Source of donor cars

[edfickus]

What are a few sources of decent donor cars and what is a reasonable estimate for new parts to complete a kit? I'm trying to compare the cost of new parts as opposed to a donor car. I anticipate that I would replace some of the parts from a donor car anyways.
Thanks in advance.
Ed

[bnr32jason]

COPART for donor cars is one commonly used source

Or if you want to take some of the headache out of it, 818 Donors provides all the parts you need already stripped and refreshed.

[THE ITALIAN]

Run as far as you can from EREPAIRABLES
TRA auctions may be a good choice too

[Racebrewer]

What went wrong with EREPAIRABLES ????

Thank you,
John

[68GT500MAN]

Which model are you building? When I built my roadster I found the donor on eBay.

[RM1SepEx]

What went wrong with EREPAIRABLES ????

Thank you,
John

review the thread... poor business practices

my donor came from Copart $1850 (plus fees shipping from MI to ME) for an 05 with 70,000 miles, was rolled over see working on the donor thread for donor info from 4-5 early donor work list members

[edfickus]

Which model are you building? When I built my roadster I found the donor on eBay.

I am more interested in the street version. What are some thoughts on the 2.5 motor? This is going to be my graduation present to myself in two years if all goes as planned. I switched careers later in life and need some added motivation. Haha
Thanks guys

[RM1SepEx]

the 2.5L have more torque and HP potential but cost more (wrx versions, 06 and 07) I would look locally for a damaged donor on craiglist or from an insurance company. There are a couple threads that discuss it in detail. Like everything on these projects almost everything is some sort of compromise... Everyone has valid reasons supporting their decisions.

[AZPete]

Ed, 818Donors has written a blog article that gives a good comparison of the 2.0 vs 2.5 donors:

http://818donors.com/general/2002-20...2006-2007-wrx/
My 818donors kit is now on a truck headed west to me. Yippee.
Pete

[Xusia]

my donor came from Copart $1850 (plus fees shipping from MI to ME) for an 05 with 70,000 miles, was rolled over see working on the donor thread for donor info from 4-5 early donor work list members

I've been following prices on Copart auctions for about a year now, and from what I can see, you got REALLY lucky with that price. Most '02-'05 donors with low miles like that are going for closer to $3k. If the engine starts, or - even better yet - if they actually run & drive, they tend to go for even more. I was outbid on one locally that still drove that went for just under $6k!

Copart is still a good source, but you have to take your time and be patient. A good deal will come along...

[JeromeS13]

+1 for Copart. I won my auction last week and received the car yesterday. Got an '06 WRX with 123k miles. I had already budgeted a new shortblock and rebuilding the heads. Good thing, because the timing belt is snapped. Ended up getting it for < $5k after fees and shipping. If things work out how I have forecasted, I should break even after I sell all of the extra parts.

[RM1SepEx]

I've been following prices on Copart auctions for about a year now, and from what I can see, you got REALLY lucky with that price. Most '02-'05 donors with low miles like that are going for closer to $3k. If the engine starts, or - even better yet - if they actually run & drive, they tend to go for even more. I was outbid on one locally that still drove that went for just under $6k!

Copart is still a good source, but you have to take your time and be patient. A good deal will come along...

mine was so ugly, no one wanted it!

[THE ITALIAN]

[QUOTE=RM1SepEx;99276]review the thread... poor business practices

What went wrong with EREPAIRABLES ???? What has gone right? nothing. They have no communication with you, even when you win on their site-ever ! I won two cars (locally), then two days later, I lost them, but they did not email me or anything, they just listed them "lost"'
Matter of fact, I won the same car twice and still did not get it. Of course I am bidding before a live auction, then later my bids were placed at the live auction, but both times the car did not sell.
Their site "locked-up" one time too and I could not bid at all. One time I called my "rep" , he said "he would get to the bottom of this", I never was called back. I gave up on them. There were several other things that happened, but that is on another thread.
They did say "Hey we have over 60,ooo cars to keep track of", I said "Hey , there are much better sites than yours."

[Xusia]

If Copart can do, so can they. NO excuse, really. Just poor management and customer service...

