What is A Rebuilt Title?

1. What is a salvage title car?

Salvage titles are deemed such by an insurance company, not a government agency. A salvage title car is a car that an insurance company had paid off, at a point, its value to the original owner.

2. How does a car become salvaged?

There are many reasons for this. The most common is a collision. A lot of these salvage cars, however, are simply recovered theft cars. Recovered theft cars get a salvage title if they are recovered
after the original owner has been paid off. Usually, this happens after 30 days.

3. I thought salvage title cars are “totaled”?

“Totaled” means an economic total loss. This doesn’t usually have much to do with the extent of the damage. Regardless of mileage, the older the car is the easier it would be for an insurance company to write them off. The less expensive the car is the lighter the damage would have to be for an insurance company to write it off rather than repair it. The salvage industry is huge in this country. The majority of those cars are, indeed, not worth repairing. But a lot of these cars have minor damage or none at all. We pick and choose cars that have light damage. 

4. How common is this?

The fact is that nearly all retail dealers have body shops on site. The vast majority of used cars get bodywork. The difference is that we disclose all of our repairs. Most dealers do not. This is because we believe that there is nothing wrong with buying a car that has had body work done, but you should be able to buy it for less.

5. Is this a salvage title car?

It is not. At least not anymore. This car has an Original Florida title that has a “rebuilt” brand. The brand is there simply to indicate the vehicle’s history.

6. Has this car been inspected?

Yes. This car has been inspected by the Department of Highway Safety. It has passed that inspection and is deemed roadworthy. No different than any other car. Ironically, only our cars get inspected. Under Florida law, no roadworthiness test is necessary other than salvage inspections. This means that only our cars are inspected. Clean title cars, whether sold on eBay or otherwise, have not been inspected.

7. What about title transfer and registration?

This will be no different than any other car. This car will register and transfer like any other car. The title transfer will also be the same.