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First Car/Salvage Giulia QV?

4K views 37 replies 14 participants last post by  Rebuild299 
#1 ·
Im new to the forums and to start with i have something special for 4doors from the 04' impreza, the widebody charger, the 93' E500 which is my favourite and now the giulia

This year went too fast, turned 18, had to start being independent and live totally by myself and part of that is getting a car so i can commute.I have been contemplating this since quite a while, most people say your first car should be something small, simple and cheap but theres something from me that doesn't want to follow that path and i find no fun on following it either way. And with all that thinking, buying a salvage car has always been my top option starting with the E500 which i rwally could not find anything to hold on due to its rarity and now its the giulia quadrifoglio.

I feel capable of pulling a project of such magnitude since i have been exposed to mechanics and been surrounded by it for many years altough i need to recognize i need advice from people that actually owns one of these, is it worth it? and with what issues i can run into while doing so with this car specifically

while searching for a candidate my main criteria is looking for comestic damages and very minimal internal damage while the main structure is intact, wheels unscratched and the hood is whole, no tears or bumps since its carbon fiber. Like this unit from copart as a complete example of what i try to say. Im not living in the us, im from panama and that is going to difficult shipping not only from the car but from the parts since technically theres no official alfa dealer here

All of this as of now is to study the giulia, study its market and maybe end up acquiring one, i really need feedback :)
 
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#2 ·
Good luck if u can find QV just cosmetic damage that is salvage, the reason why it is salvage from the first place is that the repair cost exceeds the price of the car. If u know bodywork u can shave some $$ on labour, and may b some parts that u can fix instead of replace. So fixing a salvage properly at most can save u around 30% of the cost of getting an identical year non salvage used.
 
#3 ·
Scratched wheels is the least problem when rebuilding crashed QV :D

Just looking from the pictures of your example it needs front carbon splitter (~3000eur), two actuators for carbon splitter (~600eur each) those are rather expensive parts at dealer and difficult to find used ones.
Then need driver's side small radiator, AC radiator, might also need other two radiators behind AC. Driver's front wheel is broken of so will need front crossmember, steering rack, suspension control arms, most likely active damper is toast together with wheel bearing.
Then rest of body parts as bumper, driver's fender, driver's side skirt, headlights and other bits and pieces.
Also by the look of damage driver's airbag should have deployed so it might be cut off to hide it as there is no straight shot of it and there is something protruding from steering wheel in one picture.
 
#7 ·
Now the car you linked above is something I most definitely would not buy. If you look closely the coolant reservoir is empty meaning line/radiator is busted. Also the frame is shifted to the left a fair amount. You don’t know what else was shifted with it. The front forward collision sensor alone is 1105$
It’s very very pricey to rebuild a front end
Just my 2cents

yeah after publishing the post i watched it a bit more and relized the car is pretty damaged, the suspension took a good toll, the bumper support is swerving totally to the right,rad is bent and the steering is broken. As of yesterday i tough something with front end?* damage was a better option with the giulia since i dont really want to handle frame damage from side or rear end thinking it was more tedious but seing how the prices go around this car you are right i should lean more towards cars with no to little fornt damage, the other units share similar characteristics, bumper trashed, broken steering, frame/body damage like these 2 listings that got my eye as well, tough this one look like it ate a pole, the suspension and steering is broken and pointing oposite ways along a missing front bumper and maybe a reusable rear bumper or this other unit which does require more work instead of money with the rear quearter panel being pushed in, fixable door id say, suspension and steering look fine and i might be able to salvage some components off the bumper with the only parts that i need to swap out will be the ac/oil cooler which might be damaged, new fenders and new bumper (i was even thinking going with after market options since they also tend to be cheaper and better looking in some cases)

Im doing this to learn more about the car and see if at the end i will give it a shot, im not planning to buy any of the listing availables now unless they extend to more than 4 months which is the ETA i will have pick. Thanks to the quarentine i now have a lot of time to spare which i can invest into the rebuilding the car myself to reduce labor costs and i even have friends and family that would be glad to join me

Thank you for the feedback
 
#5 ·
Don’t listen to people who haven’t rebuilt a salvage car.

on a good day at the auction they go for around 17k but I’ve also seen them go all the way up to 28k too just recently a 2018 one sold for 28k it had the carbon fiber seats and man it was one nice looking car.
It was side swiped. It all’s really comes down to who’s going to be doing the work on your car
If you do it yourself you’ll save ALOT of money labor wise. In my opinion it’s always best to buy a side swiped car. Insurance company labor rates are high so don’t listen to people who say Omg it’s salvage your going to have issues. Total nonsense. Avoid a front end damage car. The hood alone is 10k from the dealer used it’s still around 5k. Headlights are also a couple of grand but if you get a side swiped car. Doors go for 500$ used. Fender is 352$ at the dealer. Quarter panel is 700some dollars.
It’s MUCH more wise to go with a side swiped car.
 
