Help!

[csjohnson2]

Would anyone here reccommend purchasing an 04 corolla LE for 10,800 that has a salvage title. It was in a fender bender type accident. The left side of the car was hit (not head on, it appeared to be side swiped) and caused some damage that was fixed by the dealer/seller. The front windshield was smashed at the top and the top of the car was dented in but everything has been fixed back to normal. The airbags did not go off. It is always a tough decision to buy something at a substantial discount that was in an accident. Any opinions or experiences with this type of thing would be appreciated!

Oh, the car has only 4k miles and I called a toyota dealership where I lived and gave them the VIN and they said the warranty was still good for over 2 years. I thought it was odd that the 3/36,000 warranty was still good although I did not mention to them it was a salvage title. I have to make a decision soon so any replies would be great.

Craig

[jherbert]

I am not particularly knowledgeable on mechanical issues. But I have read a lot of materials that would indicate that a collision can really damage a car in the long run. In other words, just fixing the body damage doesn't necessarily get the car back to what it was before.

Whatever you do, get it throughly inspected by a non biased mechanic. Even if you have to pay. It is worth it, given the purchase price.

I would also demand a steep discount on the price.

At the end of the day, it is a risk. You are paying less, but the chances of having problems are greater. I would personally rather buy a car with more mileage but which hasn't been in an accident.