What's the difference between the two? Is it legal or mechanical? If a car has had a frame-off restoration can it be represented to have a clear title? What about an accident that requires a new front or rear clip? Where is the line drawn?

 

I assume you are talking about a classic / old car, and not something fairly new.

The short answer is a salvage vehicle is one that has been brought back from a "total loss" vehicle. The car was declared a total loss, and the title was surrendered and subsequently branded as a salvage title. It is a legal change in the title status of the vehicle - from a clean title to one that was declared a total loss.

It comes down to the amount of damage, and the cost to repair it. If the repair cost exceeds the value cost (plus or minus a percentage), the the insurance company declares the car a total loss.

It doesn't matter is if it a new front clip, a new frame, a new entire body. All that matters is the dollars to repair it vs. the fair market value of the car.

The answer varies from state to state. Some states do not recognize or allow salvage or reconstructed vehicles to be put back on the road.

Other states allow salvage or reconstructed vehicles with a state inspection to insure safety / emissions issues are properly addressed.

Some states don't really care once a car gets to a certain age.

Title "branding" (which is what a salvage title is - the vehicle title is branded as a salvage) is one of the big issues that NMVTIS was creater for.

It was very easy in the past to "wash" titles through other states to get a title brand removed. Now, with the NVMTIS national database, that is much more difficult.

These days, it would be very difficult to get a title brand removed legally. A car can be completely restored, and even better than when it was new, but may still carry the title branding.

I am not aware of any state that has a procedure for legally removing a salvage brand from a title.

 

I agree. Check with your DMV. A salvage title can also be issued for a theft recovery vehicle.

 

My 98 Wrangler is a salvage vehicle. Had a damaged left fender and hood. That's it and it is branded a salvage vehicle. It was perfect for my LS swap. MN only requires you keep all receipts for the repair parts and it's inspected for those parts. MN is not inspecting repairs or the quality of the repairs only looking for stolen parts.

If you are going to keep the car I wouldn't care about a branded title. I would have it inspected by the proper body shop/repair shop. Also at least 30% less cost for a branded title vehicle.

 

I don't believe you can ever change a particular VIN from a "Salvage" title to a "Clear" title. In Virginia, at least, the previous discussion has it...a "Salvage" title is assigned to a vehicle that was, at one point, a total loss.

In the modern world, a "Salvage" title is a clear indication that a vehicle was "back half'ed", meaning it was clobbered and the "good" front end to welded to another car's "good" rear end. My parents still own/drive a salvage car they purchased 15+ years ago. It was a cheap way to get into a low mileage Toyota Avalon.

In the classic Corvette world, I don't believe NCRS would car if the car was salvage or not. Clearly there would be a hit to the high-end investor if the car was salvaged.

On the other end of the spectrum, I'm not sure that MY car (as far from NCRS as you could get without having it be 4WD) would have its value hurt much by a salvage title. For the price I purchased my car at (very cheap for a running/driving 1970), I probably would have still purchased the car...although my wife may have grumbled a little more. In the end, salvage or not, it makes absolutely no difference to my build. In the end, I'm replacing pretty much everything except for the body skin and the VIN plate anyway...

 

Will be harder to resell
Many ins co's will still insure it for its worth ck into yours.
Rest has been covered.

 

find out which states don't allow salvage cars on the road. these are the states that you won't be able to sell the car to. and you will have to discount the car accordingly.

 

The "Salvage" title indicates that the car has been scrapped some time in its life. Once titled as "Salvage", that designation will always remain.

Being 'salvaged' doesn't mean that the car is any less roadworthy than a non-salvaged car. The quality of the resulting car is strictly a function of how well the repair to it was done. It could be that the car is as good...or even better...than it was prior to being totalled. But, it could also be that there is a lot of 'hidden' damage, say, from being in a flood and having internal metal damage which cannot easily be seen.

Once it gets a "salvaged" designation, that car will always sell for significaqntly less than a similar car which was not damaged/totalled. Most folks don't know how to determine the structural quality of a car, so they go by the "salvaged" limitation and will only offer 1/2 to 2/3 of the going price for a 'clear' titled car.