[Samiam1017]

I have a 04 wrx 138000 miles located in pa for sale or can palletise. Any interested party's pm me

[mattster03]

Having purchased a few cars on COPART myself, I will say they are a great option... just prepare yourself and factor in the fees before bidding. Generally speaking, expect to pay $800+ in taxes and fees for your "average" $3000 purchase. It can definitely be a bit of a sticker shock that might make an unprepared person feel "screwed over"

[Samiam1017]

Also the fee schedule in there website is lower then actual fees. I've gotten I to it with them about it on a few purchases. The fee list is for open accounts. So expect a few bucks higher.

[bstuke]

I got my 07 donor through copart as well and used J&L Auto Brokers. 80K miles and cost me $3315.00.

I highly recommend copart as well as J&L Auto Brokers. www.jlautobrokers.com

[bnr32jason]

If I could find one near me, I'd look for an 06-07 donor through Copart, but I've never seen one on the west coast, they are always east coast which means $$$ for shipping. At that point might as well save the time and effort and just use 818Donors.

[JeromeS13]

If I could find one near me, I'd look for an 06-07 donor through Copart, but I've never seen one on the west coast, they are always east coast which means $$$ for shipping. At that point might as well save the time and effort and just use 818Donors.

I bought my '06 WRX from Colorado. I also used J&L Auto Brokers. Shipping to AZ was only $600... :-D There are lots good donors coming from the west coast...

[bstuke]

I bought my '06 WRX from Colorado. I also used J&L Auto Brokers. Shipping to AZ was only $600... :-D There are lots good donors coming from the west coast...

Dayton at J&L was most awesome to work with. I received my paperwork promptly, and the refund I was owed was also quickly returned. I am going to use them when I start looking for a tow vehicle. Maybe I will find something I can repair and put back on the road.

I ended up picking up mine with my trailer, 12 hours round trip with a stop at my little sisters house overnight. They basically dropped it on my trailer with a pickle fork, I strapped down the corners, and was out of there in 30 minutes. Pleasant experience.

[flynntuna]

Has anyone used iaai.com? it's an insurance auction co similar to copart.

[Xusia]

If I could find one near me, I'd look for an 06-07 donor through Copart, but I've never seen one on the west coast, they are always east coast which means $$$ for shipping. At that point might as well save the time and effort and just use 818Donors.

I've been following various auctions on Copart for about a year now, and there have been many, many '06-'07 WRXs. The problem has been that they seem they go for quite a bit more money on the West Coast than elsewhere - ESPECIALLY in CA. Since you will be local, my advice is to look for ones where the repair estimate exceeds the ACV (Actual Cash Value - before the accident). This tends to turn off those that repair and resell. Also, you might look for ones that don't have the "Runs & Drives" or "Engine Start Program" certifications. Many people bidding can't inspect them (like you can!) and so they won't bid as high. There are 2 Copart locations around Seattle, and if you stick to those locations, you can inspect the cars yourself and determine if it's worth bidding on. This will give you a leg up over those who can't inspect them. Often times the reason they won't start is something simple, and the Copart staff won't do much more than try and jump it.

My $0.02...

[edfickus]

If I could find one near me, I'd look for an 06-07 donor through Copart, but I've never seen one on the west coast, they are always east coast which means $$$ for shipping. At that point might as well save the time and effort and just use 818Donors.

This is my dilemma as well. Do I pay the extra cash for a package from a place like 818 Donors? The only problem is that I have tried to reach them by phone and their voicemail message says that they have been on vacation for the last few weeks, I need an estimate on the cost of an 06-07 package.

[RM1SepEx]

Copart will not allow you to even attempt to jump a car. Can be a fire risk after an accident... We discussed IAAI a long time back... they had some viable candidates when I was researching a donor

[JeromeS13]

With my experience, I believe building an 818 based on the 06/07 WRX is DEFINITELY doable on a $15k budget. All it takes is patience to find the right donor, doing ALL of the work yourself, and taking the time to sell the parts that you don't need. From my quick rundown of sell-able parts, I *might* break even on the overall cost of my donor. But, of course I'll be making upgrades, as stock will not suffice.

[Xusia]

I never said anything about Copart customers jumping a car. I said the most the Copart STAFF will do is attempt to jump it. They do this because if they can start it, they can put the "Engine Start Program" tag on the auction and it will usually sell for more. Often times though, there is something ELSE wrong (meaning, the reason it won't start is more than just a dead battery). Doing an inspection yourself may allow you to determine the extent of damage and if the reason it won't start is simple. Such a find can be gold because those who can't inspect it won't know what you know...

