Rebuilt Titles?

[Zembonez]

A vehicle with a low book value can total for a headlight and fender repair. There is nothing inherently wrong with a salvage title vehicle as long as it's repaired correctly and the price is right.

 

[Okie556]

A vehicle with a low book value can total for a headlight and fender repair. There is nothing inherently wrong with a salvage title vehicle as long as it's repaired correctly and the price is right.

That is probably correct but this particular car is an 2009 model and was first issued Salvage Title in Louisiana which meant damage was at least 75% of book value. Considerably more than just fender and tail light damage as seller first stated to me. I just have a bad gut feeling about the car and the seller so I walked away.

 

[Zembonez]

I understand and agree.

 

[ScottyBoy]

You also need to watch out for cars like that being stolen. People buy a wrecked car at auction and put the VIN on a stolen car of the same model. Some warning signs of a car being stolen (if it has a salvage or reconstructed title) is if the color listed on the title doesn't match the color of the car, the door and ign locks are keyed differently, missing VIN stickers in the door jambs, among others. My brother almost bought a Cutlass years ago that was clean as a whistle but everything about it looked like an 87-88. But the guy said it was an 84, and that he converted it to the 87 front clip and had the car painted blue. It was registered as tan, but this car was blue and zero evidence anywhere that the was EVER any other color but blue. It had Cutlass Salon emblems on it. I did some searching on Google and found that there was no Cutlass Salon made in 84. That trim package wasn't made that year. I knew what was up by that point, and told my brother who was already hesitant by that point.

 

[PJB4x4]

Here in NY you need to take a salvaged car to a state theft inspection before getting a title and you need to provide receipts for all parts and/or the title/salvage paperwork for a parts car if you had one. They check all the vin #'s on the replaced parts to make sure theyre not stolen.

My friend got hassled for some parts that he didnt even replace like the transmission on one of the cars he fixed.