Whats a reasonable price for a non-crashed donor now that used car prices are skyrocketing?

[Forceofaqua]

I've been looking for a running driving manual cobalt for a while now, and it seems like these don't get lower than 2k without having serious issues. I've had trouble finding the 2.4 liters, and have given up on SS or TC because people are asking 5-6k for them.

I've found a few hovering around the $3500 mark. Is that a good price for a donor?

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

The donor doesn't necessarily need to be running, unless you plan to drive it for a while. A rear crashed donor is a prime candidate, since many of them will never be driven again and most of the parts need for a Goblin come off the front half of the car.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

But $3.5K for a working donor is not a bad price - mileage dependent.

 

[Trail_Creeper]

My girl picked up ours while I was deployed for $900.

 

[Gtstorey]

Check out the salvage auction sites.

 

[Joebob]

I got mine at a salvage auction in Dec 2020 and after all the fees and transport, the $900 bid was $1800 to the house for a 2.4L auto, not running but everything else was in fantastic condition. I sold more than $2K worth of parts off it as I live in a big city to share the wealth. I would say shop for value as well as price. If the inside and outside are trashed, it makes for a great donor for you but the rest will be worthless to anyone else so you have to eat the full donor price.

 

[Forceofaqua]

I got mine at a salvage auction in Dec 2020 and after all the fees and transport, the $900 bid was $1800 to the house for a 2.4L auto, not running but everything else was in fantastic condition. I sold more than $2K worth of parts off it as I live in a big city to share the wealth. I would say shop for value as well as price. If the inside and outside are trashed, it makes for a great donor for you but the rest will be worthless to anyone else so you have to eat the full donor price.

Any parts in particular that I should look out for that can resell well? I don’t live too far from Dallas, so I may be able to get away with the same.

 

[Joebob]

I sold just about everything but the doors. Most from Facebook Marketplace ads and some from watching wanted posts on some of the Cobalt groups.

• Front seat belts $20 each
• CAI $125
• Front calipers $75
• Front rotors $0
• Rear calipers $50
• Front struts $75
• Rear shocks $20
• Front swaybar $45
• Floor mats $28
• Window regulators $100
• Side mirrors $20
• A/C compressor $50
• A/c control panel $25
• Wiper switch $20
• Subwoofer $45
• Driver airbag $50
• Radiator $40
• Taillight $15
• Trunk lid $75
• Rear bumper cover $75
• Spare tire $30
• Front seats $200
• Airbag module $50
• Rear seat bracket $25
• Sunroof $100
• Sunroof glass $50
• Wheels and tires $550
• Onstar mirror $20
• Rear shocks $20
• Rear axle $170
• Rear rotors $30
• Cat converters ~250

 

[snirtman]

My girl picked up ours while I was deployed for $900.

$900 sounds like a steal of a deal. I gave up on the salvage auctions - watched them for 6+ months and everything was too expensive and/or too far away from me. Last week I found the same car as yours (06 SS/SC) on FB 20 miles away. It ran and drove ok, but was in a rollover so roof was caved in and all glass broken out. It has only 115K on it and seems mostly unmolested. I had to give 2 grand for it, but from what I've seen on the auctions, that's not a bad deal.

 

[Joebob]

might be a good donor:

2006 CHEVROLET COBALT SS SUPERCHARGED for Auction - IAA

2006 CHEVROLET COBALT SS SUPERCHARGED for auction at Wichita (KS) branch location. Actual Cash Value: $1,146 - Mileage: 119,202 mi - Color: Blue - Transmission: Manual Transmission - Stock: 30376941

www.iaai.com

 

[Dsteinhorst]

Running driving donors in the rust belt start around $3k for an SS. There's a Facebook Cobalt SS group that has a couple cars a day up.

 

[Sluggonaut]

I'd rather pay the $3k for a running/driving donor. I've recouped just over $2k on my $3400 donor. I still have the catback and some small stuff left so my not donor cost will be under $1k.

Yes, FB marketplace will challenge your patience but it's worth it.

