Rebuilt Titles?

[Okie556]

Looking for first car for 16 year old grand-daughter. Came across a Pontiac G6 that sounded promising. Drove 40 miles to look at it then owner said it had a reconditioned title. Did some digging and found it was a TX Blue Title with a Rebuilt Note on it. The guy selling said just a rear fender replaced by a local body shop. I had the local Tag Office run the VIN# and found out the Rebuilt designation was added in Louisiana and then when retitled in TX the designation must follow.....for now on. I Googled LA laws and found out damage must be 75% of NADA value of car before Rebuilt must be added to title. I would say that is more than just a rear fender being replaced. Lesson learned.....1st question is title clear and clean. If not.......don't waste anymore time on it.

 

[Zembonez]

Yup. It's a salvage total that has been rebuilt. Unless it's a real deal that you know has been repaired properly, it's one to run away from.

 

[ScottyBoy]

My first car I bought had a salvage title. I was 17 and I didn't know any better. I had to jump thru hoops to get the title changed to reconstructed. I had to get the car inspected by the Louisiana state police. The trooper filled out the paperwork that the DMV was demanding I have.
So if its already a reconstructed title then it has already been inspected and everything. But that still means that it was damaged enough that it was totaled and had a salvage title issued at some point. And I agree with Zem. Unless this car is about half of what similar G6's are selling for, I would keep looking.

 

[Okie556]

Yup. It's a salvage total that has been rebuilt. Unless it's a real deal that you know has been repaired properly, it's one to run away from.

Yep....ran away fast but learned a lot of good information for future reference. One thing was....even if you get a good deal on a used car...rebuilt title or not......must still pay 6.25% sales tax on what tag office says it's worth.....not what you actually paid!

 

[Zembonez]

Yup. Texas collects tax on the book value of a vehicle.

 

[Bowtie2Sierra]

Wow. I wouldn't like that.

 

[Zembonez]

They did it because so many here were claiming they paid 100 bucks for cars worth many thousands to avoid tax... so we all get screwed now.

 

[Bowtie2Sierra]

It's always idiots like that who ruin it for everyone. Some people don't know when to draw the line.

 

[Zembonez]

People have no morals or shame anymore. It's all me me me and screw you.

 

[PJB4x4]

I used to work on salvage cars and help fix them to sell them again.

Sometimes the cars get totalled for almost no damage. We had one Neon that was only a few years old at the time that was totalled for a bent radiator support (pulled with a slide hammer), dented hood and a busted radiator. $500 or less in parts and the car sold for 10x what it was bought for at the auction.

I rebuilt one car for myself whlle working there and it had quite a bit more damage and required replacing all 4 doors, the fenders, bumper and several other parts. I ended up not really liking the car (not because of the way it was or anything, I just liked my other car better) and sold it to my dad and he drove it for a few years and 30k miles with no issues related to accident damage/repairs. It was just getting old and tired and needed mechanical work when he sold it.

We never had issues selling the repaired cars with salvage titles.

The values are definitely less than cars with clean titles but if the car is fixed right there shouldnt be an issue.

Ive seen much worse cars with clean titles, like the car my grandmother had that was wrecked pretty good in two separate accidents and not totalled either time.