Salvage RAV4 EV

[MikeHoskinson]

Hi all.
A local Canadian used EV shop has two of these on their website. The Carfax reports say that both were insurance write-offs after accidents. They were subsequently salvaged and re-registered in California before this local outfit imported them.

Should this be a deal breaker, or is salvage a common enough thing in California that there is some chance that one or another of these might be OK? The shop was closed yesterday; I’m planning on heading over there this morning and checking them out. I saw only one (2014) on the lot yesterday. For what it’s worth, it looked new. They are both over 60,000 miles and the asking price is about the equivalent of US$18,000.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my first time on the forum. To be honest, I don’t really <<need>> another EV, but since we more or less gave our 2014 Leaf to our daughter, we’re down to one car.

Mike

 

[SeattleRav4]

Salvage is always a red flag but not necessarily a deal breaker. It depends on what was bent and how it was fixed.
Reading these forums gives a very good listing of various issues with the car, but as usual distorts the picture to the negative.
The vast majority do not have issues. The key elements are having a warranty in place to cover unexpected, but potentially expensive repairs, and finding a competent dealer when you need the warranty.
Fortunately the Seattle Toyota dealership has proven reasonably capable.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Weekdayskier]

For 18K, you could buy one that has not been salvaged. I would go for one with a clean title.

 

[miimura]

For 18K, you could buy one that has not been salvaged. I would go for one with a clean title.

Sure, in California you could easily get one with a clean title for less than that. The difference is that they have gone to the trouble to import and register it in Canada. They may have also added JdeMO or other things. If they are going to be your service and support, I would be less hesitant to buy it. Of course, whether it's worth $18k CAD to the OP, depends on his available alternatives.

Since operating any RAV4 EV in Canada is basically without warranty anyway, I don't see that being salvage makes much difference as long as it was properly repaired and you can get service for it.

 

[SeattleRav4]

Or the OP could buy mine. Yes warranty, no Jademo.
Would require importing to Canada but clean title, one owner and a couple thousand less.
I would even get the door scratch fixed.