#6 ·
Now the car you linked above is something I most definitely would not buy. If you look closely the coolant reservoir is empty meaning line/radiator is busted. Also the frame is shifted to the left a fair amount. You don’t know what else was shifted with it. The front forward collision sensor alone is 1105$
It’s very very pricey to rebuild a front end
Just my 2cents
 
#12 ·
In my opinion
Get a qv for around 15k
Put no more then 5k in parts.
Be all in 20k
That’s a good deal.
I would not spend more then 18k on a qv

40k is way out of my league, im actually planning on buying one for less than 16k and my budget is 23k for making it road worthy (here they dont care if you run wihtout bumpers, headlights, hood or even the doors they only want you to have papers up to date and the license plate)
 
#14 ·
I forgot your overseas. Makes ever harder especially if you don’t have an Alfa dealer by you.
16k is a good price to stick to though. 23k perfect budget
yes i live overseas, tough im not worried about the shippin of the car by ship since one of my family members works on maritime logistics and shipping specially on imports of products so im getting a good deal. There is not an alfa dealer per se but we have FCAs dealers here which sells everything dodge, chrysler and fiat and the few alfas that are here go there for service, im not gonna rely on them at all for parts since the prices will be exorbitant
 
#15 ·
While it may be fun to rebuild a salvaged car you do have to be careful because replacement part costs can quickly get out of control.
This may be a big factor in your case since you would be buying a car that you weren't able to inspect yourself to possibly access the damage and what parts you would need to get it road worthy
 
#17 ·
Yeah my brother bought a salvage Audi S6 that had extensive damage. He got it all straight doing the work himself, but cost basically came out to he should have just bought a used one. It's a fun car though and pulls like a freight train.
im totally aware that buying a car which i cannot inspect and i will mostly rely on low quality pictures is not great, i do have the us passport and the day i really find that car im looking for and my exitement and worry is too big i might spend a little bit more and travel to us to inspect the car myself its not ideal and i obviously wont do it more than once (maybe twice) but if it has to be done so it be i prefer spending around +-600 bucks on plane tickets and saving myself a huge headache, though little gifts will definetly pop out trough the building process, things that i did not have planned to replace or repair will have to
 
#18 ·
IMO this project is hard enough in the US where we have a dealer network and people with much less damage are waiting months on parts, I can't imagine doing it in a foreign country where you will have to wait and import. A lot of the reason these cars get salvaged is lack of parts. Also not the car has a lot of electronics and sensors which you may be chasing. That said if theres a will theres a way, but luxury cars, especially this one, can turn into a real quagmire when salvaging especially in your situation.

Now I'm going to come at this from a different angle, and I mean this as no offense, but a 505 HP twin turbo RWD car is really a poor choice for someone who just turned 18 and becoming a driver for the first time. Kind of jumping in the deep end. Also you've never salvaged a car before. With your budget you could get something way cheaper, simpler, and with less hp to rebuild and learn on, and then take on a project like this once you have some knowledge, AND driving experience under your belt.
 
#19 ·
i have driven multiple sorts of vehicles since i was 13 from motocross bikes to cars and even tractors. This is not to sound dumb but i do have more experience driving than any other typical 16-18yr old trying to get their permit or license for the first time, i had the freedom when i was younger of doing dumb stuff with my other cousins in open fields with the bikes, buggys and atvs we used to play with and it was that every single weekend.

I have been saving and selling stuff at my school not only for college which is cheap here specially now and also to buy myself nice things but mainly for a car, specifically a car i really like (which i can get my hands on to) which i want to keep as long as the car lasts since i dont have plans of selling it unless bigger and better oportunities are given

If the main issue is time and the wait, i can deal with it, im comitted to be on that slow learning process
 
#20 ·
My opinion specifically since it’s your decision but qv salavaged with limited budget doesnt seem like a good financial decision. Parts on qv are very very expensive.

Before I purchased my qv, i was looking at a qv with a clean title but with prev demage repair history for 65k canadian. Seem to be a good deal since non accident used qv were going for over 80k. Drove the car and looked very good interior and exterior along with mechanical components. However, when i pulled the carfax, the car had repair bill of $90000 canadian. This was a front end damaged car. Not sure why insurance company did not total the car but decided to repair it when it costed as much as buying a almost new car.

The point is, it costs a lot to purchase the parts on qv that can quickly snowball..
 
#21 ·
My opinion specifically since it’s your decision but qv salavaged with limited budget doesnt seem like a good financial decision. Parts on qv are very very expensive.

Before I purchased my qv, i was looking at a qv with a clean title but with prev demage repair history for 65k canadian. Seem to be a good deal since non accident used qv were going for over 80k. Drove the car and looked very good interior and exterior along with mechanical components. However, when i pulled the carfax, the car had repair bill of $90000 canadian. This was a front end damaged car. Not sure why insurance company did not total the car but decided to repair it when it costed as much as buying a almost new car.

The point is, it costs a lot to purchase the parts on qv that can quickly snowball..
that a typo? $90k repair on $65k car? Could of parted car out for more of a profit than to fix. Seems odd
 
#36 ·
You would likely have a more successful project if you picked a locally popular model. You could find local parts and people to ask for help when when you get stuck. The QV is a complex vehicle that would be a better project after a few successful rebuilds behind you.
 
#37 ·
QV is neither complex nor difficult project. It's just expensive to rebuild as it's high performance car. You could take crashed M3/M4 and it would be same story.
Parts are expensive new, not much used ones and 500hp plus power doesn't help as most crashed cars end up being pile of metal.

If 23k budget is for the car + repairs then just forget it. Or start saving cause it's completely unrealistic
 
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