Do car dealerships in Ontario take rebuilt title vehicles as trade-in?

[hiphopforce]

Asking for a "senior" friend of mine who has a vehicle that was written-off, purchased back from insurance, repaired, branded rebuilt and driven again for quite awhile (with absolutely no issues). I don't have the full story related to the accident and how he bought it back from insurance.

He has asked several dealerships already, and they refused to take it as a trade-in regardless of what he wants as a value for the trade-in.
This includes Honda (as he was considering the CRV), Hyundai (as he was considering the Tuscon), and BMW (as he was also considering the X1).
Now I didn't get information on which dealership he has asked/inquired.
He is a bit upset (which I don't know why either), but his reasoning is, if a vehicle has been sufficiently inspected and deemed fit to be on the road again, what is wrong with it?

So does anyone out there know any dealership from either Honda, Hyundai, or BMW that would take a rebuilt as trade-in?
From my knowledge, it is a Is250 AWD, not sure year, but probably 06-07 based on the styling. He said its loaded with a lot of things, but no Navi from what I remember. Low mileage (I got no numbers). I know my lack of detail might not help the situation here, but I can get the info if it is necessary.

Now from my understanding, rebuilt car values do go below 25-50% of the market going-rate.
Say (assuming) what he has is:
2006 IS250 AWD (low mileage, which I am guessing he meant by no more than 60k)
Every feature except Navigation
I think they are going for about 25000-28000 with the low mileage.
So I did told him not to expect any dealership to offer more than 16000 even if they are willing to take it, because they can probably turn around and sell the vehicle for 18000-20000 max.

In case any car salesperson is lurking around here, he is looking for the X1, 2010+ CRV, and 2011 Tuscon.

Or if anyone known of any salesperson that can assist, please PM me contact and I will pass onto him.

Thanks for the help in advance.

[1DarkChaos]

guaranteed not one dealership will take it unless they just completely miss it (doubt it tho)
tell him to expect $10000 +/- $3000 from a private buyer

[Jordan866]

I am pretty sure no dealership will accept it. You will have to try selling it locally. Try craigslist to start. Selling it locally would give you more money. Even if they did buy rebuilts, they would lowball the crap out of you anyways.

[rileywai]

i don't think anyone will take it.
doubt anyone private buyer will take it.

[bas00m]

the thing with car accidents is that if the accident gets near or close to the main frame of the car and that frame is f'd up then the car is pretty much not going to be the same! even if you fix the car ... one the frame is affected its done! it will never feel the same again

[kingrukus]

A non-branded, no accident 2006 IS250 is 12k-17k depending on condition. He should try selling it privately for 10k.

[vaportech]

Since the car has been in an accident I don't many people would consider buying it especially if it's a rebuilt title. This makes it difficult for the dealership to make any profit on vehicle and potentially could be sitting on the line for quite a while.

[mrcantrell]

I would imagine a dealership would not want to get involved with the potential liability issues that can/would arise from selling a rebuilt vehicle. Since he'd get more for it on a private sale anyway I'd say he'd be better off trying that route.

[slomo]

There is one Civic EXL in Kijiji and AT which had been in 2 accidents that a Honda dealer tried to sell for at least 2 months. The car was not scrapped, but the amount of damage was so much that the sum of the repair costs of the accidents are more than the price they are trying to sell. They keep taking the advertisement off and on apparently in the attempt to make it looks like a new listing and even write 'Clean Carproof' in the last listing even though the CarProof they themselves provided says otherwise.

I understand why a dealer refused to trade in a car that had been in an accident, it is like having a depreciating dead wood on the floor, but I wonder how they got in the situation of trying to sell that.

[chickenbones]

Now from my understanding, rebuilt car values do go below 25-50% of the market going-rate.
Say (assuming) what he has is:
2006 IS250 AWD (low mileage, which I am guessing he meant by no more than 60k)
Every feature except Navigation
I think they are going for about 25000-28000 with the low mileage.
So I did told him not to expect any dealership to offer more than 16000 even if they are willing to take it, because they can probably turn around and sell the vehicle for 18000-20000 max.



I don't know where you did your research. 2006 IS250 is not selling for more than 20k. I see most are around 17 to 18k. And that's autotrader, you can probably easily knock off 2k. That's how autotrader prices are.

Dealers probably could buy it for 12k to 13k for a normal car. For a rebuilt car you are looking at 5k to 6k maybe?

[ichpen]

Since the car has been in an accident I don't many people would consider buying it especially if it's a rebuilt title. This makes it difficult for the dealership to make any profit on vehicle and potentially could be sitting on the line for quite a while.

+1

Dealers are in the business of moving inventory. Forget profits, a rebuilt car is very difficult to move in any market.

[Jordan866]

There is a market for your rebuilt car in the private market. But I think you would get maybe 50-60% of what comparable ones are going for.

