ebay listing, anyone know this car?

[ulao]

Lotus : Elise SC Convertible 2-Door in Lotus | eBay Motors

the listing says:

This is for a 2008 Lotus Elise SC Supercharged only 2537 Miles!!!!! I bought this car about 1+ year ago, I'm selling it because I just got a Nissan GTR. This car run perfect, everything work 100%. Very fun car to drive, all eyes on the street is always looking at my Lotus. There is not very many of the Elise out there is supercharged, don't let this one go. There is only some minor scratches which is not even noticeable, but scratches happen to all cars. The car have a bad title from the last owner. He told me that someone in his family borrow the car and run over a curve which only damage the front right bumber and scrap the bottom of the bottom right. But the car come back with a salvage title, I try to do some research on what happen. In the end, I can't find anything. I even hire a inspector out to check the car for me, everything is 100% good. That is why I bought this car at the time. After I got the car, I even took it to an authorized Lotus dealer ship to get it check out again for peace of mind. Once again it was all good, no computer error what so ever. The bad title does not give this car justice, it run and look better than the one with clean title. The millage is the actual miles on the car, but of course it will increase a little bit as time go by. I also instal a sound system, sound very nice. It also will come with the soft top, hardtop, manual, 2 set of keys, and everything else that come with the car. Please look at all the pictures carefully. Email me if you want the link to the carfax. If there is any question, please email, text, or call (321)360-6300 Jin

I dont know a thing about bad titles or what that means but I like the price for a 08 under 3k miles... SC non the less. I sent a mssg to see if he is a member here. Thankfully he is local to me.

update: He has no interest in lotus talk.

[lotus90]

I would be very careful. If your are interested i would have a PPI done by a shop with lotus experience. from reading the description it does not sound like he knows much about the damage and frame damage could be not fixable.

[LiveToDrive]

I have a lot of experience buying/selling cars. The biggest problem with a salvage titled vehicle is simply the resell value is poor.

This is because for the most part the new owners do not know the true extent of the damage which caused the car to become salvage.

I have noticed that both exotic cars and cheap old used cars can be salvaged with very little damage. For exotics it's because the replacement parts are so expensive and for the cheap cars it's because it doesn't take much for the repairs to be worth more than going value.

The bottom line is this car was written off as a total loss by the insurance company. The current or previous owner was paid in full for whatever it was insured for. Then the car was purchased back from the insurance company for a very discounted rate in it's damaged condition. Then the car is typically repaired as cheaply as possible to be sold for a profit.

There are companies out there that sell "total loss" vehicles in their damaged state (Home is one example I know of) .Personally I would go that route because you'll get the car cheaper and are in control of the quality of the repair.

[ramtin1000]

The story doesn't make sense. The date of the accident is 4/14/2012 so if he had the car for 1+ year then how is it that the accident show's this year. I have seen some cases that carfax or the accident report gets reported late but that usually happens when vehicle sale happens. Also the Car fax show's only one owner and second owner has never been registered on this car so how did he exactly buy the guy when it's not even under his name!!!
I would stay away from these kind of cars. Anything with a salvage title has some mysterious story behind it and you'll never find out the truth. For some reason every savage title that goes on ebay is extra clean and the damage was very minor but somehow the car managed to get salvaged!!!

[TyMurray]

Originally Posted by ramtin1000

The story doesn't make sense. The date of the accident is 4/14/2012 so if he had the car for 1+ year then how is it that the accident show's this year. I have seen some cases that carfax or the accident report gets reported late but that usually happens when vehicle sale happens. Also the Car fax show's only one owner and second owner has never been registered on this car so how did he exactly buy the guy when it's not even under his name!!!
I would stay away from these kind of cars. Anything with a salvage title has some mysterious story behind it and you'll never find out the truth. For some reason every savage title that goes on ebay is extra clean and the damage was very minor but somehow the car managed to get salvaged!!!

Agreed.

I wouldn't pay more than 22k for a salvage low miles elise...even if it "appears" to be in great shape...always something unexpected you'll find out down the road =P

[ulao]

He almost had me, thx guys. I'm backing out.

[Pooter]

I would never buy a car from someone that has such poor grammar. Also, that price is stupid high. You could probably get an SC Elise with a clean title for less than that!

You know that guy is hiding something. They don't total out cars for no reason. He says the previous owner ran over a "curve" (I assume he meant 'curb'). I ran over a curb doing like 10mph (which is fast enough to hop my front wheels on the curb) in my Elise and it wasn't even remotely close to being totaled. That dude must have really nailed something enough to total the car. Broken clam, bent undertray, busted crash structure, oil lines, misc bits and pieces, etc. Sure it may have been repaired pretty well... but still... it has a salvage title. I wouldn't touch it.

Just my $.02

[ulao]

I told him the research is not panning out well and that I'm loosing interest. He answered simply with "thx". He is most certainly hiding something and not surprised I changed my mind. He is looking for a sucker.

