Totalled but has clear title?
Posted by Lazy_Hall_8798@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 4 comments
I bought my project car a year ago. It's been a learning experience, for sure. I know mechanical repair, but had no experience with salvage titles, rebuilt titles, etc. I think I dodged a bullet on this one.
I bought the car from a salvage yard. It had been flood damaged, but was low mileage and had no body rust. We agreed on a cash price. As we were signing the paperwork, the guy expressed surprise that the car had a clean title. He said that usually, once the insurance company declared the vehicle a total loss, it had a salvage title.
I'm just wondering if there are circumstances where the insurance company considers a car not worth repairing, but not necessarily unroadworthy? I have since learned that insurance companies are reluctant to insure cars with a salvage title, so I'm feeling pretty lucky.
AlaskaGreenTDI@reddit
Depends on the specific rules in your state.
xXCodfishXx@reddit
Typically it means that the flood damage was never reported to the insurance. Clean vs Salvage title is all about insurance, not about the actual state of the car. For instance if you had a thirty year old car and the door got struck but the frame wasn't tweaked, if the owner tried to file an insurance claim the car would likely be declared totaled as to the insurance company the cost of a new door would exceed the value of the car, but an individual could simply go to a junkyard and get a new door for 100$.
Where's the waterline? Generally insurance will salvage anything with the mere hint of flood, but if the water line is really low they may not declare it salvage.
f16loader@reddit
I had a guy pull out in front of me a couple years ago. His fault, insurance totaled my car. I took the payout and kept my car. I asked specifically if I needed to have my title changed to totaled/salvage and the guy said I didn’t have to worry about it. I spent 200 bucks at the salvage yard and put it back together. The clean title is in my safe. Maybe something like that happened with you. Full disclosure, my car is a beater with a heater. I would never try to pass it on to someone without telling them the history.
WizeAdz@reddit
If the previous owner only had liability insurance on the car, the insurance company wouldn’t pay the claim.
It’s possible that the owner just disposed of the car without calling the insurance company.