[hiphopforce]

Thanks for the replies guys. I have passed the response to him.
Although he isn't please, but I told him it is probably better for him to keep the vehicle.

Also, the vehicle details are the following:
2006 IS250 AWD
Moonroof, Headlight Washer, BiXenon with Adaptive (where the lights move left/right or something), rear window shade, heat/cool leather seats.
49500 KMs
grey (not sure the name) on whitish leathers.
OEM 17s with TPMS.

A listing with fairly high mileage, but exactly the same specs and features for $17800
http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-trucks-2006-Lexus-IS-250-AWD-Premium-Luxury-package-W0QQAdIdZ385224967

A listing with fairly higher mileage as well, doesn't have the luxury package of rear shade, cool leather, headlight washer, 8way power seat, etc for $17600
http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-trucks-Lexus-IS-250-W0QQAdIdZ384809774

A listing with decent mileage, but still doubled for the year, non-AWD, but have pretty much the same features for $17500
http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-trucks-2006-Lexus-IS250-W0QQAdIdZ384200212

So I am mostly seeing 17500-20000 private sale of clean title, but double to triple the mileage, some with full packages, some very base.
Dealership listings are about 3000k more at about 20000-23000.

If I look at some dealership listings, anything below 50,000 KMs, the price is around 25k+ with all those packages on the vehicle.

I think that is how I came up with my numbers with my example. I am not here to debate about what a rebuilt is worth because each individuals have own needs and value things differently.

So obviously, what my friend is "thinking" in his ideal world is, he is having a very low mileage vehicle with all the extra packages you can get from lexus except navi and the only negative is the title being rebuilt.

My opinion for him is to just keep this car, unless he finds someone that values a healthy engine with extremely low mileage and someone that needs those extra features that his vehicle offers where other ones on the market for higher price or mileage does not offer.

After reviewing what is out there knowing it is roughly 17500 (from the first listing example), if that car were to have 50000 instead of 120k+, it would probably worth about 20000-21000. So take that with 25-30% off due to a rebuilt title. I say my friend should fairly look at 14000-15000$ (low side being as is, and high side being safety and emission tested) for a waiting game and tries to be lucky. Of course a quick sale would be along the line of $12000-$13000 which is more close to 50% of what a dealership would try to sell on an exact one with a clean title.

Anyways, whatever haha... It is not my car, so my duty is done. I gave him my opinion and all your valuable opinions here. In the end, he'll make the call :)

Thanks everyone!

[lexani]

So, contrary to what all of the above posters have been saying (not sure if people are just guessing here).

I had an late model Accord that was salvaged, imported from the states and I drove it with a rebuilt title. It was my daily driver, I abused it and figured it was time for a new daily. I only had one car in mind and it was a used one at Don Valley North Lexus. Without any hesitation, they took the trade it. Yes, they did not take it for full market value but they didn't low ball me either. I signed all the paperwork, came back the next day and took my new car home. No hassle really.

I ended up seeing it at a local ma and pa car dealership for about 2 weeks thereafter and then sold, they made some money off it.

[chickenbones]

Dealers will take your rebuilt car and sell to a wholesaler who then sells it to a curb dealer. Dealer usually dont sell rebuilt cars themselves. It would kind of ruin the image.

Maybe your friend wanted too much money for his car. You might not be told the whole story. Maybe he demanded what he thought the car was worth. Obviously he had a different view as to what the car is worth than what the wholesalers would pay.

Anyways, imho low milleage usually indicates a lightly driven car thats perceived to be in better shape than other higher milleage cars. However, your friends car was rebuilt so i think this perception is gone. No one would pay extra for a rebuilt car just cus it has low milleage. In fact i would be more suspicious if it had really low milleage. Maybe something was wrong with it so it wasnt driven alot or the car had its odometer reset during the rebuild etc. You get my drift.

Anyway i think your friend should be able to get a dealer to trade it. But it wont be a good price.

[hiphopforce]

So, contrary to what all of the above posters have been saying (not sure if people are just guessing here).

I had an late model Accord that was salvaged, imported from the states and I drove it with a rebuilt title. It was my daily driver, I abused it and figured it was time for a new daily. I only had one car in mind and it was a used one at Don Valley North Lexus. Without any hesitation, they took the trade it. Yes, they did not take it for full market value but they didn't low ball me either. I signed all the paperwork, came back the next day and took my new car home. No hassle really.

I ended up seeing it at a local ma and pa car dealership for about 2 weeks thereafter and then sold, they made some money off it.

who was the used car salesperson if you don't mind sharing so I can pass onto my friend

I also agree with chickenbones, I have a feeling I am not getting the full story from my friend. But I reminded him several times it is a rebuilt, so in the end, it is his choice.