GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hey everybody,

I've been a long time lurker and on a whim decided to actually post something. I figured I'd post a little bit about how I got my Vibe. I purchased it in February 2011 with ~17k on it.


My dad and I have fixed up several salvage title vehicles. Between the two of us we have 3 Jeep Wranglers that were totaled out that we've fixed. He also has a Grand Cherokee that has a salvage title but was repaired before he bought it. Since I frequent these websites that sell salvage vehicles, I spotted my future Vibe.



This damage turned out to be a little too substantial for our expertise so it ended up going to a local body shop friend of ours who also does projects out at his house. Since he was working on it on the side, it took quite a while to fix. The fact that it required an entire rear clip drug things out a bit as well.

So if anybody on here owned a vibe they wrecked sometime in 2010 and in the midwest (salvage place was in Minnesota) I'm guessing, this could be theirs. The windows were professionally tinted by the original owner. I really don't know how long it takes a vehicle to go from accident, to insurance auction, to reseller to me. I think it sat at salvage place for a while too.
Anyway, here's a more present day shot of it. Ignore the terrible window tint. Sadly I was given a ticket for the window tint, but I was able to convince The Law that I was on the level by pulling the tint down on one rear passenger window. I've meant to fix it, just haven't gotten around to it. Other than that, with 63k on it now it looks and drives great. Obviously missing those stupid wheel plugs, I have yet to see 2nd gen vibe with all of them.

Welcome in out of the cold and nice Vibe!
I've looked at local salvage vehicles but they are always priced too close to book value. I'm guessing one has to "know somebody" to get a reasonable price on these vehicles. I'm kind of surprised the insurance co. totaled your vehicle, the damage seems to be limited to one location and doesn't look too bad. Nice purchase!

Chiadog wrote:Welcome in out of the cold and nice Vibe!
I've looked at local salvage vehicles but they are always priced too close to book value. I'm guessing one has to "know somebody" to get a reasonable price on these vehicles. I'm kind of surprised the insurance co. totaled your vehicle, the damage seems to be limited to one location and doesn't look too bad. Nice purchase!

That is so nice you're being kind about this Vibe

Welcome to yet another red Vibe GT! I think we've had like 3 or 4 new ones to the board in the past month or two. It is great that you were able to rescue your Vibe and give it a new life. It looks like you and your friend did a good job on it.

Oh, and my 2010 GT does have all of the center caps on it. They changed the part so it would fit better late in 2009 so the new ones do stay put.

Good luck with it!

Welcome to GenVibe! Nice work. My Vibe is also a salvage, but it was fixed well before my ownership. I have, however, replaced the rear bumper cover twice, once replacing the rebar with it. When I get the know-how, space, and money to fix a salvaged car, I'd love to do it.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the site!

My first vehicle was a salvage project (2000 Ford Mustang) and was also totaled out due to a rear-end accident. I can't say I would do it again because of the headache I had to deal with later on with it. I hope yours turns out!

Welcome and looks like your buddy did a great job on the car

My first car was a salvaged 2000 honda accord v6 coupe. Car drove and ran perfectly fine but the headlights were never straight. I mean every time I get a new projector retrofit the alignment is off. It was quite annoying lol

Oh yeah, 5 years with the vibe and I still have all 4 caps on my wheels, I had put silicone in them

Welcome to GenVibe! Glad to hear you finally decided to join us! Poor Vibe . I'm glad you had it all fixed and have been enjoying it the past couple years!

As far as the wheel center caps go, both our 2009 Vibe GTs still have all their center caps because they were siliconed on by the dealer prior to us purchasing them. I have removed them a couple times to have the tires re-balanced, etc. and every time I re-install them with a tiny bit of RTV clear silicone. They're not going anywhere!

KITT222 wrote:Welcome to GenVibe! Nice work. My Vibe is also a salvage, but it was fixed well before my ownership. I have, however, replaced the rear bumper cover twice, once replacing the rebar with it. When I get the know-how, space, and money to fix a salvaged car, I'd love to do it.

Enjoy!

How is the frame?

Nasmfell wrote:

KITT222 wrote:Welcome to GenVibe! Nice work. My Vibe is also a salvage, but it was fixed well before my ownership. I have, however, replaced the rear bumper cover twice, once replacing the rebar with it. When I get the know-how, space, and money to fix a salvaged car, I'd love to do it.

Enjoy!

How is the frame?

Fine. Nothing wrong with it.

trb wrote:Welcome to yet another red Vibe GT!

X2 As others said it's nice to see your Vibe resurrected and put back into service. Looks good & do your best to keep it that way

Thanks everybody for the kind words. I'm always glad to see a lively online community when it comes to vehicles. My two other vehicles are an aforementioned Jeep Wrangler and a Chevy Avalanche. Both of which have a huge presence online.

Thanks again.

Good looking repair. It is good that you have photos of the damage - while I certainly understand why it was totaled, that kind of repair would not scare me off from a salvage vehicle (though I'd still expect it to be a relative bargain). I'd never buy a salvage vehicle unless I could see the photos (even though pics of damage could even be faked).

Congrats, I've always seen those vehicles on sale here in Houston, sometimes I see a real good deal but i just don't have the space nor time. If I really wanted to too, I think I could make some money buying and selling salvage vehicles like that.

how does insurance work on that, they only insure a portion of the value, right?

As with all things, it all comes down to the morality of people. I wouldn't really suggest anyone buy a salvage title vehicle with the intention of fixing it and selling it for profit, because you'll probably end up losing. I've heard horror stories of outfits packing a blown airbag with newspaper and selling it. All the salvage vehicles my father and I have repaired we all still personally own. Another thing one needs to be careful with when looking at prior salvage vehicles is saltwater damage. Tons of vehicles that were flooded in New York after Sandy's inland flooding are not only being sold with salvage titles, but also as not ever being damaged.
With regards to the insurance, I guess I'm not really sure. I've never had my insurance agent ever ask me any questions about it. At one point I thought I had heard that an insurance company might only pay half of a vehicles value for a salvage title but I'm not sure there's any truth to that. Fortunately, I've never had to make a claim. Historically I only carried liability but the past year or two I've had collision/comprehensive.

I've checked into it as well, but not real deep. My credit union has no problem financing one as long as the value is reasonable and it was fully repaired and a certified rebuilt title. And my insurance company said they would have no problem insuring it fully. But I have read about other places and insurance companies that will insure salvage vehicles for liability only. There have been several nice rebuilt Vibes listed locally at a good price, but I never looked at one up close. The bad thing on newer cars is that the factory warranty is void, so that needs to be considered in the price.

I'm guessing that's the case with the factory warranty, which didn't really concern me. I still was able to have recall work done without question or cost. I had the drivers side door switches and gas pedal assembly worked on as a part of those recalls.