You can pick up some good [financial] deals on salvaged cars...IF you know what to look for; but you can never get what the car should be worth, just because it was repaired properly.

 

Ive always believed the expression "clear title" meant it was free of encumberances. In other words, the owner had a "clear title" in their name... no liens showing, no balance due, no cases of "title skipping," where someone tried to cheat the state out of sales tax by not titling the car in their name when they buy it, instead passing off the title in the previously held seller's name.

I've never thought of a "clear" title as just one free of "branding" such as Salvage, Junk, Flood, etc.

Seeing how people use the term, though, it seems that its both. I know whenever I ask a seller if he has a clear title, I want to know if he has a title in HIS NAME, not someone else's, without liens.

EDIT: looking it up on the Illinois site, they refer to unbranded titles as "clean." Hmmm...

 

over the years I have run across these
Clean Title
Clear Title
Re construted Title
Rebuilt Title
Salvage Title
Wes

 

This is a biggie these days
Even if they have abill of sale from the last guy to them I still wont buy it whos to say its correct? went through that once almost lost the car over it.

"No title" ads...well if they want your money tell them to take their lazy azz to DMV do the paperwork spend $20 and get it or no deal
Maybe you can do it that way but why didnt they?

In ca youll see lots of cars for sale "lien sale". That means when you register it automatically defaults to salvage title forever no matter what. I bought my 67 in the 90s on lien and just mean the guy didnt pay the impound fee...clear title. (laws changed).

Paid close to $300 for a set of mint black and yellow plates with the correct prefix YOM etc for it, bought the correct sticker from ebay brought a bill of sale saying I bought the entire car just to be safe. Took the plates a few parts told him he could keep the rest;had me believing he was going to sawzall it up and scrap it. Stupid me.

Well the schiester turns around sells it to a junkyard now the VIN (which ties the plates in) active in DMV system even with "ownership of vehicle" my plates are useless as they have to be out of the system meaning no activity or inquiries etc for 3 yrs min. Makes no sense but thats Ca.

Looking at a car now thats so freakin rare its driving me nuts..ad says "missing title". Way I see it they bought it for a reason, if theres no title (bs) theres something wrong, too old for it. Or its hot. Figure someone boosted it yrs ago tore the irreplaceable motor/trans from it primered it then left in the backyard-Ugh

Shame, only car like it Ive seen in my lifetime.

Check with your local dmv, AAA is helpful too. Give them a plate # they can tell you plenty about it.

Carfaxed one a few weeks ago that from the ad, appearance, nice area orig owner never ever would have suspected the car really had another 70k mi on it than the odometer showed. Guy was in his 70s and lying through his teeth even when called on it telling him what date the mileage was reported changed was part way through his ownership denied it. Pretty rude about it just because they live in an expensive house doesnt mean they are honest

Never know what youll find.
Little long winded lol.

 

Yeah Ive travelled long distances to find out people had titles with liens that they had to pay off to get "clean." And wanted me to front the money. Or those with the seller's title that they never processed so they could dodge the taxes, and wanted me to act like I bought it from the previous owner.

I always ask to SEE a title from a seller... to see if its clear (no lien), in the sellers name, and that it is not branded. I also look to see if the sellers personal name is on the title... sometimes they try to slip you a title with their phony business name that they tried, again, to dodge taxes, and depending on your state the BUYER could end up spending far more in registration taxes as you are buying from a retailer rather than a private party. Gotta look at ALL this stuff.

 

Along the lines of a clean title make sure it's a current title also.

If the past owners have applied for a replacement title it will show up in the MN DMV records and be noted on the title.

In MN you can't register a car with a bill of sale. Only way get tags and title with a bill of sale is to do a bonded title. And the title will be marked as so. I think the bond has to run for 2-3 years. Bond has to be for the value of the vehicle. If it's a project car do the bond before the restoration so the value will be lower. Do it after the car is done and you get to pay a lot more for the bond. Ask me how I know all this.

Also you see those adds in Hemmings and else where for titles. MN DMV is onto that and won't honor those titles.

 

And no matter what kind of title it is make sure that the VIN # is exactly like it is on the car.
And is signed by the person who's name is on it.