Bentham Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Browsing along on eBay and found beautiful car for little money but it has been in an accident and has a salvage title. What exactly does this mean. Can I buy it, put it on the road, and drive it without any problems from the DMV? -Eric Eric 93 Cad Seville 100K 95 Chev Blazer 143K [garaged summers] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill K Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 It means an insurance co. totaled the veh. and someone rebuilt it. I've not heard of any problems getting it plated by DMV. Some banks wont loan on a salvage title. Some ins. co. wont sell you comp or collision on a salvage veh. And many people shy away from a veh. like that. Usualy you can get them so cheap you dont care about the loan or ins. and if your lucky and the rebuild was good it will be a real bargin. There is another side to the coin........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentham Posted March 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 So if I were to pay cash, I just have to be worried about insurance.. Can I still get the bare min. [liab.] insurance coverage? The guy has all the receipts and records incl. -Eric Eric 93 Cad Seville 100K 95 Chev Blazer 143K [garaged summers] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Wow...thinking about it. 18 or so years ago....bought a '85 Fiero that had a salvage title. It was a stolen and stripped...and rebuilt. About 1/2 price of a new one. Turned out being a good car. Logan Diagnostic LLC www.airbagcrash.com www.logandieselusa.com www.ledfix.com www.ledfix.com/yukontaillightrepair.html www.ledfix.com/ledreplacements.html www.ledfix.com/j42385toolrental.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentham Posted March 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Is there any way to find out what exactly happened to cause it to be a 'salvage' vehicle.. My brother is a PO .. can I just get him a case # and he should be able to look it up? -Eric Eric 93 Cad Seville 100K 95 Chev Blazer 143K [garaged summers] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Nunnally Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Run a carfax on it? Bruce 2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 No carfax in '85....LOL darn internet! Logan Diagnostic LLC www.airbagcrash.com www.logandieselusa.com www.ledfix.com www.ledfix.com/yukontaillightrepair.html www.ledfix.com/ledreplacements.html www.ledfix.com/j42385toolrental.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentham Posted March 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 haha - the vehicle is a '00 so there should be some history.. Thanks! -Eric Oh, does it ever LOSE it's 'salvage' title.. or once it's been titled that.. it's on there forever? -Eric Eric 93 Cad Seville 100K 95 Chev Blazer 143K [garaged summers] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Yes they can. Tennessee is a popular dumping ground for salvage titles. Once a title is issued the 'salvage' goes away. At least this use to be the case....they may have changed the policy. My Fiero was from Michigan and was sold here. I suspect it had a clean TN title....but the car is most likely scrapped out now. And it was 14-15 years ago.... Logan Diagnostic LLC www.airbagcrash.com www.logandieselusa.com www.ledfix.com www.ledfix.com/yukontaillightrepair.html www.ledfix.com/ledreplacements.html www.ledfix.com/j42385toolrental.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 It has been a long time since I fooled with cars with a salvage title I used to purchse new cars that were damaged during shipping (transit) because they were brnad new cars the never had a title issued other than a slavage title.They were not damaged very bad if the frame was bent they were salvaged.On some of these cars I would fix them up in a couple days good as new.The maufactures did not want the liability on these cars so these cars went dirt cheap.You had to be a dealer to get these cars.At the time all that was required was the car had to be inspected and I would get a clean title.The way the inspection worked it had to be done by the police dept. So I had a few buddies who were cops and would just sign off on the paper work and it was a done deal.I think the inspection was just to verify serial numbers and such so you would not be flipping a stolen car.I would drive them until another car came along then sell it When I was younger it helped support my racing habbit with cars.Parts are expensive for race cars I did real well but it sure was hard to compete with the big guys(car makers) I would show well but usually never win..I could not afford to compete with them but evey now and then I'd win and it was fun that was the main thing.. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg P. Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 I'd sure want to look VERY closely at any car with a salvage title. Even then I'd be a bit leery. If the car was dmaged badly enough to be claimed a "total loss" by an insurance company...well it's hard to be sure that it can ever really be made right again. It's possible, but then again. There is a reason this car is being sold for cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpk Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 It is important to find out why the car was salvaged. Often, especially in rear-end collisions with used high-value cars, the expense of repairing them (both in parts and lots of labor) exceeds the value of the vehicle to be repaired. If you are an experienced body man, and are doing it for yourself, these can be good deals. They're even better as parts cars if you can find a matching car with a blown engine and/or trashed/stolen interior. Put the two together and you have a good car with a clean title (and a bunch of parts you can sell on e-bay). Sometimes on new cars, even though the cost to repair itself makes it worth it, the huge potential liability risk of that repaired vehicle is later in an accident and it can be proven (or even insinuated) that the repair was not up to the standards of the OEM, the insurance company could face a huge lawsuit and it might be worth it just to scrap the thing. OTOH, salvage titles can be issued due to flood damage. This could be OK or bad, depending on the type of water and the depth. If it was clean water (like a leaking roof), you might be OK. If it was a flooded river, you may never get the smell out and the electricals could be shot or work strangely for the remaining life of the car. If the damage occured while parked, its less likely to be as bad as if it occured while driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixtires Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 My 1990 has a salvage title. I bought it last year from a very good friend who owns a body shop. It seems he was at the local State Farm office picking up a check from the insurance company when this fellow drove in this Cadillac that was hit in the rear, pretty hard. It looked like he'd backed into a telephone pole at a pretty high rate of speed. Veed the rear bumper and trunk lid, and bent the rear panel in, trashed the muffler, etc. But, it came into the insurance company under it's own power. He later found out the insurance company had totaled the vehicle. So, he starts watching the insurance auction. Sure enough, it comes on the line. He bids and buys it for $900.00. He already had another front wrecked Caddy that had all the rear parts he needed. So, he straightened the rear end, replaced the bumper and taillights, trunk lid and muffler. Spot painted the rest and sold it to me for $2500.00. It's got just a tad over 90,000 miles on the clock right now. You have to look real close to know it was in an accident. What I'm saying is that it hasn't hurt the car at all (other than the fact it isn't running right now, but that's not because of the accident (see another thread). It was a good deal, looks good and drives good. I fully expect to get another 100,000 miles out of this Caddy (as I did my 89 that preceeded this one). So, if you're looking for a car you're going to drive and not resell later, and you know the history, I think salvaged cars are great deals. Just be careful not to buy a flood car or one that's literally been pieced together. Marko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marika Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Yes they can. Tennessee is a popular dumping ground for salvage titles. Once a title is issued the 'salvage' goes away. At least this use to be the case....they may have changed the policy. My Fiero was from Michigan and was sold here. I suspect it had a clean TN title....but the car is most likely scrapped out now. And it was 14-15 years ago.... In New Jersey, under new rules, once a car enters "salvage" status, it can never be converted back to an ordinary title. Additionally, insurance companies are starting to shy away from "salvage" cars entirely and not insure them at all, even the minimum liability. I guess, at least here in New Jersey, they are trying to get them off the road. Fine, just ship them off to Tennessee.... If you really want to make people safe drivers again then simply remove all the safety features from cars. No more seat belts, ABS brakes, traction control, air bags or stability control. No more anything. You'll see how quickly people will slow down and once again learn to drive like "normal" humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike98c Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 My Aurora is titled salvage but now that the three years on the road rule is up here in Minnesota I can convert it back to a regular title when I get tabs next month. Did I care that it was titled salvage? No. I had no trouble getting insurance and was glad that an insurance broker my company did business with tipped me off to the car. The dealer said they wouldn't do any recall work under warranty if it came up but since I payed about eleven thousand less than the other Auroras of that year and mileage (thirtyfour thousand miles fourteen thousand dollars one and a half years old) I didn't care! I spent about six hundred dollars and maybe sixty hours on my water baby replacing the carpets, flushing the fuse boxes with distilled water then using electrical lube on them as well as flushing the body panels. I now have about one hundred and fifty thousand miles on the car. Routine maintenance. Even the wheel bearings have been trouble free. (edit) Ohh, and most of the time spent was compunding out the left side of the car where the flood water was hitting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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