Alrightythen,
Newbee in need of Disco knowledge. I am looking a buyingan '02 Disco II SE Loaded but there is a catch. The truck has a salvage title from a Michigan flood. The owner is a dealer of salvage vehicles and had his mechanic look at and flush trans, no water was present. Differentials had no water, engine had no water, there is no musky smell inside, Ilooked at the undercarraige and it looks really nice, even I could'nt tell its a Michigan truck. Two things are wrong with it, Radio is dead, maybe a fuse but I don't know?. The other issue is the transmission, when put into gear there is a light that flashes on the dash and according to the manual it says there is a communication error between the computer and the transmission. The truck takes off in second or third gear and does'nt wantto downshift into first. In park and reverse there is no error on dash and operate fine. I am hoping that it is just a solenoid or vaccum modulator but I am not sure. Everything else works fine, engine, windows, locks, sunroofs, seats, lights, etc. It has 61k miles, red exterior, tan interior, 18inch rims, loaded, dual sunroofs, very sharp, and I can probably get for $8,000. I know its a good deal but am leery about this problem. Any comments or concerns are welcome.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

Im no mechanic, but know from being part of other messg. boards (Mercedes, Bmw, Now here) that a salvage car is Extreamly hard to unload if you decide to sell it in the future! Keep that in mind as well as look into insurance issues. I have read in some states it could be hard to get the coverage you may need? Try looking on ebay, For around 10ishK you can normally find a Disco. Not sure on the budget or now much it would cost to make the truck run right? just my .02
Good luck in your search!

 

If you do look on eBay, which was a good suggestion, watch out for cars from Texas. There is no salvage title there and so a flood vehicle could be sold as normal.

On the truck you're considering now, the insurance company paid out a claim for its value and sold it at auction for pennies on the dollar. $8000 seems a lot of money for anything with a salvage title and the possibility of flood damage, not to mention some odd problems already in place. You could find this thing nickel and diming you for the next few years to the tune of far more cash than a clean '02 would have cost you with no flood damage. There could be internal corrosion on engine and transmission parts, regardless of what their reports say. If water ends up in the intake and a cylinder or two, it's all over but the crying.

If it were me, I'd avoid it unless the deal was so good I could afford some major repairs before it would add up to the cost of a good one to begin with. I'm thinking $3-4K would be the max I'd be willing to risk on something like that.

Dave

 

I bought my '03 disco (60K miles) for 12000. The gent was ready to let it go because of the gas prices. Some food for thought, you might find some value out there without inheriting possible pain. You may end up paying 10000 dollars total after correcting the problems. Electrical ghosts are a hallmark of flood title vehicles..

good luck!

 

DAVE,

The state of Texas does issue a SALVAGE / NON REPAIRABLE title.

here is the state's website:


http://www.dot.state.tx.us/forms/vehicle_titles.htm

I'm not sure how or where you got that info...especially when you're in Colorado.[sm=dontgetit.gif]



Ryan,
I do agree w/Dave on not purchasing a SALVAGE/FLOODvehicle....NO MATTER how loaded it is. It's just a bad investment.

 

Really bad idea. You will have electrical problem till the day you sell it out of frustration.
For $9000 or so you can buy one with a clean tile, decent mileage and alot less worries.

 

Well, no need to shout in bold letters, Don. Apoliterequest for clarificationwould do.

It seems my recollection was not quite complete, so I asked the friend who told me this(he manages a car dealer in Dallas) last year to explain it to me again.Apparently, according to the Texas regulations, a car may be salvage titled outside of Texas and rebuilt or repaired, and still be issued a clean title in Texas. He e-mailed me the following excerpt from a state document titled "Texas Salvaged Vehicle Regulations and Consumer Protections", available from the DMV. It says:
[align=left]A salvage motor vehicle is a motor vehicle (regardless of the model year) that:[/align][align=left](1) is damaged or is missing a major component part to the extent that the cost of repair including parts and labor, exceeds the actual value of the motor vehicle immediately before the damage, or[/align][align=left](2) is damaged and comes into this state under an out-of-state salvage motor vehicle certificate of title or similar out-of-state ownership document that states on its face “accident damage,” “flood damage,” “inoperable,” “rebuildable,” “salvageable,” or similar notation; and[/align][align=left](3) does not include:[/align][align=left](a) an out-of-state motor vehicle with a “rebuilt,” “prior salvage,” “salvaged,” or similar notation, a nonrepairable motor[/align][align=left]vehicle[/align]
The part in red is the loophole. It means that if the car was repaired out of state and issued a rebuilt or prior salvage title, Texas will apparently issue it a clean title. It then falls to carfax and other databases to catch out of state salvage history.

I have no idea whether other states have similar verbiage in their requirements for salvage titles and certainly don't mean to pick on Texas, but I do remember that this became an issue in the aftermath of Katrina as my friend said flood damaged cars were coming through Texas in large numbers at that time. Perhaps the moral of the story is to get a carfax report, regardless of what state the vehicle is being purchased from.

Dave