whats goin on guys, i've been saving for a while for a new car long story short, I found a '98 Integra on cl with only 70k miles, auto, supposedly ran great. seller was only asking 2.5..I got in touch with them and set up a meet for today to test drive her. Offered 2.3, before leaving I remembered to make sure it wasnt salvage, and the seller said it was but only due to theft and thats why the reason for a new engine/sound system. So I asked for them to provide a carfax or if I can have the vin, and when I ran the carfax it came up as a GSR with branded titles of: Not Actual Mileage, Rebuilt, Salvage.. It say's the car has 182k miles on it, but the seller says thats whats on the chasis. In one section of it's life where it was given the not actual mileage title again it says: Mileage reported after this reading is potentially unreliable.. He mentioned that it belonged to a friend who had tooken good care of it but needed money and instead of loaning it bought his car. Anyways last december it did pass maintenance inspection at a certified honda dealer, I gave them a call for more info but they haven't returned my call.. What i'm really wondering here is if i should spend my money to go out and test drive it, seeing as everything else on cl is salvage with more mileage. All i really need is a reliable car to make me more money, I dont plan on selling. Thanks guys!

 

Buy something else

 

If really cheap maybe, me personally I'd never buy a salvage car unless building a track car or just needed a bucket to drive around, point a to b.

 

Wait just read your overly long sentence, auto gsr...lmfao!!! You do what ever you wanna do, your money dude.

 

thats what i said, I thought it was an ls, no where in the ad does it say gsr. anyways for that price range on cl only clean titles are obv above 200k and more then half the ads are salvage titles with more then 100k looking for more then i offered lol. So at this point idk what to do

 

titles are meaningless on cars this old. i've seen all kinds of "clean title" cars that have been wrecked and just never turned in

also have seen salvage cars that have never been wrecked

but

you need to do your own look over with this car. assume mileage is not accurate with ANY 90s honda. always do compression and leakdown tests. that's more important that mileage. always jack the car up and look for body damage and run the vin to see why the car was issued a salvage title. most are wrecks and repairs. autocheck will tell you if it was theft or an accident.

also keep in mind most $2000 cars are POS mobiles

the civic/integra can be one of the better cheap cars but you need to know what you're looking for

XJ jeep cherokee is the other reliable car you can get around that money

 

x2 on the compression test

x2 on jacking the car up

buying these cars i feel your not only evaluating a car, but also the seller, which can dictate the condition of the car. if he is giving you a hard time while you examine the car with a fine tooth comb. just walk away because its probably not worth it.

and...a compression tester can be rented at pep boys autozone for free. look up youtube videos on how to do it.

 

Buying a salvage car is usually associated with some risk, but I think that as long as it is cheap it is worth it. I got my car at auction for crashed cars crashescars.com it had the front end damage and of course I had to spend some money to repair it, but I bought it really really cheaply so I never regretted it. If your car just has a salvage title and is rebuilt, well you just need to test drive it of course or if you have any doubts, have the car inspected by some professional, and then decide if you want to buy it or not.

 

So my question would be, what engine was installed, did they install The VTEC engine or just an LS engine? 94

 

I would never buy an auto from Honda.

 

just an LS engine, my guess is the insurance company figured why replace with the vtec engine save some money, swap it to auto and throw a b18b1 in? but anyones guess is as good as mine.

UPDATE: I ended up buying it because i needed a car and it was a smooth test and overview. I drove my buddys non-salvage LS a few nites ago that he paid more for. He and I agreed that the car i purchased has better handling. I registered it the other day no problems, and today changed the oil and filter. Filter was on tight as f**k lol.. I went full synthetic castrol 5w-30, with a bosch filter. Also changed my front and back emblem. Thinking of what to do next, any suggestions performance wise? I may try and get rid of the rims, kinda ghetto looking black ones not really my style. maybe buy some offbrand mesh with my refund

 

An insurance company would not convert a manual into an auto.

 

well it has a complete auto swap, maybe after being salvaged whatever lot it was at decided to convert it. All I know is at one point in the carfax it was given a rebuilt title so that could've been when the swap was done. I really have no idea which I guess looks bad on my part, but it drives lol. I'll post pics up

 

I wouldnt just for the simple fact that its an automatic.

 

As long as it drives and has no major issues, you're good to go.

You're buying it to practically drive it till the wheels fall off for the price u paid. Money saved up for a better vehicle next time. There's logic there.

Go make that $$$ you were talking about!!!

 

I still wanna maybe take it to someone who works on honda/acuras all day and get an inspection. That was my thought exactly though, this is just a transitional car. Even though It has really grown on me now a few days later haha. You know it!!

Do anything to it? well I could've checked out a few 5spds tbh, but part of the money i had saved was from my truck i sold that belonged to my grandmother. Long story short, she's a stubborn guatemalan lady who thinks 5spd is dangerous haha. So I respected her wishes on this car at least lol. Some kid was telling me to put a vtec head on it haha, but I did some research and would need a few things obv. One of the people I live with said they could do it though easily if I got the parts lol. I don't really care tbh, I'd rather invest the money in making sure it drives from point A to B everyday..

 

Well..the first thing is check ur local dmv on how registration is with rebuilt titles and stuff. I know in California...its a hassle to register a car with that type of history.

If everything is good with all paperwork and registration is a breeze, then buy.

Rebuild title or salvage...doesn't matter. As long as it is a car that can drive straight and run good...

Ppl always told me that resell value is low if salvage....but. for a car this age...resell value is low regardless. Check it out. do research at dmv. Make ur decision