Salvage vs. Rebuilt Title

In most states, that's all you can get, liability coverage. A branded title car means that the cost to officially repair the car back to OEM standards has been exceeded. That's why most insurance companies won't sell comprehensive or collision coverage - for all they know, it's been put together with bailing wire and duct tape. They don't want to pay out again for the same car and that's the same reason a car that's been wrecked sells for less than a car that hasn't been in an accident.

 

Yes in North Carolina if you pull the paperwork and go look on the DMV site I'm in the same state you are they talk about rebuilt bringing cars back from the dead and putting them back on the road You will be looking to get a rebuilt title more than likely or call the general I mean maybe it's your highfalutin insurance company in your neighborhood sales person or however that's working out you know lot of companies now don't have to deal with people they've made it big Allstate you know they got the dude all the nonsense the fancy advertising they don't need a lowly Prius salvage title type business that's the reality of it so go to a company that does I mean all you're going to get's liability anyway I think the general may not give you any hassle at all they'll ensure your vin now I don't know if your VIN has been put on some kind of list I guess it's had a salvage title issued but people are driving cars all over the state with salvage titles I see them on the marketplace advertised with the word salvage title not with the rebuilt wording so either customers or people selling cars including car lots don't know what kind of title they have or something but every ad on Facebook marketplace in Central North Carolina practically is a salvage title car . Look on the marketplace right now and even ads in print and in Facebook but from car lots that's the main word you see in this whole state salvage title so I'm not sure maybe it's a personal preference with all state insurance company. Other companies don't have the luxury of being so highfalutin maybe.

 

salvage and rebuilt titles are completely different, in some states a salvage title car can't be legally driven on the road (DMV will not register nor it will pass safety inspection if there is) So how come you ended up with a salvage title when you bought it back from Allstate ? A total loss doesn't mean salvage title unless you surrendered the title to the insurance company.

 

I got like four of these generation twos I keep nothing but collision on them when I go buy one from a towing lot for $700 I just take one of the tags off my Prius one of the three or four here take it with me and put it on the car at the towing lot and have my buddy or I drive it back home and my buddy drives my car whatever and sometimes that tag will be on that car I bought for $700 or whatever out the tow lot for 2 years while I drive it around town and do whatever I want with it If I get stopped with it all the cop knows is it's a '07 Toyota Prius and he's going to give me the warning ticket or tell me what he has to tell me and be on his way nobody cares about a 20-year-old car on the road.

 

In most states a car that's been 'totaled' gets a salvage title until it's restored to a safe and drivable condition - and then it's "BEEN" salvaged, and 'rebuilt.'
Those cars are still insurable, but usually not for comp and collision - which most smart people do not carry on a nearly 20-year old car that hasn't been totaled.

Look at it from the standpoint of the insurer:
You hit a deer and totaled your car.
They paid the claim.
What would make them WANT to do that again????

You might have been better off just to have cash-flowed the repair after you wrecked it....because you said in your own post that....."The damage was only cosmetic, fender, bumper cover, light, hood etc...."

Now you have an 18-year-old car that's been restored to a good, drivable condition, and it's for sure that you can't sell it for much because it's 'been totaled.'

Smart money is to find a company that will insure you for liability and drive the G2 into the ground.

 

Here in Indiana, there are the same two title categories. 'Salvage' is applied to the title whenever it is taken by an insurance company in exchange for a total-loss payout, meaning a salvage-titled car is presumed to be wrecked and have no business being on the road.

You can buy a salvage-titled car and fix it, and then apply to the state for a 'rebuilt' title. There will be an inspection, for two purposes: (1) to make sure there's no obvious baling wire / duct tape, and (2) to make sure you have receipts for major parts you used fixing it (so you didn't get those parts from chopped stolen cars).

The inspector signs off on a form. Then you send the form to the BMV and they eventually send you a new title that says 'rebuilt'.

There's a business here in Indiana that specializes in rebuilding salvage-title Prii, so they have that routine down pat. The inspector comes around their shop regularly and signs their forms without much fuss. If you're an individual who rebuilt one car in your driveway, you'd just have to schedule with the inspector and maybe take a little more time showing your work and receipts.

