I have a car (subaru legacy 1996) declared a salvage title and thus I cannot renew the registration until I "revive it". It seems like there are a lot of steps involved in doing this: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1dmy&urile=wcm:path:/dmv_content_en/dmv/pubs/brochures/howto/htvr13

I am at the point with my car where I just want as little hassle as possible so this looks unappealing. Additionally, there are many latent issues - bald tires, needs rotation/aligning (pulls hard to the right), stereo and entire center console stolen, hood dented from accident (this is what made it a salvage title), burning oil, smells really weird (like burned rubber/oil), worn down brake pads.

So just the bare bones salvage revival stuff isn't nearly enough to make it a "safe" car again, let alone sellable (apparently the fact that its salvage is enough to prevent it, let alone other problems).

However, I wonder if its still less hassle than buying a used car on craigslist. My time in my current city is limited (~6 months too), but as my registration is already 6 months overdue, I feel like I can't just wait an entire year with my current setup.

I guess this turned into a personal question, and I would love any advice, but also, have you ever revived a car in such a state? Was it worth it? Did you wish you had just bought a new one? Alternatively, did you ever regret buying a new car when reviving/fixing the old one would have worked fine?