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What exactly does a salvage title mean?

Raswan

Raswan

Senior member
So my car got totaled by my neighbor's insurance policy after he scraped the shit out of my driver's side doors whilst pulling out of his parking spot in his overcompensating truck. His insurance company was surprisingly easy to deal with, got my check, and the expected letter shortly thereafter saying that I need to surrender my title to the dmv and get a salvage title, since I decided to buy it back from them.

I go to the dmv, give them my title, and they start telling me that a) since the car is more than 10 years old, I don't need a salvage title even if that insurance company says I do, and b) if I get a salvage title, I can no longer drive the vehicle on the road.

I called bullshit on both, but especially the second, since that makes no sense whatsoever, and I had never heard of it before, but she was adamant. Even weirder, she said if it was her not to mess with it and see if anyone follows up. I plan on calling the insurance company to ask, but I wanted to survey the knowledgeable folks here too. I thought the whole point of a salvage title was to indicate that at one point the car had been totaled out by an insurance company. To say I don't need one suggests that I wouldn't get in any trouble selling the car with the clean title on it (seems all kind of wrong, both legally and morally), right?

If it matters, it's a 99 corolla registered in MN but the accident happened where I go to school in Oklahoma. I went to the local Oklahoma dmv. Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Sounds like a load of BS. I've nevet heard of any law that makes it illegal to drive a salvage title, here in GA or anywhere.
 
Here in Wv a salvage title car is not road legal. I have my wrecked miata sitting in my back yard that has a salvage title on it. If I were to fix it and get it inspected I would be issued a rebuilt title which would be road legal.
 
thedarkwolf said:
Here in Wv a salvage title car is not road legal. I have my wrecked miata sitting in my back yard that has a salvage title on it. If I were to fix it and get it inspected I would be issued a rebuilt title which would be road legal.
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Works that way here in Texas too...:thumbsup: (ours are just a different color than a reg title but may also say something different as well...?)
 
thedarkwolf said:
Here in Wv a salvage title car is not road legal. I have my wrecked miata sitting in my back yard that has a salvage title on it. If I were to fix it and get it inspected I would be issued a rebuilt title which would be road legal.
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best answer other than those above simply guessing.
 
thedarkwolf said:
Here in Wv a salvage title car is not road legal. I have my wrecked miata sitting in my back yard that has a salvage title on it. If I were to fix it and get it inspected I would be issued a rebuilt title which would be road legal.
Click to expand...

++

NH also requires the same - a state inspection of a salvage titled vehicle before it can be registered.
 
thedarkwolf said:
Here in Wv a salvage title car is not road legal. I have my wrecked miata sitting in my back yard that has a salvage title on it. If I were to fix it and get it inspected I would be issued a rebuilt title which would be road legal.
Click to expand...

Same here in Ohio.
 
Weird. Never would've guessed that. So maybe there is a kernel of truth. I know that's not the case in MN, however, so I'll just wait until I head home to get the salvage title done. Thanks for the answers everyone.
 
Raswan said:
Weird. Never would've guessed that. So maybe there is a kernel of truth. I know that's not the case in MN, however, so I'll just wait until I head home to get the salvage title done. Thanks for the answers everyone.
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Unless I'm reading this wrong, you are incorrect.

That looks almost identical to Ohio's process. When I had one inspected here ~10 years ago, it was a pretty easy inspection. They were only making sure the VINs matched all the way around, and that I had all receipts for parts replaced. I didn't even have the car painted the same color when I took it for the inspection. 😳

One thing I did notice is there are lots of title brands in Minnesota.
 
In just about any state a salvage title will require some sort of inspection. IMO "salvage title" insinuates this process is already complete.


I'm guessing that in this case you may be ok doing nothing. You got your check, the ins company didn't ask for the title when they bought the car, and you bought it back.


Like the DMV lady said, you may be ok with waiting to see if something shows up in the mail. As long as the registration is current you should be ok, but it might catch up with you the next time you renew.
 
Captain Howdy said:
Unless I'm reading this wrong, you are incorrect.

That looks almost identical to Ohio's process. When I had one inspected here ~10 years ago, it was a pretty easy inspection. They were only making sure the VINs matched all the way around, and that I had all receipts for parts replaced. I didn't even have the car painted the same color when I took it for the inspection. 😳

One thing I did notice is there are lots of title brands in Minnesota.
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Looks like you're right. The car is a 99 corolla, though, so it is neither worth 5k or 6 years or newer, like that link says. The insurance company didn't "ask" for a salvage title when I bought it back from them, but they did say that according to the laws in the state of Oklahoma I was required to get one. Just to be safe, I'll get one issued in MN. Even if it's a hassle, hate to have it come back and bite me in the ass.
 
