Used Cars: Rebuilt vs. Salvage Titles

[@trbstang]

Good info! A rebuilt title car can be a good value, IF you make sure it was repaired properly. There are a lot of scammers out there. The 16 GT in my profile pic was totaled in 2017, but I kept it and had it rebuilt myself, saving me $15k vs buying a 1 yr old replacement car, and probably $18k+ for a new one. The damage was less than 75% so it still has a clean title, but it does show a total loss paid on Carfax. It has 67k miles on it now.

[@ianconner7034]

After I was rear ended, the other guy’s auto insurance totaled my car out. My insurance, upon having the car inspected, determined that the damage was purely superficial and did not make the car unsafe (I drove said car 1,000 miles after the accident and before my insurance got involved as well). I kept my clean title but it’s important to have the car properly inspected by a good mechanic because even minor and cosmetic damage can earn a car a salvage or rebuilt title.

[@trbstang]

That's often referred to as a "cosmetic total" where the car is still 100% drivable, but to make it look like "new" would cost more than it is worth. Happened to my brother in law's car that was sideswiped while parked at the curb. It had a light scratch on the door and fender, and the mirror was broken. $2k damage, but he took $1200 and kept the car. No title change , but it does show a total loss paid out on the Carfax. Mirror was like $50 and it's back on the road!

[@ianconner7034]

@@trbstang I'm glad he got that sorted out. As I said, my insurance didn't total the car out and paid to replace the bumper cover. It was the at-fault party's insurance that totaled my vehicle.

[@jameswan670]

Georgia will treat out state rebuilt title car as salavage title. So there will be painful process to get rebuilt title in Georgia.

[@gsxellence]

1st comment, yay 😅