You can ask anything you want to for it. Whether you can get it is another matter. California law requires you to tell them it is a salvaged title vehicle. If you do not tell them you have committed fraud and are subject to fines and jail time.Note: a legal salvage title will indicate that the vehicle is salvaged!
Totaled vehicles which have been rebuilt generally have a "salvaged vehicle" title, or whatever it's called in your state. Vehicles with a salvaged vehicle title are by definition, not as valuable as the same vehicle with a clean title. If the vehicle is subsequently in another collision, the insurance company will not pay as much since the loss was not as great. Insurance companies only need to pay you for the actual value of the vehicle.
in most states, even if a salvaged vehicle has been repaired it is still a 'branded' title...and thus worth less.......in the states i work in a fully repaired salvaged title vehicle is worth anywhere from 30-50% less on a total loss, (reduces the actual cash value)........now, if salvaged vehicle say is worth 4k and damages are 1k, then they will repair the damaged portion......
There is no law against financing Salvaged Titles. It is just that most banks and credit unioins chose not to finance these vehicles. The problem is that there can be liability if the vehicle is for whatever reason unsafe, and you sometimes do not know why a vehicle was salvaged. It could be because of frame damage or other serious damage, or it could be for water damage (i.e., Katrina), or it could be that it was just stripped by a theif, and has been rebuilt and is perfectly good, but since it was totaled by the insurance company, it is "salvaged". Some lenders will lend against a salvaged title. But they will take off 40% of the value of the vehicle due to salvaged title. So if the vehicle is worth $10,000 as a regular title, a salvaged vehicle will be worth about $6,000. I believe SafeCo might be a source for insurance. Car Cash Loans in Los Angeles (www.CarCashAuto.com) will lend against salvaged titles, according to their representatives.
The salvage title is used to title a vehicle that has been paid out by an insurance company. This may be because professional repairs exceed 75% of the value of the car or may be because the car was stolen and not returned within the time required by law such that the insurance company must pay out the total value. Depending on the age of the car a salvaged car may have had no damage, very minor cosmetic damage, or major damage. A vehicle that is considered not repairable is instead titled as "junked".
A salvage title car will bring far less that one without a salvage title. Deduct about 20% from the retail value.
The value of a salvage vehicle is roughly 60% of the value of a comparable car with a clean title.
To determine who put the salvaged vehicle back on the road you will need to do a title history search. Insurance Companies never salvage a totaled out vehicle. They may sometimes retain salvage rights but this is for the auction of usable salvage parts from a vehicle and it's scrap metal value for auction. Once the vehicle is auctioned for it's parts and scrap value the insurance company has no control over what the buyer will do with it. Often unscrupolous buyers will purchase several vehicles of the same type and use 2 or 3 of them to make major repairs that can never bring the vehicle back to specs and resell the resulting vehicle. This is how grey market vehicles wind up back on the road. Insurance companies consider salvaged vehicles as unsafe and a danger to the motoring public. This is why most insurers will not offer coverge for salvaged or "Grey Market" vehicles. although some insurers will offer liability only.
I would not insured a rebuilt vehicle because no matter what there is always going to be an issue if the vehicle is totaled as to what the value of the vehicle is. You and I know that a vehicle with a rebuilt title will be worth less that a vehicle with a clear title. I would use a stated value policy to value the vehicle so that there is no misunderstanding if an accident occurred.
you can insure it sure, but i imagine you are wanting to know if you can get collision and comp coverage (covering damage to the salvaged title vehicle)...has it been repaired? some insurance companys (most really) will insured it but beware that those prior claims (and salvage title) will show up if another claim is reported, (to any company that does it's job by running searches on all vehicles in all claims).......so it is possible you could be paying a premium higher than the vehicle is worth....for instance, your premium is based on the yr/make/model etc (among many other underwriting stipulations of course)...but your's is worth about 60% of that due to prior damage/salvage title...and what you will get in the event of a total loss is the actual cash value of that vehicle......including any applicable deductions in value due to this salvaged title.....
it just means that said vehicle has been damaged and an insurance company has considered it to be damaged beyond its value. if it is a "rebuilt" salvage title then it can be used as any other vehicle on the road, it just may effect the cost of insurance.
* Typically salvaged vehicles lose 50% of their NADA or KBB value, but usually this only matters if you are using your salvaged vehicle as a trade-in. The actual value loss can range greatly if you are selling it to a private party. This will be largely determined by the extent of damage to the vehicle and how concerned the buyer is with the damage or the effected repairs. If the repair work has been done professionally, the vehicle may not even lose value. One item to note, however- some insurance companies will not insure a salvage title vehicle or will at least limit how it can be insured. * If one is buying a used car, a used car value could be determined by asking for the car's history. This history includes all the service/maintenance done to the car, repairs/crashes it has gone through and the price difference of the used car and the new model. === === * A salvage/reconstructed car is worth roughly 40% less than a comparable clean titled car. Check nada.com, and kbb.com to get an idea of clean titled value.