Personal Opinion on a Great Wrangler

[bmoore1]

I am the proud owner of a 2006 jeep wrangler Golden Eagle Edition. This vehicle has been my baby for almost 3 years now, and I love it to death, but I am also a college student that lives 3 hours from my college. So you can imagine how horrible gas is for me right now. I have roughly 76k miles on it, 35k of that I personally put on it. I have installed a radio and new speakers, and have kept it in pristine condition. The kicker is, I recently discovered that there is a total loss title on it. The previous owner was a very close friend, so I did not check a carfax. The thing is that I have never had a single problem out of it! The vehicle is amazing. I wanted to know some personal thought on how much you think you would pay for this amazing ride. Please don't lecture
Me for not getting a carfax. Very stupid, I know. If not any price, ideas for raising gas mileage?

 

[extra-medium]

The biggest thing you have to consider on something like this is what was it a total loss for? If the frame was bent and they did a complete frame swap then its just a smudge on the title in my opinion, or if it was something small like a couple dented body panels and air bag deployment and it was fixed without any problems, then i don't see there being any problem with it. I guess really its frustrating to know that your vehicle isn't exactly what you thought it was.

 

[bmoore1]

The biggest thing you have to consider on something like this is what was it a total loss for? If the frame was bent and they did a complete frame swap then its just a smudge on the title in my opinion, or if it was something small like a couple dented body panels and air bag deployment and it was fixed without any problems, then i don't see there being any problem with it. I guess really its frustrating to know that your vehicle isn't exactly what you thought it was.

After digging deeper from reading this, it says it's a total loss salvage title due to the backseat burning. So they replaced the seat and carpet and smacked a total loss on it.

 

[extra-medium]

hmm...thats a tough call. I guess it would ultimately come down to how good the repair job was and if there is any evidence of it burning other then the branded title. It would most definitely bring the resale value down a lot from that. If I were buying something like that knowing the history I would probably go over it with a magnifying glass but I wouldn't pay blue book on it.

 

[bmoore1]

I can understand that, and I have had this Jeep for 3 years and have never noticed it. New carpet and seat was installed, and I bought a hardtop for it last year. I have detailed that jeep personally, even taken out the carpet for cleaning and have never seen a single mark or scrape to indicate anything. It's a shame because I love my jeep but it is almost a money pit now.

 

[Uncle B]

It sounds like you are ready to sell it. The true value of a vehicle is what a buyer is willing to pay for it. You might want to try shopping it in "Wheels and Deals" type classified. The buyer will need to be the type of person recognizes the repair was well done with no ill effect to the vehicle. I personally would consider a salvage title. I plan on keeping my jeep for a long time. One thing about Carfaxes, I had a '96 Corvette one owner, bought in '08 and I took it to Carmax ,in '10, for a free quote. They showed me a clean Carfax but they were way low on the price. Finally traded it in on a Commander, this dealer showed me a Carfax where the car had been wrecked in '97. You couldn't tell it by looking at it. Majority of people will try to low ball you on the price.

Good Luck,

B.