Raswan said:
Looks like you're right. The car is a 99 corolla, though, so it is neither worth 5k or 6 years or newer, like that link says. The insurance company didn't "ask" for a salvage title when I bought it back from them, but they did say that according to the laws in the state of Oklahoma I was required to get one. Just to be safe, I'll get one issued in MN. Even if it's a hassle, hate to have it come back and bite me in the ass.
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Having registered/transfered cars in 3 states now, the bolded is so damn true. New Mexico was easily the worst, when you have a private company "stealing customers" from the actual MVD field offices at substantial markup, it should tell you something about those offices.

Maybe you can have someone run a carfax on the VIN and see what it says? If it shows clear, I would leave it alone as SA said as well. I went through that with State Farm (totaled, bought back, no title work) 12 years ago with an '86 Corolla, although it was in Ohio the whole time.

Good luck with the bureaucracy, whatever you end up doing. I'm assuming you are living in Oklahoma now?
 
Captain Howdy said:
Having registered/transfered cars in 3 states now, the bolded is so damn true. New Mexico was easily the worst, when you have a private company "stealing customers" from the actual MVD field offices at substantial markup, it should tell you something about those offices.

Maybe you can have someone run a carfax on the VIN and see what it says? If it shows clear, I would leave it alone as SA said as well. I went through that with State Farm (totaled, bought back, no title work) 12 years ago with an '86 Corolla, although it was in Ohio the whole time.

Good luck with the bureaucracy, whatever you end up doing. I'm assuming you are living in Oklahoma now?
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Temporarily here for grad school, but car was bought, registered, and insured by Geico in MN. Bought it back, giving it to my parents, and I've bought a new car in the meantime.
 
Thread revival.

How can you call bs when the lady who works at the dmv tells you what need to do? Pretty sure she knows what shes talking about.

So technically, a salvaged title is not road legal even though you can get it insured. Just because its insured doesnt mean its road legal even though insurance is required by law.

The reason why salvaged titles are not road legal is because it needs to pass certain imspections first and then if it passes, the car earns a different title which is rebuilt, which is a road legal title.

The inspections are needed because of safety issues but the other main reason is that the car parts that are replaced must not be from other stolen cars. Believe ot or not some people make a living stealing cars and then selling the parts.

So what one needs to do is to get a state trooper to come and inspect the car, he makes sure all parts are not from a stolen car. Hes not there to see if you torque down everything to the correct specs.

Anyways I thats how it works.
 
short answer is both are bullshit. you can get your car retitled and insured.

as someone who owns a salvage vehicle, i can tell you exactly how this all works (at least in CA)

1st - salvage means the cost of repair is so extensive that the vehicle is not worth repairing. this varies by state - in MD it's something like 80% of street value as legally mandated by the state, while in CA it's up to the owner and insurance company to determine whether repair is worthwhile (e.g. repair costs are allowed to exceed value of vehicle without requiring a salvage title).

in my case, i crashed my motorcycle at a track day. i had a shitton of cosmetic repair. scraped exhaust? $1200. scraped forks? $1200. fairings, etc. So my bike was declared salvage, but was otherwise perfectly fine mechanically once repaired.

now, once you get your vehicle repaired, it usually has to be inspected by a state trooper to make sure you have working brake lights, turn signals, headlights, etc, and your VIN is run to make sure you aren't using stolen parts.

after that, you can take the paperwork to the DMV and get your salvage title, get the vehicle insured again, and hit the road.
 
Raswan said:
Looks like you're right. The car is a 99 corolla, though, so it is neither worth 5k or 6 years or newer, like that link says. The insurance company didn't "ask" for a salvage title when I bought it back from them, but they did say that according to the laws in the state of Oklahoma I was required to get one. Just to be safe, I'll get one issued in MN. Even if it's a hassle, hate to have it come back and bite me in the ass.
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You're better of just doing what the DMV recommends to stay out of trouble yes.

I had a weird situation a couple of years ago here in FL when I went to renew my license online, I get a letter back saying I had been flagged and had to go to the DMV.

There was an issue where I had an old beach bomber 1968 Dodge Dart in Hawaii that had thrown a rod two weeks before I left there in 1984 I had sold to a junkyard.

It popped up 30 years later, because I hadn't turned in the plates there at the time.

"You've got to be kidding" was pretty much my response when I went in, but I actually had a supervisor help me out with that mess surprisingly fast.

Was still odd that it had shown up after almost 30 years. Of course there was a bit of an additional fee involved. :sneaky:
 
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