Salvaged title... real world experience wanted

Pinkston

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Mebane, NC
Long story short... my truck was in a wreck and called a total loss by the insurance company. After changing my mind many times I have decided to keep the truck and fix it. I am looking for advice from people that have done this before and have gone through the process of getting a salvaged title. After a quick call to the DMV I found that someone will have to come out and inspect the truck after the repairs are done. I talk to 2 different people at the DMV and neither were 100% sure on the process. Just looking for input from people that have gone through this.
 
No experience on the salvaged title, but I will say that, in my experience, if you ask three different people at the DMV the same question, you will get three different answers. Good luck.
 
essentially you'll need to have the vehicle inspected by a DMV inspector ( not and emissions station ) they'll check you parts against reciepts and any thing that may contain VIN number for stolen, inspect it for safety then they may actually remove the Dash VIN plate and affix an NCDMV plate to the door jam ( my old GMC had this )

YOu WILL NOT be able to get full coverage insurance and doubtful it'll ever be able to be financed. it's sales value will drop significantly and the title will be " Branded" as "Rebuilt" which raises eyebrows at the DMV offices ( they got REAL excited when I titled and tagged the GMC, made sure everyone in the room know it was a rebuilt vehicle, dunno what the big deal was )

FYI, if the vehicle should happen to have a special warranty from manufacturer, it will be void as DMV also notifies manufacturer ( ran into this trying to warranty a 6.5 TD injection pump, was flagged in GM VIS as " recovered stolen warranty void ") .
 
My current DD/Wheeler Ford Explorer was totaled by the insurance company. I hung a fender and took the bumper off. Kept driving it, hung a bumper for inspection, and have had the registration renewed at least 3 times (accident happened over 3 years ago) and I never had any inspector come to look at it, never had to send the title back off. Only thing is now my registration says *Total Loss Claim*.
 
A little back info. The truck is a 01 dodge 3500 that is paid for. I know the value of the truck is gone, but its still worth something to me. I could not replace it for what they would give me. I never plan on getting rid of the truck. I know what happened to the truck and will feel safe driving it. Basically because of the higher price 3500 replacement parts the the estimate from the insurance company was about $1000 less than what they say the truck is worth. I have found most of the parts and can fix it for much less. I have talked to my insurance agent and know that I can only have liability insurance on it from now on and I am ok with that.
 
fordwheelinman said:
My current DD/Wheeler Ford Explorer was totaled by the insurance company. I hung a fender and took the bumper off. Kept driving it, hung a bumper for inspection, and have had the registration renewed at least 3 times (accident happened over 3 years ago) and I never had any inspector come to look at it, never had to send the title back off. Only thing is now my registration says *Total Loss Claim*.
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I hope its that easy for me...
 
Pinkston said:
the estimate from the insurance company was about $1000 less than what they say the truck is worth.
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just FYI, you CAN argue with them and get the value pushed up to reality, I've been through this multiple times. There's nothing forcing you to take their value.
Do some homework and find several matching vehicles (same mileage, condition, etc) in AutoTrader and other local ads, use that as a basis and give it to the agent. even though you are buying it back you'll still get more cash in hand.
 
fordwheelinman said:
My current DD/Wheeler Ford Explorer was totaled by the insurance company. I hung a fender and took the bumper off. Kept driving it, hung a bumper for inspection, and have had the registration renewed at least 3 times (accident happened over 3 years ago) and I never had any inspector come to look at it, never had to send the title back off. Only thing is now my registration says *Total Loss Claim*.
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Bam, what he said. I was rear ended last September while driving my Navigator & the guys insurance company wrote it up as a total loss. I took there offer on vehicle & kept it. When inspection came due took it & had it inspected then went to license plate agency to get my registration & when they printed my registration it had *Total Loss Claim* in big bold letters towards bottom right. Been driving it ever since no problems, been thru license checks, pulled over for window tint & never mentioned any thing about *Total Loss Claim* on registration. Never notified my insurance company either so I still have full coverage (even thou its been paid off for three years).

I think you only have to get it looked at mainly if you buy a wrecked vehicle. If you keep your own vehicle that's been wrecked you should be ok, unless of you've already turned tags in & dropped insurance on it. I could be wrong, but its been working for me.

Oh yeah fordwheelinman, a bumper is not required in NC General Statues.
 
