Copart is a huge multi-national company that primarily operates large lots of salvage vehicles and auctions them off, primarily to I guess businesses who fix cars and/or source car parts. After the insurance company totaled my car, I had to send the car title to Copart to get my payment from the other guy's insurance company (AAA). In the paperwork for that there was a lot number, and I went to Copart's website and sure enough, there was my car, sitting in the salvage yard.
Okay, so if you want to fix your wrecked car, and have the means to do so, don't do what I did and lose the car to the insurance company. If I want my car back I have to win it at auction and there's fees and crap associated with that. But you still see some cars sold at Amazing prices.
Basically Copart is close to dumpster diving for cars. There's horribly wrecked cars, cars with trash or syringes in them, cars that mice destroyed, and cars with insane odometer readings. But you can also find some diamonds in the crap. In the case of my car, I know it's a good car with a fine engine, which gives me an advantage. But at the same time, the reason the car is there is the nominal repair costs are higher than the value of the car. After watching cars sell I think my old Cavalier will sell for around $350 at auction, so let's break down the costs:
So the pre-repair costs are likely to be $708
And after the car is repaired it will need:
- $100 inspection fee (unless I use the free government one that takes weeks)
- $118 registration fee
So, parts and labor aside, that's $968, which is not bad for a working driving car.
Trying to figure out the cost of repairs, though...
- Washer fluid reservoir: $119
- Front fascia $159 (Amazon)
- Absorber $40 (Amazon)
- Fender: $100 (Amazon, when it's available)
- Fender liner: Holy shit, less than $2 on Amazon
- Headlights: $40 each (2)
Parts Total: $420
So far we're looking at $1468, potentially higher if there's strut damage or if someone else really wants the car.
As for labor, I'm hoping to do a lot of it myself. Honestly it looks pretty straightforward and I've always wanted to fix a car (even if body work on a bunch of plastic panels wasn't exactly what I had in mind). Then I got to take it into for SOME sort of work at a certified rebuilder for legal purposes (fix struts, align wheels etc).
Does that look reasonable or should I just let it go?