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Fire-Damaged 2019 Bugatti Chiron Is Now Very Expensive, Made of Unobtanium

The Bugatti Chiron is a rare car and, not in the least because of it, a must-have for Bugatti collectors. Even so, this one is proving both very expensive and irresistible, despite the fact that it’s made of unobtanium.
2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless 19 photos
Photo: Copart
2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's useless2019 Bugatti Chiron with fire damage is proving irresistible to collectors, even though it's uselessFire-damaged 2019 Bugatti Chiron previously owned by El Alfa is selling as a total loss on the cheapFire-damaged 2019 Bugatti Chiron previously owned by El Alfa is selling as a total loss on the cheapFire-damaged 2019 Bugatti Chiron previously owned by El Alfa is selling as a total loss on the cheapFire-damaged 2019 Bugatti Chiron previously owned by El Alfa is selling as a total loss on the cheapFire-damaged 2019 Bugatti Chiron previously owned by El Alfa is selling as a total loss on the cheapFire-damaged 2019 Bugatti Chiron previously owned by El Alfa is selling as a total loss on the cheapFire-damaged 2019 Bugatti Chiron previously owned by El Alfa is selling as a total loss on the cheapFire-damaged 2019 Bugatti Chiron previously owned by El Alfa is selling as a total loss on the cheap
Bugatti will make 500 Chirons, including special editions, and 300 of them have already been built. While the price for a new Chiron is in the $3 million neighborhood because they are so hard to come by, the used market price is just as high, if not even higher. Used examples have been known to sell for as much as $4 million, for instance.

Earlier this month, possibly the world’s cheapest Chiron stepped into the spotlight on Copart. It was a fire-damaged 2019 Chiron, believed to have belonged (briefly) to Dominican artist El Alfa before it was deliberately set on fire with a Molotov cocktail in the summer of 2021. With damage on the driver side, the windshield, the interior, and the driver side window, but an intact engine and still running at idle, it was listed with an estimate of $345,000 – dirt cheap for any Bugatti.

Also then, Houston Crosta, perhaps the most famous Bugatti parts dealer and collector in the U.S., said that he would be buying it as a restoration project. In a recent video, Crosta walks back on his previous comment: he’s not buying it because the price has skyrocketed. Moreover, he insists no one should buy it.

Copart gave the Chiron a good clean and updated the description. Details on how it got this way are still not included, but what was included explains why it’s made of the aforementioned unobtanium: the vehicle comes with a Florida certificate of destruction, also known as a certificate of death or COD. According to Crosta, this means it won’t ever be registered again, no dealer will ever service it or insurance company insure it, and Bugatti will refuse to sell parts for it. In other words, it can’t be taken out on the road legally ever again.

Crosta says bidding for the Chiron is at $800,000, after already hitting almost $1 million within days of the original listing and Copart resetting the count. And that’s a full month before the car actually goes under the hammer, so it could fetch as much as $1.5 million. Whichever way you look at it, paying this kind of money for a vehicle that will need at least $400,000 more (optimistically) in parts, with no resale or future use prospect in sight doesn’t seem like a sound financial decision.

There’s a caveat to what Crosta is saying and it can make a huge difference: because of the COD, no one will be able to register the Chiron in Florida. Moreover, some states allow licensed rebuilders to work on a COD vehicle and get a salvage and rebuilt title. It’s a more complicated, time- and money-consuming endeavor, but it is possible.

Of course, there’s also the possibility of selling it for parts, something that Crosta himself considered. In his initial video, he noted the Chiron could be worth $1.5 million if taken apart, but in this new one, he talks around this option.

The intriguing saga of this burned Chiron with celebrity provenance is just getting started.

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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