Just curious. Can you ever "clear" a Salvage car title?

It's a state-by-state thing I bet. In WA state, "salvage" is ALWAYS going to be
"salvage" - unless altered by pure fraud. My bro-in-law has been rebuilding cars
for decades - and never found a LEGAL way around that little detail.

Can't speak for other states - that would be "opinion". But if I had to guess, I doubt
there are any exceptions to this.

 

Titles can be "washed" in Alabama for example. Not sure how they get it off of Carfax etc.?

 

There are state specific rules so you need to look at the states DMV web site for the requirements. Most states require an inspection of the rebuilt salvage car and they will re-title it.

 

You need to find out for sure what your state requires and will or will not accept.

For example, I've looked at a couple salvage cars and live in MN. MN will not accept or title a salvage car unless it has been inspected and accepted by another state.

So a car is in WI. Gets wrecked there. I want to buy it. I need to buy it, get it reregistered in my name (somehow in WI) still under a salvage title. Get it fixed. Bring it back to WI DMV to get it inspected/etc and then I get an WI "rebuilt title" and then I can register it in MN. Where it will always retain the rebuilt/salvage brand.

States differ so check before you buy.

 

In MA. once a salvage title always a salvage and the car can not be titled until a state police inspection. You must also show have proof of purchace at inspection of all parts used in rebuild with VIN proof for used parts.

 

The 11 western states now all report salvage titles to each other. So you can no longer wash a title out west. Most states will NOT recognise the phony Alabama paper to title a car. In fact in Washington State if you show up with alabama paper, you damn near get a free body cavity search and an impound for free, until the state patrol figures out who's car it is and where it came from.

My question is why would you want to wash a title????? Other than trying to run a scam or get more for the car than its worth with a bad title. An hornorable person would devulge the true and real history of a car, not try to hide the salvage history.This is the very reason titles are unable to be washed in the west now. If you buy a car with a "branded title", it stays with the car forever.

Howard Musolf
1982 400i Cabriolet
Maserati Spider

 

Unless you're trying to spot one that's been "washed", I find the query itself to be pretty suspect. If you're trying to get the "mark" off of a car, I'm sorry, but you're a scammer. No two ways about it.

The honest among us want their salvage titled cars to remain salvage titled. Anything else is deception. Besides, what happens when a failure results in an accident and they find out you washed the title?

Bad things, bad things.

 

Having a Total flag doesn't mean the car is totalled or even damaged in any way.

In Oregon titles can only be cleared by the party who flagged you.

I was hit by California car, liability undisputed. I refused the near nothing low ball repair offer. Their insurance company said "accept it or lose your car". They put a total flag on my car and dropped all communication. Since I only carried liability so my insurance company couldn't step in to help.

Insurance companies have sole access to the database and nothing can be done by the owner or DMV. Perhaps a lawyer can bring pressure but the cost to me isn't worth it.

 

Here in Tennessee, once branded...ALWAYS branded. Simple as that.

 

MI too.

I think it sucks that you can't ever get rid of that brand. There should be some kind of extremely in-depth inspection that would remove the mark if passed. Houses don't remain condemned if they are repaired, I don't understand why cars do.

 

Why would you ever want a 'salvage' title car to be cleared? That designation is there to protect you, as a buyer.

It was either damaged after manufacture, or it wasn't. As long as there's full disclosure, and the price reflects that incident, it would seem like the system is working.

Anything else feels like trying to hide something.

My two pence...

 

Hotrod, very good point.

 

Without going into details I know of two cars that I was looking to buy until I found out through a history search that they had Salvage Titles until they were retitled in New Jersey.
The Titles were no longer branded Salvage after that.

I am not sure if this was done legally or by using a loop hole but the fact remains.

I believe the same thing can be done in Arizona IIRC.

 

What about a car that has gone through a complete nut and bolt frame-off restoration? How do we really know it was properly put back together? Should it have to go through an inspection just like a kit car or a rebuild?

 

I THINK that is the OP's actual question... what IF a car is totally and completely
restored, ground up, ALL issues truly restored to factory...

But that is SO BLOODY RARE... the law is in place to protect buyers, since virtually
ZERO "salvage" cars get that treatment.

Jedi

 

....and that is it in a nutshell and why Salvage/Rebuilt titles were created in the first place, so a car that has been previously wrecked/flooded/burned can't be misrepresented as a pristine car with the higher selling price that goes with it.

Washed titles bring the highest profit margin.



.

 

I know title designations change. I have a 930 that was a salvage 10-15 years ago in New York. 2 years later, it was under a clear title. Each title (2-3?) since then has been clean. Car Fax does show a history of salvage in the past.

I don't know how it was done. I don't know if there were legal ways to do this in the past, but no one seems to have an issue. The state DMV just worked off the last title,as did the insurer.

The car is in really nice shape, as best as I can tell.

In terms of resale, this car will never be worth what a car with a clean history is worth (Well...maybe in 30 years ). But it seems to me that a buyer would pay more for a car that has a clean title (even knowing its history), than a car with a current salvage title.

My understanding is, that in the past, some states allowed cars to be repaired, and if proven it was done correctly, they were retitled...

 

With that said, I drive a BMW daily that has had a Salvage title AND a Rebuilt title between 2001 and 2004.
Once it was a theft recovery and the second time it was totaled.
The only original paint on the car is the roof and doors.
I got it for a song and it rides and drives like a new car.
If it gets dinged up I don't care.
If it gets T-boned I will part it out and get my money back.

 

Poeple who try to "wash" salvaged titles should be........ Buying a car with a "clean" title that was formerly salvaged is the same thing as marrying a woman who used to be man. JUST WRONG! Once salvaged should (and usually is) always be salvaged. Scammers.

 

People live in formerly condemned houses all the time and no one calls the guy that fixed the house a scammer. Of course, that's a house and we all know that contractors are 100% above boards right? Right.