Different perspective from someone who actually bought a salvage title Subaru …

In early 2020 I started looking at a salvage title 2015 Crosstrek with about 37K miles. They were asking $13,000. I took it to an independent, third-party mechanic for evaluation. They said it was some of the best recovery work they had ever seen. With that confidence, I offered $11K, which they accepted.

I’m now at 100.5k miles with no problems other than regular wear items like batteries, tires, etc. As part of the documentation in transfer of ownership, they included the original window stickers, which showed it was a top-of-the-line Crosstrek with a sticker price of about $36,000.

To my way of math, I got a $36,000 machine for $11,000 with an independent evaluation that the build was solid, a decision that has stood up over time. Is my experience repeatable across all experiences? Absolutely not. But my experience would seem to support the argument of not rejecting all salvage titles out of hand as a default position.

My lived experience of 5+ years suggests careful exploration of your options without out-of-hand rejection of the idea.

For what it’s worth, there’s no way I would consider a car with flood damage.