In fact, I find something interesting to me. Checked on KBB, the book value of my car went up from 8300 to 9400
that is 9 months after the purchase and 9000 extra miles

 

pass on it, the rear wheel is out of place, looks like suspension is bent, and possible diff problems.

 

Yea that thing is definitely bad, looks like damage to the unibody in the back there not to mention that wheel is not alligned properly at all. Look how close it is to the front of the wheel well. Your looking at suspension mounting points no longer being in proper places.

 

As a side note, you may have already checked with your insurance, but make sure your particular insurance company will even properly insure a salvage title. Some companies will only allow liability versus others will require you to have a certified mechanic fill out specific paperwork before agreeing to insure the vehicle under full coverage.

 

I know you probably really want an S, but if your budget is 7K, you really need to look for something else. For that price you are going to end up in over your head with a car that has a lot of problems. Look for an older Civic Si that has been taken car of or something like that. I just sold my '02 GTI for 8K and it was a great car that had been taken car of with only 55K miles on the clock.

 

yea 7k budget is not an s2000 budget. I can see 9-10k budget, because you also gotta pay to get it registered and all that stuff. So you should probably get a civic or something or save up money.

 

ap1 owners are swapping in ap2 trannies all the time (better gearing) and the leftover ap1 transmissions only go for like $500 here on this site. it's worth considering as i'd rather deal with swapping out a tranny instead of that body/structural/unknown damage.

 

as someone who has worked w a dealer, auctions, salvaged cars etc.

7k is too much for that car. you have no idea the condition of anything else, and depending on what state you live in you'd have to go through diff processes and burn through more money to get the car to a rebuilt title - making it actually road worthy. And apparently, insurance companies don't like to insure rebuilt cars (for obvious reasons, they were once salvaged), meaning you may have an issue getting insured or it could be more money. And if you ever want to sell this s2k, you won't get anywhere near the "clean" value of the car.;


the money you'll pump into this car you're better off just getting a private owned ap1 - you'll probably pay less.


good luck