I am considering purchasing an Elise and may even use it as my daily driver. I have a Healey, Europa and a stiff M5, so I think I handle the ride. I love the bullet proof running gear of the Elise and owner loyality, but what concerns me is the seeming fragility of the chassis, or to put it another way the expense of accident repairs.

They are not inexpensive. Nice used examples exceed ~$30K. So why would a car such as the one here on ebay 300225037750, with what appears to have very minor damage, carry a salvage title. I have seen several of these examples. I am assuming that before it became a salvage vehicle, a "cut cost" insurance adjuster calculated the cost of repairs to exceed replacement. These guys are not likely to throw away $30K, so what am I missing here?

I understand the extruded frame is not fixable, but some the "totaled" cars appear to have cosmetic (clam) damage. Maybe it is more expensive and the pictures are masking what a personal inspection would not, but look at 300225037750 and tell me if it looks totaled.

I considered asking the question over at lotustalk, but value the opinions from those that are like me and understand the older cars.

One think I don't like about the internet is all the information. Before the internet, it was much easier to make a decision:)

Dean

sounds fishy to me, I suspect that the damage in the pictures was from the "second" accident and that the salvage title came from some other shunt. personally I would pass on it

Do a search (don't ask) on lotustalk about salvaged titles, there is a lot of info on it. It is a rather controversial topic that causes arguments, some people have had luck with buying salvaged cars but many claim that there can be hidden dangers if the car was hit and the chassis damaged since it is bonded together.

Not a car that I would try find a bargain on. The cars took a big hit in the used market initially but prices seemed to have leveled off in the low $30k range now.

Elise is a luxury car compared to my Lotus (pl), but it is still not a car I would want to use as a daily driver (though I have plenty of friends who do and say it is great) and not because of the ride, but because of the ingress/egress difficulties and that you have to be worried about parking it all the time. Car has no bumpers and minor body damage can be expensive, so parallel parking is a no,no not to mention door dings. It would be like using your Europa as a daily driver (with a bit more reliability). Of course your situation may vary

Car is a ton of fun though!

Lotus states that any body damage must be considered structural. The insurance companies seem to take it literally. I'd be VERY reluctant to take on an E-Bay car without a thorough inspection up-close and personal, let alone one like that. The body damage showing can be minor compared to what was REALLY bent. The clamshell just shows what I'd call an "entry wound". No telling what happened INSIDE the shell.

...just my 2p.

Excellent thoughts.

I would never consider buying a salvage car. There seems to be so many out there as a percentage of the total used Elises, got me wondering what is going on.

You are probabaly right that the salvage title was earned in another off road adventure.

What does suprise me is the number of "new" 2006 cars still on dealer lots. I considered one of these, but after sitting out on the sun and rain for two years they just don't look as desirable as a garage kept used car with low mileage.

Sort of reminds me of the last few years of British Leyland.

Dean

Dean,

Just so you know I just bought an Elise as a daily driver and it is great. It is about as close to the experience of driving around an older british car as you can get in the modern world.

I'm still curious to hear the outcome on this Elise. Dean..did you check it out or just back-off or did any other BCF'er deal on it. My suspicion it had been stollen and the damage looks like under carriage like going over the center divide. I had a rod few years back that was stollen...go it back and it looked good as new...and it also could be classified as "ran and drove" like a locomotive... Engine and tranny were shot and required either complete rebuild or replacement. Needless to say the car was salvaged!!