I have kept two vehicles after a total loss claim. Nether time did I have to get a DMV inspector but the last one I did was about seven or eight years ago. I have two cars now that are rebuilds. One I bought a few months back and the other from out of state about a month ago. No problems at all when sending the title paper work off. Only issue I have ever had was with my mom's car that I repaired after a total loss claim. She was in another wreck about six months latter and the insurance company tried to make a big deal about it being a total loss and tried not to pay out on the car. Their claim was she had already been paid for the car one time and wouldn't be paid again.
 
RatLabGuy said:
just FYI, you CAN argue with them and get the value pushed up to reality, I've been through this multiple times. There's nothing forcing you to take their value.
Do some homework and find several matching vehicles (same mileage, condition, etc) in AutoTrader and other local ads, use that as a basis and give it to the agent. even though you are buying it back you'll still get more cash in hand.
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The value they stated was actually pretty acurate. The truck is worth more to me though. It has alot of aftermarket goodies on it that they do not know about. Never mentioned it, but I doubt they care about the twins, injectors, head studs, o-rings, dual disk clutch, etc...

Thanks for all the info guys.
 
A couple pics for the hell of it... A dana 80, new bed, and some leaf springs...:rolleyes:
 

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My rubicon was totaled 18 months after purchasing new. I retained it in part of the settlement. I was told upon rebuilding it that I could only paint the parts that were not accessable when fully assemebled by a DMV inspector and that afterwards someone will have to come out and inspect it. Nope never happened. I was finally told it did not need to be inspected. I put it back together,painted it retagged and insured it and kept on going. That was back in 05 and its never been questioned by the DMV or when inspection was due to renew the tags. As far as the salvage title goes I took part of the money from the settlement and paid it off directly to the loan company so the title came directly to me. In doing that I got a salvage history and my registration card states total loss claim in big bold letters and was like that when I did my first renewal after the wreck however my title is clear with no slavage history b/c the insurance company never got it. Not sure if your title issue will work the same or not but I don't see why it wouldn't as long as the insurance never gets the title

As far as value they fed me some story about fair market value by comparing to vehicles within a certain region that were comparable to mine. I haggled them and after reciept statements and such I got more for it because I was relentless in the fact that mine had things with it that stock ones didn't that they were comparing it to and that those items were of no use on another vehicle unless it was the same type
 
Pinkston said:
My outside dually tire gave a high five to the outside dually tire of a tree service truck coming up from the other direction. That is on highway 421 just inside harlan county...
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Holy shit that must have woken you up. I hate to see that happen to such a nice truck though. At least you're rebuilding it.
 
It is easy, you just buy it back from the insurance company and you really don't have to deal with anything other than not being able to have comprehensive insurance.

Even selling it is easy, my bro and I just bought a wrecked 2000 GTP that was totalled out by insurance. All we had to do was have the title notarized by the owner and have them fill out a damage disclosure statement saying it was a salvage vehicle and that was it. We rebuilt it, passed inspection, and our other brother has been driving it.
 
I have totaled the same 2002 Trailblazer twice and bought it back both times. It has become very profitable for me. Both were fairly minor hits, but it was over 100k miles so they docked it. Got new all over paint jobs and pocket money out of both settlements. NC registation card states total loss. No inspections. I assume the insurance company files the paperwork with the state that deems it a Total Loss.
I think you come out better doing it this way.
I took good pics of the before, durring and after to show any future purchaser. This would ease thier mind a little about the whole Salvage Title deal.
 
DMV inspector does not need to come out, this really only applies to body shops and dealers who are buying wrecks to rebuild them(and usually cars 5 years old or newer), each state has different laws though, if you currently have the title to your vehicle and you never sent it in to the insurance company it obviously will not be branded, but as soon as you sell it and the titles goes to raleigh they will brand it salvage or total loss. Your registration will probably read total loss since it gets renewed yearly and the insurance company paid off on the claim. I have seen some crazy stuff though and the DMV will give you as many different answers as you want, if you get on you like make sure you document who told you the answer along with tine and date
 
As far as the salvage title goes I took part of the money from the settlement and paid it off directly to the loan company so the title came directly to me. In doing that I got a salvage history and my registration card states total loss claim in big bold letters and was like that when I did my first renewal after the wreck however my title is clear with no slavage history b/c the insurance company never got it. Not sure if your title issue will work the same or not but I don't see why it wouldn't as long as the insurance never gets the title
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I bet the next time a title is issued (i.e., when you sell it) it will be branded as salvage/rebuilt.
 
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