I've bought a couple of their rebuilt Prii. In order to drive them away after purchase (since it takes a week or two for Indiana to mail out a new 'rebuilt' title), I've been able to talk them into letting me fax the signed inspection form / rebuilt title application to the insurer, and the insurer agreed to fax me a coverage binder based on that, and I could drive the car away on that, and later give the rebuilt title details when it arrives.

Both reasons for the inspection (is the car roadworthy? and were the parts legitimately sourced?) are important to the insurers. They don't want to be stuck insuring a non-roadworthy car, and they also don't want to help launder stolen parts. After all, they pay money on comp claims to folks whose cars get stolen.

 

You don't have to surrender the title, almost all insurance companies has a direct link to DMV. Once the claim is paid and settled, the title is branded. Your original 'pink-slip' may still be clean, but once you get a copy - I'll have clear salvage/rebuilt stamped on it. At least most states do that. There are a few that don't and their DMV is very busy 'washing' car titles - less so now that Carfax's are routine way of doing business in used car lots.
This could've all been avoided if a claim wasn't made and no police report was filed. I've inspected cars that had obvious major work done to it, but somehow had a clean title. This was obviously 'chop-shop' repair work, not professional - otherwise I would've never spotted it. Buyer beware, It's worth the $100 inspection fee, if you don't know what your doing.

Hope this helps...

 

My CFO backed into a light pole with our 2020 GMC a little while back - and it still has the dent.
We didn't file a claim because I have a three digit IQ and a four digit deductible, and I like insuring four vehicles with high coverage limits and without a comma in the premiums.
Since the lamp post didn't call the police, no accident report was ever generated.
We did tell the lamp post owner who said that our red paint complemented the other colors on the post quite nicely.

If I were dishonest I could sell the car with a spotless CARFAX history after repairing it - but my intentions are to drive the car until it has lunar mileage and then donate it to a relative or give it away.

This is YET ANOTHER reason why I'm not really interested in buying a used car.

...ever.

 

Given the number of new ICE cars where the motor has been destroyed by a failed high pressure pump or turbo you may need to reassess that policy. It isn't that the old cars (before these "features" became common) won't have the sorts of issues they always had, it is that the assumption of high reliability on new cars is no longer true. New EVs don't have the two weak points mentioned, but they replace it with a high probability that a new (not made of used modules) pack replacement at 10 to 20 years may either not be possible (no new packs made for that model), or will be so expensive that it doesn't make sense to do it, or maybe the packs will be available and cost even less than they did when new. No way to know which of these will hold when a new EV is purchased.

 

As more equipment becomes more technologically advanced there's a high likelihood that OEM will start 'bricking' individual modules, so your unable to swap them out - under the guise of consumer safety and curtailing thief.
That's been happening in the medical equipment market for close to a decade. We can no longer fix things or steal a module from another downed machine, to get it back into service. The modules recognizes that it doesn't belong in that unit. Another reason why health care cost is skyrocketing. I was one of the last component repair guys in the shop, they now have to buy an annual service contract - because they've been hiring parts swappers for the last decade. Most of them can't even read an electronics schematic.

 

I always reassess my policies in light of new information.

My two newest cars have turbocharged four-bangers (a 2020 and a 2023.)
A turbocharger is a wear item that I can replace or have replaced more cheaply than a BEV HV battery.
You will have to fill me in on how a turbo or some mysterious ‘high pressure pump’ can destroy an engine.
According to the Googles….my 2020’s turbo is about an $1800 replacement (far less if I DIY) - or about $300 more than a windshield for the most economical BEV that I researched when I bought my 2023 - because I DID consider keeping the 09 pickup and getting a T3.
In addition to price, and reliability, I also looked at insurance, tax and tag prices, depreciation…..all the things.
- because FACTS (and math) do not care about people’s feelings.

It’s still early days for BEVs, as proven by the fact that the government is still paying people to buy them.