I am looking at an 05 S2000 that has 27000 miles on it. I know that it was in some sort of minor front end collision. The bumper looks like it was repaired somehow and repainted but it IS the original front bumper. The air bags were deployed but have been replace or whatever so they are not just hanging out. The carfax says frame/unibody damage and the car was bought at and auction. EVERYTHING on the car lines up perfectly except for the front bumper. So I am guessing it was only minor front end frame damage if any at all. All the fenders line up etc and I got under the car and I can't see anything bent or broken aside from the messed up bumper.

How much is this car worth? The dealer is asking 17 and I laughed at them. I told them to call me back when they want to sell it for 13 but is it even worth that? Like I said the car still drives and looks brand new aside from the front bummper issue.

 

dont even bother with salvage title cars unless you can weld, cut and source abstract parts without breaking your bank. and then even still only use it for a track car or something along the lines, or just a nice coffee table.

 

are you speaking from experience?
last I recall, theft recovery cars didn't require welding and cutting. and do you understand which part of the chassis is crucial for steering geometry and which is not?

to the OP:
take it to a frame shop and see if everything is aligned to spec, the front of an s2000 is not actually that important for its steering geometry. if it was in a direct front impact collision (down the center), it is probably repairable if not already repaired. the bumper reinforcement bar is pretty beefy, if it bent past that and caused the rails the bow in then you may encounter some problems. as long as the damage isn't past the shock towers and the front cross-beam is untouched (the one in front of the motor) it shouldn't be terrible.

The car when repaired is probably worth 10-12k, but you should shoot for lower depending on what a frame shop says. to get a car on a frame rack for any chassis alignment is usually over 1000$. If I were you and truly considering picking up the car I would show up in person, test-drive it to a frame shop and ask for an opinion, drive back with a print-out and offer 5k in cash

heck if you're looking to buy an AP2 S2k and willing to come down to california I know of one thats only 13k with a clean title.

 

It's not worth 13 at all!

 

is that the black on with hardtop?

Anyways Ive seen frame damaged ones at salvage auctions in that year range pulling about 8 grand, then add maybe 3 grand to get it back to driveable there might be 11 grand into it...

However just wait for a clean title one you can get one for cheap as hell if you look around

 

It is already repaired it is just the front bumper was fixed terribly. I think all the damage was done at the front bumper area.

 

Yup. Dagle knows his goodies and is totally right. Anything past the shock tower and front cross member beam is just wasted space and does not affect driveability or handling.