Salvage all depends on the cars situation and your situation. If its a second car and you get a good price and have the know-how to fix it sure its a good option.

 

Ya it could be a 2nd car for now, but would like to have it fixed up and good to go as soon as possible. I would like to sell my current car to pay off a baby loan I have left on it and then be free of car payments. Thanks everyone for your thoughts, it has helped to guide my decision.

 

Cars are considered salvaged for a variety of reasons; stolen, tires and seats ripped out, etc. Each state is different.
If a car is salvaged it does not mean it's been in an accident.

 

You have a little bit of the "I'm fortunate", high horse mentality. Even people that make 100,000/year RARELY outright buy a 20, 30, or 40k car. It's called leverage, because it's financially smart to stay liquid. Although, it is IDEAL to have the total cost of your car in the bank, it's HIGHLY unlikely to do, especially where I live. The people that over extend themselves is where your soap box rant would be appropriate.

I would only get a salvage car if it were superficial damage: i.e. flood damage or theft. Accidents with chassis damage would be out of the question for me

 

Oh I didn't say to buy the car outright either. But I just saw several recent posts talking about 72 month loans. Is that smart too?

Fortunate would be if I were born with a silver spoon, a trust fund and money in the bank. Believe me, I have worked for every dollar in my name. So you could say I have a "I work hard therefore I'm on a high horse" mentality.

And all I'm really trying to do is share information that some younger people might appreciate. 5-10 years after purchasing that brand new Evo and spending money that you'll never see again, how worth it has it really been? Those are the same guys who live paycheck to paycheck but convince themselves that as long as they love the car they drive, it's all worth it.

People can do what they want with their money, whether they have a little or not. But is it a surprise that those with little money continue to have little money? As they say, "the rich get richer". That isn't some magic coincidence. You can start by looking at the cars people drive relative to the income they bring in. Those two are rarely in sync.

 

I pretty much agree 100% with fittest.