[metalmaker12]

I still think, when doing your own rebuild work and selling parts which I have done, the 15k mark is very hard to hit, but I hope some of us can do it, good luck. I just said 20k and that was easier to hit

[bnr32jason]

This is my dilemma as well. Do I pay the extra cash for a package from a place like 818 Donors? The only problem is that I have tried to reach them by phone and their voicemail message says that they have been on vacation for the last few weeks, I need an estimate on the cost of an 06-07 package.

They gave me an estimate of around $6500 for a 06-07 kit.

[Xusia]

Wow. I got an estimate of around $7K for a 2.0L donor kit. $6500 for a 2.5L donor kit sounds very reasonable. If you are serious about going with 818 donors, and that price is for real, I'd get on that right away.

[bstuke]

Wow. I got an estimate of around $7K for a 2.0L donor kit. $6500 for a 2.5L donor kit sounds very reasonable. If you are serious about going with 818 donors, and that price is for real, I'd get on that right away.

Dang. I got the whole car for less than half that. You just have to stay on it. I was on copart 2-3 times a day..

[RM1SepEx]

Xusia
you are very lucky that your local copart would attempt a jump. I investigated about 15 WRXs at 10 or so Copart locations before I bought mine ... If it wasn't listed as runs/starts etc... they wouldn't attempt a jump... Staff, 3rd party inspector no one was allowed, safety reasons were stated, etc...

I wanted an 06, they have the best part but this one popped up and had little interest because of the high damage... since we don't need those exterior parts it was perfect for a low cost donor and I figured that 220-230 WHP would be fine vs 260 WHP in a similar tune out of the 2.5L and people had more concern over the 2.5L head gaskets. One used car dealer I talked to that specialized in Subarus did any 2.5 head gasket with over 60k miles

Its virtually impossible to compare donor prices and value since there are so many unknowns. I tried to limit my exposure by avoiding vehicles that had extensive modifications. Anything beyond an intake made me think that it could have been beat. I found a very ugly 70,000 mile roll over, I'm amazed that I've sold $1200 in parts (after deducting EBay's fees) I need to unload some more parts! I think I can squeeze out another $500 or so... Imagine if I could get to the actual $1850 sale price w/o fees and freight...

My point is that $15k is doable with modest goals. Many of us have example donor situations. We are also human and who wants to put every used piece from their donor into a beautiful mid engine sports car? It is very dependent on your goals for the project...

I have a spreadsheet of every single piece that I have spent. I replaced and reconditioned virtually every wear item. If I just eliminated my Quaife, ($1300 installed) I'd be below $15,000. I bought a lighter flywheel, new clutch, PP and TO bearing, adjustable rear transverse links, STI AL LCAs, timing belt, water pump, oil pump, pulleys, ignition, powder coating and reconditioning... seals, stainless brake and clutch lines, drilled and slotted rotors, new hawk hps pads, ceramic coated header and up pipe, depowered rack, AC delete, new alt belt, one new wheel bearing, they went through the trans when the Quaife was installed, 2 new carrier bearings etc. This does mean using stock wheels and the donor's Direzzas 205s in front and new 225s for the rear. My spreadsheet total right now is $5903.52 I do still need at the minimum a driver's seat belt assembly and mirrors. My original clutch parts and brake parts wwere serviceable and it wasn't due for a timing belt change yet, the exhaust header was perfect... I actually sold almost every piece of it on ebay including the heat guards and pocketed $210 for my old parts to offset the cost of the new header and up pipe. The original is butt ugly... If I could just find a buyer for the cross over pipe it would all be gone!

Now I don't have a "budget" per se, just thought that I'd see how doable the stated low end was... Seems pretty easy from where I'm sitting, I invested about 100 hours so far between my searching and deconstruction and reconditioning. (I work slow...)

I have a couple of friends that want to do a quick build with me on my 818... Depends on my actual pickup date, right now it is the week before our Loring autocross, August 10th... if they can be even a week early, we will do it for sure.

The donor's interior and seats were perfect, I'll use them to start. I expect that over time I'll either leather cover them or replace them, not sure how comfortable they will be, they feel a bit large in the garage. I've done both Miata buckets and my BMW Recaros and it's pretty easy and they look sweet. Leatherseats.com will do custome colors, logos etc...