[tonymaples806]

There was a thread on here a week or so back about this car, someone commented it was a flood vehicle?? Maybe I'm off, but regardless this is way too high for any salvage title Elise

[ulao]

this one?
Who's this?

Funny his grammar on the phone (txt) was decent.

[Dylan]

Can't be 100% sure based on the pix in the ebay ad, but, I believe the 2008+ cars have the Sensosoft-covered plastic, which is the slightly rubbery and more matte finish coating. The steering wheel airbag ring looks pretty shiny, as though it's from an earlier car. Could be a trick of the light, or could indicate airbag deployment and replaced with an earlier-year part.

[ithurtus]

Originally Posted by tonymaples806

There was a thread on here a week or so back about this car, someone commented it was a flood vehicle?? Maybe I'm off, but regardless this is way too high for any salvage title Elise

No you're fine. 36k for a 08 salvage is a joke.

On the topic of extra clean / minor damage salvages. Isn't this exactly the same as how all normal Elise's are non-tracked, never seen the rain cars? Truly, it's a tough life being an Elise. You're either immediately wrecked by a dildo driver or a left alone in a cold dark garage as a "never driven" queen. Not a reason to buy this car of course...

I have a super rare model of Elise, its seen tons of rain.

[sprocket3]

Besides the "i'd never touch one" attitude, what is a reasonable price adjustment for the salvage branded title. Assuming the repair damage could be documented and it was really just clams and bolt on parts being replaced.

I have heard that a very high number of these cars now have salvage titles. Given the amount I'm seeing being wrecked would guess this gets more and more common.

I'm not taking sides, but lets just say the listing was more acceptable and the seller didn't have a bunch of read flags on top of the title issue.

[Sean K.]

IMO, having just bought an '08 SC with less than 4K miles, the price is WAAAAY too high. I paid only a little more with a clear title and 2 owners.

HTH,
Sean

[CMP]

sorry sprocket, i think it is your car.

your statement, "It good car.. Why you make fun? Title no matter for price, just paper from DMV. " on here Who's this?

same grammer as, "The bad title does not give this car justice, it run and look better than the one with clean title. The millage is the actual miles on the car, but of course it will increase a little bit as time go by. I also instal a sound system, sound very nice." on the ad.


tell us more about the car please.

[sprocket3]

Originally Posted by CMP

sorry sprocket, i think it is your car.

your statement, "It good car.. Why you make fun? Title no matter for price, just paper from DMV. " on here Who's this?

same grammer as, "The bad title does not give this car justice, it run and look better than the one with clean title. The millage is the actual miles on the car, but of course it will increase a little bit as time go by. I also instal a sound system, sound very nice." on the ad.


tell us more about the car please.

Haha.. I was making fun of the seller to be honest. I thought people would get the joke, but I guess not.

Though I will admit that I just purchased a wrecked 2007 Elise two weeks ago so I have general questions about the "salvage" thing as I'm not sure it was a good purchase.

To answer my own question I think the price should be at least 25%-30% discounted for Salvage. But I'm not a Lotus expert and pretty new around here.

No, for the record that is not my car and I have no connection to it.

[rskdsk]

These cars are investments as well as great fun cars ... eventually you will probably sell it. Buy a rebuilt title ... why not just through your money into the garbage disposal ... same thing!

[TyMurray]

Originally Posted by ithurtus

No you're fine. 36k for a 08 salvage is a joke.

On the topic of extra clean / minor damage salvages. Isn't this exactly the same as how all normal Elise's are non-tracked, never seen the rain cars? Truly, it's a tough life being an Elise. You're either immediately wrecked by a dildo driver or a left alone in a cold dark garage as a "never driven" queen. Not a reason to buy this car of course...

I have a super rare model of Elise, its seen tons of rain.

I've got an even more rare model, an Elise that has seen snow...IN TEXAS =O I'll let it go for 40k, any takers?

[BudUSMC]

I live in Jacksonville and I have never seen this car on the road and I go to most of the car outings as well. If any work was done here in Jacksonville on it, it would have been done at World Imports of Jacksonville, the lotus dealer if you want any other info let me know.

[Dr.Hess]

Originally Posted by sprocket3

Haha.. I was making fun of the seller to be honest. I thought people would get the joke, but I guess not.

Though I will admit that I just purchased a wrecked 2007 Elise two weeks ago so I have general questions about the "salvage" thing as I'm not sure it was a good purchase.

To answer my own question I think the price should be at least 25%-30% discounted for Salvage. But I'm not a Lotus expert and pretty new around here.

No, for the record that is not my car and I have no connection to it.

I thought your post was funny. But then, my sense of humor may be a tad twisted, dealing with the four humors. Some say it was twisted before I started dealing with the four humors. Chicken and egg?