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Salvage Title???

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BLG

BLG

Freshman Member
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OK, I am a doofus when it comes to this stuff, so hopefully someone can help me here. What does "salvage title" mean? I have seen a few cars that mention a salvage title, and really don't know what that means. An explanation would be splendid.
Oh, and I'm in California if it makes a difference.
 
it means that an insurance company has totalled the car and it has been rebuilt. This could be for something you might consider small or a complete wreck. It will also follow the vehicle and make it harder to sell in the future
 
I'm speaking from a different political area, but I'm an importer of cars. As I understand, in Calif., a salvage title means an accident has kept the car off the road and then the title had to bee updated to re-register. At any case, this makes these cars unavailable for import. I'm sure someone will expand or correct this for you.
Dave
 
BLG...salvage means it was wrecked and considered repairs beyond it's Blue Book value or insured value. Here's another BCF thread discussing the issue....I have purchased a salvage vehicle for my son a Mitsubishi Eclipse that was fully repaired and has been a GREAT car for what I paid but it will affect it's future resale...

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/u...7456#Post317456
 
The car doesn't have to be wrecked to get a salvage title. I had a salvage title for my Volvo. It went to the wrecking yard with a blown motor and would have cost the previous owner more to replace the motor than the car was worth.
 
Salvage title, therefore, means a loss of some type (accident, flooding, mechanical) for which the repairs were beyond the insurance salvage value....so, the insurance company paid the owner for the car, revoked the clear title & assigned a salvage title before selling the car to a salvage yard for disassembly.

In Alabama, a company has to have a builder's license to rebuild & put such a car back on the road (& then only after a safety inspection by the highway patrol)...the salvage title tells everybody along the way in the car's future that its been rebuilt in some way.

Some states, I think, have prohibitions against salvage vehicles...but, to me, the salvage title says "buyer beware"...
 
In California you can get a salvage title for free.
You could do that in order to sell a car that won't
meet smog,etc.,so that the buyer couldn't come after
you later for any reason like that.
To reregister a car in CA. with a salvage certificate,
you need to get a brake check,light check,& if necessary,
a smog check.But it will still say "SALVAGE" on the title.

- Doug
 
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