Have any of you bought a parts car?

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by Xist

1996 Civic with150,000 miles for $500: https://offerup.com/item/detail/482813652/

...

This one is worth a look. I'd be curious. Grab your scan tool and go look.

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by me and my metro

Honda holds value very well, this is the reason I drive a Saturn. I have a nice car that cost less than $1000 to assemble and I have lots of spare parts to keep it running.

I second this opinion... since my car is worth so little(on paper) it’s cheap to buy and acquire spare parts

[Xist]

I have been watching videos by a guy calling himself Samcrac, who mentioned ChrisFix, but says not to use Dashub, which CF recommends, but instead Copart. Copart seems much easier to use. I put in "HX" and it showed me eleven cars!

Only one has a manual transmission. One does not have a transmission or an engine. That means nine are autocraptastic!

The thing is...

They have the same engine, so if I put one in my car I would still have lean burn, right?

They do not show $488 in fees that Dashub lists, so are those hidden? I do not know that it would be worth transporting a Civic with 202,000 miles from Las Vegas. There is one that runs and drives with 151,000 miles in San José, but that would be $862.50 to ship. I am from there, but neither paying that much to ship nor driving a salvage car 850 miles through the desert sound like a good idea.

Accords, though...

How about this? It is the wrong color, but only the bumper has any issues. Much of it is under white gorilla tape, and I can eventually sand it down and repaint. It would not quite match, but who cares?!

This one has the factory alloy rims. I found a place on car-part selling four for $50, but they said one was too damaged. Another place said they had one for $75, but when I called they were useless.

It might have a good catalytic converter!

They would charge $334.65 to ship. It says that it runs and drives. The damage is to the passenger doors.

It only has 117,500 miles!

I contacted the owner of the 1996 Civic with 150,000 miles, but he has not responded.

[Xist]

Samcrac says to not use Dashub, which ChrisFix recommends. I watched several other Samcrac videos where he kept using Copart and kept wondering why. In many states private individuals cannot purchase auction cars directly. Copart has a map showing that you can in Arizona. Dashub is a middleman that does not show all of Copart's auctions and charges at least $200 for their services. Sam says that they also tell the auction company your maximum bid. In one case the maximum bid was $1,900, but his maximum bid was $2,500, so they charged him $600 extra. Dashub also pressures you to use their transporter and charges extra for that, too.

Sam recommended VehicleHistory.com, which does not show anything interesting, like an accident, but it has a salvage title, so...

Copart also lists independent inspectors, but I am not sure I would want to pay for that in this case.

[rmay635703]

Copart most definitely has very high fees which vary on a schedule along with The Who and how which can alter the cost.

Make sure you calculate them and put your “ total cost” versus bid on a sheet so you don’t get an unpleasant surprise

Copartis notoriously bad at describing and documenting problems so best to inspect.

Good Luck

[me and my metro]

You might check the big local tow companies, the big tow company in Portland has online auctions every week. There are usually pictures and descriptions several days before each auction. Speeds Towing in Portland Oregon has 250 cars and trucks each week, and their fees are not too bad 15%. +$10.

[Grinder74]

I've done the parts cars thing when I was young and starting out.if I I would need a big garage to store parts in if I needed to do that now. Those Jags you mentioned are Ford chassis, believe it or not.

[Xist]

I looked at every automotive auction house that I could find in the Phoenix area. The only find that I care to mention is this:

I love this HX. It is across the country, the driver's side is messed up, and it is an automatic, but it is otherwise beautiful and only has 75,000 miles! https://www.iaai.com/Vehicle?itemID=...oadRecent=True

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I do have actual, designated parts cars. I bought another '59 Bel Air because it had a good gas tank and the price was right. And I drove it home so now I am making plans for that one...

Two doors or four? Convertible?

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The Bel Air, which had been the top line series since 1953, was now the middle range. Wagons were still classed by themselves, but had model numbers matching the car series. Parkwood 6-passenger and Kingswood 9-passenger wagons had Bel Air's model number, and as such were the middle range wagons.

[Xist]

The 2004 Prius and the 2000 Accord ended auction at noon. Both "run and drive," but that does not mean they would get me very far, nor that they would be safe for 165 miles of mountains and canyons.

The Prius went for $70, but I do not care to part out a car that does not have anything specific that I could put to use. The Accord went for $375 and the minimum bid would have been $400, plus $384 in fees, and $334.65 to ship. That totals $1,118.65 on a car worth $1,335 - $2,918 before it was wrecked.

I am sure that I could have made back the cost and hopefully with some profit, but it just seems like it would take too much time and effort before I made back my money. I loved the idea of a relatively-low mileage engine and transmission, but why would I replace either in this car?