Salvage Title

I recently moved to CA from Canada and I'm looking to buy an 02-05 Civic Si. I see quite a few cars that seem decent and have lower miles but carry a salvage title which drops the price a bit. Is it worth even looking at these cars or is it a red flag to stay away?

In BC if a car is in an accident it either gets fixed and inspected and you have to declare if the damage was greater than $2000 or it's a write-off and it's very rare that they get put back on the road.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

• Paul

A salvage title can mean a lot of things, it doesn't necessarily mean that the car was in a huge wreck, it just means that the cost of repairing the damagess were beyond what a insurance companie was willing to pay.

So particularly in an older car salvage titles can be issued for minor fender benders. Still any car with a salvage title warrants a thorough inspection and I would be a little wary of buying a new car with a salvage title.

The car is branded for life. It is always going to be worth less as a salvage. In Georgia after the car has been repaired, you can have the car inspected by a State approved inspector to get a rebuilt title. Rebuilt titled cars can be put back on the road. A salvage title here can not. It needs to be "rebuilt, or scrapped. Salvage cars, sometimes, are designated non-rebuildable. You need to find out how your state deals with it. Try here:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/vr_info.htm

When I moved to the US, I ran my Canadian plates on my car for three years. FYI

Thanks for the advice. I read the DMV site but it isn't really clear what sort of damage a salvage title could have but I imagine if it was a fender bender than it wouldn't count.

CA says I need to register my car within 20 days but I still haven't imported it yet. It's still covered under BC insurance. I have all my paperwork I just need to get to a port of entry.

PaulY wrote: Thanks for the advice. I read the DMV site but it isn't really clear what sort of damage a salvage title could have but I imagine if it was a fender bender than it wouldn't count.

Depends. If the car is worth $1500, a fender bender can add up to more repair cost than it would take to replace the car. So it's totaled. If someone buys it and fixes it up, it's a salvage. You just have to look at the car and figure out why it's salvage. It usually isn't too hard. Well, I shouldn't say that. I've only looked at a few, but the ones I've seen were really obvious. "Oh, I see the car is red, but the hood and driver's fender are blue".

Any car bought in CA with a salvage title needs a mandatory brake and light inspection from the police or sheriff or the DMV. Everything above about fender bender totals is accurate but if the car is new-ish, start looking for any evidence of hard impact. Look at the inner fenders for incursion evidence and check the bottom of the car for welds. It's not uncommon for a car to be "back-halved." In other words, two wrecked cars welded together to make one car. Big long welds on the floorpan plus VINs punched into the rear (check stuff like rear seat supports, etc) don't match the front.

fast_eddie_72 wrote: Depends. If the car is worth $1500, a fender bender can add up to more repair cost than it would take to replace the car. So it's totaled. If someone buys it and fixes it up, it's a salvage. You just have to look at the car and figure out why it's salvage. It usually isn't too hard. Well, I shouldn't say that. I've only looked at a few, but the ones I've seen were really obvious. "Oh, I see the car is red, but the hood and driver's fender are blue".

Exactly. I've totalled out tons of cars for very minor accidents. That's because the car was only worth $1200 before the accident. So about $900 in damage will total it. The car still runs and drives, but it's technically a total loss. On the flip side, I've paid to repair some pretty hard hits. Cars that are worth $80,000 can take a lot of damage before they're totalled.

I just got a 2001 GS to drive while I see what the insurance company wants to do with my car. It has a salvage/rebuilt title that does not bother me because I know the people who ordered the car new and bought it back from the insurance company after it was totaled out. I would probably be wary of a salvage/rebuilt title on a newer car that I didn't know though.

chandlerGTi wrote: I would probably be wary of a salvage/rebuilt title on a newer car that I didn't know though.

This - I've seen some interesting bodges in places where you have annual safety inspections and I hesitate to think what they'd look like in places like here were there is no inspection whatsoever.

"salvage" is meant to tell you that, since the car had a repair bill that exceeded its value, if it's now a drivable car then it's likely that it was not repaired to industry standards.

Tread very carefully here. On the one hand, I believe a vehicle that was stolen and then recovered after an insurance payout has a salvage title, and it's probably just fine (assuming the thieves didn't strip it). OTOH, a car that spent a day underwater in a flooded parking garage is also a salvage title, and may well show no more obvious signs of external damage than the theft recovery does.

Yea I see a ton of salvage "but only due to theft!!!" ads, I think in the case of buying a car in this range I'll avoid it. I totally get the $5000 salvage car, especially when it was when the car was much newer, is worrying.

Thanks for the advice, now to find a clean one without a ton of miles.

My second Miata was a rebuilt salvage, and I never had any trouble with it. It had a power driver's mirror, even though it was an A package car which doesn't come with power mirrors or controls, so clearly the driver's door was replaced. But the repair was good - the biggest issue with it was the crappy paint job it got afterward, which didn't stick to the original paint well and cracked in a few places. But the car was cheap, and mechanically perfect, just like my known good non-salvage Miatas have been.

The short answer is, it depends. Do your research, figure out WHY it was totaled, and decide from there.

My DD is a salvage car. It's been totaled. At least twice.

I've driven far worse cars that had a clean title.

White_and_Nerdy wrote: The short answer is, it depends. Do your research, figure out WHY it was totaled, and decide from there.

I know at least 4 people driving Focuses with salvage titles. They were the original owners. Had an accident and the insurance company totaled the car. All it takes with a Focus or any other inexpensive car is a few bent body panels and the air bags going off. They bought the car back and repaired it using their own labor and JY parts and are still driving them.