- Mar 1, 2007
- 282
- 3
- 76
I briefly considered buying a $600 car that was considered a total loss by the current owner's insurance company and which he bought back from them. The damage was almost entirely cosmetic (dents on some panels, plus a large dent on the driver's door which can now only be opened from the inside).
I drove the car and it was in good mechanical condition, but the owner's insurance company said it would need to have a salvage title issued before it could be registered; it wasn't worth dealing with the salvage inspection process, so I passed. Still, I am curious about the whole salvage/branded title thing after doing some research.
From my understanding, a car that is totaled and bought back by the owner should have a salvage title issued. However, the owner was never given a salvage title (he only has the original title from when the car was new). This title check website shows no record of a salvage title ever issued for the car's VIN. My insurance company also said they would offer full coverage on it, rather than only providing liability.
I've never dealt with the insurance buy-back process before, so is my understanding of the salvage title process correct?
Also complicating matters, the car is in New Jersey and I live in New York. NY's title application does have a question asking whether the car was ever declared a total loss, but given that there seems to be no salvage title history for it, how would they know if I checked the "no" box? (not that I would want to risk fines/jail time to do so)
I drove the car and it was in good mechanical condition, but the owner's insurance company said it would need to have a salvage title issued before it could be registered; it wasn't worth dealing with the salvage inspection process, so I passed. Still, I am curious about the whole salvage/branded title thing after doing some research.
From my understanding, a car that is totaled and bought back by the owner should have a salvage title issued. However, the owner was never given a salvage title (he only has the original title from when the car was new). This title check website shows no record of a salvage title ever issued for the car's VIN. My insurance company also said they would offer full coverage on it, rather than only providing liability.
I've never dealt with the insurance buy-back process before, so is my understanding of the salvage title process correct?
Also complicating matters, the car is in New Jersey and I live in New York. NY's title application does have a question asking whether the car was ever declared a total loss, but given that there seems to be no salvage title history for it, how would they know if I checked the "no" box? (not that I would want to risk fines/jail time to do so)