With my current strategy will it be my final "dream" car...nope, I plan on engineering it into my car over time. I'll develop it to fit my needs.

Yes most should budget $20,000, big wheels and tires esp add up real fast!

don't have time and or space, find a pallet donor... they check out compression, new timing belt and pumps, pulleys etc... pay more $ in exchange for less labor. Pulling the donor apart was pretty quick, maint items cost a bit but are pretty easy to do. That timing belt is amazing vs the small BMW and Mazda ones I've done in the past... How much of my reconditioning and new parts will you do even with the donor pallet? Who knows...

The variability of dreams, capabilities etc is truely amazing... I expect we will see some $40,000 example by next year with serious HP

[Xusia]

Would you mins sharing your spreadsheet? I'd like to see what you paid for some of those services, as well as what you got selling off parts. I honestly have no idea what parts have value or how much they are worth.

[RM1SepEx]

All I do is go on ebay and see what others are asking. I then put up a few photos and put them up for buy it now... after a while I'll add best offer as well, price them correct develop a great rating (100% is nice!)

I got 100 for my tail lights
A center diff is worth about 300
a rear diff is around 200
my parts were worth more than some due to low miles, less than others, depends on the year
It takes time and I try not to overload the system, bleed them out over time
ebay's UPS cost system works great based on box size and weight, zip codes
paypal is youtr friend, fees eat about 11%
bigger parts sell locally, I haven't done well locally as we don't have many people living here...
you never know when a note comes saying you got payment your pars are worth what somebody will pay at that time, so make your's desireable
You need to look for bargains for parts, I had a bunch of guys looking at Quaife's a couple months ago...
you can sell virtually everything that you don't need!

Just like right now, watching Era Alaska season 2 on netflix and catching up on my $200 netbook...

not gonna post the entire spreadsheet... besides we will be trying to sell parts vs each other! :-)

[bnr32jason]

Wow. I got an estimate of around $7K for a 2.0L donor kit. $6500 for a 2.5L donor kit sounds very reasonable. If you are serious about going with 818 donors, and that price is for real, I'd get on that right away.

That's just what they e-mailed me as a rough estimate, so I'd say give or take $1000 would be expected.

[RM1SepEx]

Xusia

I visited EBay last night... right now for example not much in the way of tail lights on EBay for my 05 where I got $100 each for mine, I'm thinking I would ask for a bit more than that due to poor availability. I did take some plastic polish and a hand buff to shine them up before taking photos.

Mechie3 has also noted several times what he has sold off. His damage was far less than mine so I'm sure he's sold of more $ than I did so far.

It's hard to keep up with a fiorum like this as the info is buried all over the place. Eventually I may put it all in one place...

[Xusia]

I'm not a fan of ebay, so I'll prob avoid that route unless CL is ineffective.

Didn't think about the center diff or rear diff. Rear has a really good chance of being damaged on mine, but the center should be good. I'd be SUPER pumped if I could break even on the donor cost. Given what I paid, it won't take much!

[RM1SepEx]

door panels, switches, ac stuff if you don't use it etc... tons of stuff that we don't use. Headlights sell too. Craigslist works well too... If you have a big enough population and you should up there in the Northwest.

did you get an estimated date from Factory 5 yet? Everybody is wondering how far out deliveries are... Perhaps I'll order a second one. I'd really like to do an advanced serial hybrid... I have a great team available... A friend does the software used by NFL and MLB for stats, strike zone hot spots etc... as a consultant out of his house.

[Xusia]

I have not yet been contacted. I'm very dissapointed! I'm so excited, and it's like "hurry up & wait!" LOL

One thing I found odd was that I got the very first pre-order email today - you know, the one they sent in November. I'm sure they are just busy, so I'm [im]patiently waiting!

[THE ITALIAN]

I have not yet been contacted. I'm very dissapointed! I'm so excited, and it's like "hurry up & wait!" LOL

One thing I found odd was that I got the very first pre-order email today - you know, the one they sent in November. I'm sure they are just busy, so I'm [im]patiently waiting!

You guys "cool your jets". Imagine the first guys who get their cars...........You better dam well take 100's of pics and post them, or dam well keep your mouths zipped because guys like us will be riding you hard for info.
THIS IS A WARNING from the FFR old timers. I just thought I should set "the KARMA" because it's coming !!!!!!