takes patience and compromise but a clean, low milage pre-owned distress sale (loss job, unplanned parenthood, divorce etc) is the bang for buck.

 

I have owned multiple theft recoverys and basically only buy them.

My latest 07 had 3k miles on it and was only missing the interior and some wheels.

They take a little bit of work but its worth it in the end.

I have also owned many wrecked cars but you need a quality body man. Or use them to put your theft cars together.

 

I think buying a stolen car would be just fine but i would get the car looked at bvy a mechanic first to make sure all the necessary parts are there and if not make sure its not going to cost you thousands. Even a wrecked salvage is ok i have seen many that were peiced together perfectly with no structural damage and you wouldn't have even know anything had ever happened to it. just know what you getting into when oyu make a decision.

 

What this guy said.

My dad is a car dealer/mechanic. He has purchased mainly wrecked cars to fix and resell till I told him to look for theft. MUCH cleaner work. I used to work for him and just for the stress of the job side of things. Being clean and working on a car is a LOT less stressfull then being greasy all over.

I kinda got off on a tangent there. But the idea is, theft recovery cars are a lot easier and less stressful to fix.