 

[Scott #321]

After all the taxes and buyer fees I just paid $1500 ($625 bid) for a 2010 SS that the interior was completely burnt out of. Not good for a donor due to the interior parts needed not being available. Does shed some light on what people are willing to give for just the power train though.

 

[snirtman]

might be a good donor:

2006 CHEVROLET COBALT SS SUPERCHARGED for Auction - IAA

2006 CHEVROLET COBALT SS SUPERCHARGED for auction at Wichita (KS) branch location. Actual Cash Value: $1,146 - Mileage: 119,202 mi - Color: Blue - Transmission: Manual Transmission - Stock: 30376941

www.iaai.com

This would be a great donor, but things seem to take forever at the insurance auctions. This car has been at IAA since May 2021, I've had it on my watchlist for about 6 months and it still does not have an auction date. Maybe next year?

 

[CaptFrank2001]

Paid $1,900 for my drivable 2006 SS with 5-speed and 2.4 NA about a year ago. Parted out a bunch and sold the high mileage engine. Wound up with about $1000 invested & luckily found a low mileage 2.4 NA for $400. I think there are still bargains out there if you look hard enough. I searched Google for "Cobalt SS for sale Florida" and found mine at a dealer 180 miles away. Good Luck.

 

[PaulPerger]

I'd rather pay the $3k for a running/driving donor. I've recouped just over $2k on my $3400 donor. I still have the catback and some small stuff left so my not donor cost will be under $1k.

Yes, FB marketplace will challenge your patience but it's worth it.

AND THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE DECADE AWARD GOES TO....... @Sluggonaut !!!

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I posted a half dozen parts on FB Marketplace and for every serious inquiry I get, i.e. someone who actually READ my post and is requesting availability of a specific part, I get a dozen messages that say, "I'll give you $500 for the whole car..." Or "What's your lowest price for the whole thing?"

I even had one guy argue with me that I didn't know what I was doing and "nobody is EVER going to buy just a bumper!"..... Morons.

 

[Rauq]

In my mind there's a direct correlation between your level of patience and the quality of a deal. In the past three months I've come across sub-$1.5k SS/NA, sub-$2k SS/SC, and sub $3k SS/TC donors. Granted, that's only in my neck of the woods, but if you can respond quickly, there's definitely still deals out there.

Cobalt groups, and specifically Cobalt SS groups, are extremely unlikely to provide a deal- folks there seem to think non-running cars are worth $5-6k, whereas if you're searching FB Marketplace in general, crashed or cosmetically tragic cars are going for less than half that.

I think it's silly to see folks talking about how DF needs to come out with a kit on a new platform because there's no more Cobalts out there- they sold over a million of these things, so while it may be harder to find your perfect donor than it is to find parts, it'll be a long time before the Goblin community has taken enough off the roads that we're actually in a crisis.

 

[Chubbs]

I think it's silly to see folks talking about how DF needs to come out with a kit on a new platform because there's no more Cobalts out there

I agree completely. There are tons of them in the midwest. And although SS cars are getting harder to find, a stock 2.2 cobalt can be built to crazy amounts of horsepower for a pretty reasonable price. Buy a base model, throw $3k at the engine, and you have more than a stock SS ever was.

When it was all done, the only parts I really used for my build were the engine, trans, wire harness, gauges, and the subframe. You just don't really need much from the donor car. Sure, you can reuse the suspension and seats and hubs and such, but most of that is going to be trash with an older car, and brand new stuff is pretty cheap. Why not just replace it?

The donor car doesn't have to be good, at all. If the engine and trans aren't blown, It can probably be made into a goblin.

 

[Dsteinhorst]

If the engine and trans aren't blown, It can probably be made into a goblin.

My sentiments exactly. I ended up replacing nearly every wear item on my donor. My add on supercharger components are cheaper than a SS donor was when I was looking. Lots of ways to make it work.

 

[snirtman]

Here's another donor candidate in North Carolina - high mileage, unmolested donor with the G85 option: 2006 SS/SC

Edit: The paint markings on the engine would suggest its not the original, so probably has less miles than the 224K that's on the odo.