5 Things You Should Know About A Salvage Title

You’ve finally found your perfect used car after an extensive search in local markets and online. A car which best fits your requirements like low mileage, perfect price, and good looks.

The deal looks attractive until you find out it is sold with a salvage title.  

Don’t worry! A salvage title is a label that describes the condition of a car. It isn’t necessarily a mark of car’s death, but yes, you need to be more careful purchasing a salvage car.

The points you should know before purchasing a salvage car

• What is a salvage?
• How to identify a car with a salvage title
• The Risks
• When you should consider a salvage car
• Buying and insuring a Salvage Titled Vehicle

What is a salvage?

If your car met with an accident and the repairing cost is too high compared to the value of the vehicle, your car insurance company will declare it a total loss and take its possession. In some cases, such cars are sold to a repair facility and the vehicle is rebuilt or fixed. Such a vehicle gets a label called as “ Salvage Title”.

However, the criteria for determining when a salvage title is issued differ considerably in each state, province or territory. A salvage title doesn’t always apply to collision damage vehicles, it also applies to the cars with significant damages like fire, flood,  hail or stolen and then recovered.

How to identify a car with a salvage title?

In many cars, you’ll see the label on the vehicle’s title which identifies it as a salvage or repaired salvage. 

In many states, you’ll also see the title branding. This title branding identifies if a vehicle was a former taxi, a police car, a remanufactured vehicle, a lemon-law buyback or a warranty return.  

Unfortunately, not all cars with branded titles will have them noted in vehicle’s title. Hence, it is a necessity to get the vehicle history report of your selected car. Vehicle history report will give the detailed information on any salvage titles in the car’s history, and it may also show the information like why the title was branded in the first place.

You can get a vehicle history report on VehicleCheckUSA by spending 8.99$ or you can also get 3 vehicle history report at the price of 13.99$.

Once you are sure about a car, right before the final purchase arrange a mechanic inspection. Their trained eyes can identify if any repair work is done in the vehicle if any flood damage exists, and where vehicle systems are not operating properly. Mechanics can also find forged parts in a car.

The Risks

Out of the many risks of buying a salvage title car, the biggest one is that you might not know the extent of the car’s damage.

Some other factors that need to be considered before purchasing a salvage title car.

• Safety –  There were certain incidents noticed in the past when the salvage car builders used money-saving tactics to cut safety concerns like airbags etc.
• Fraud – Don’t trust dealers or sellers blindly. Many dealers try to sell the salvage title cars claiming that the damages are minor and cosmetic, but it’s not always true. Hence, always ask for the documentation if buying a salvage title car.
• Low Value – Many dealers don’t often accept the salvage title car, this means that you may find it hard to sell your salvage car. Also, since the value of your salvage title vehicle is low in the event of an accident, your car insurance company is not going to pay you much.

When should you consider a salvage car?

Salvage title car can be useful If you are looking for at a vehicle for extra parts. Salvage titled vehicles can be an excellent purchase for those looking to revive or extend the life of another car.

However, if you’re planning on buying one to drive right away, salvage title cars are not for you. Buying and Insuring a Salvage Titled Vehicle Despite the risks, if you are still determined to buy a salvage car, we have a complete list of steps to ensure a safe purchase for you

1. Get the vehicle history report form VehicleCheckUSA 
2. Get the mechanic inspection done
3. Ask the seller for all repair records
4. Find out when salvage title was issued to the car. If it was issued long ago and the car is still functional means the repair apparently was adequate. But, if the accident or damage occurred recently, there’s greater uncertainty.

Make a wise decision while picking up your used car. Never purchase a used car without evaluating the detailed vehicle history report.

Every used car has a back-end story and some of them are nothing short of a nightmare. So, always look for the Vehicle History Report before purchasing a used car. It will help you know if a car has a clean history or hidden problems. We have data available for every used car sold post-1982.