Salvaged Titles
When a car is damaged to the point that it is a total loss, the cause of the damage may not just be a typical wreck or collision. There are several other types of damages that can render a vehicle as a total loss; such as hail damage, vandalism, theft recovery, flooding, and more. The purpose of salvaged titles is to indicate that the vehicle is a damaged vehicle. Cars with such titles are not meant to be driven on the road, and are not safe for driving in most cases. This is why vehicles with salvaged titles cannot be legally registered. So if a person is driving a car with a salvaged title, they are driving illegally. And since a salvaged title means the insurance company has already deemed the car a total loss and paid out for it, there is no way the vehicle can be insured again. If it cannot be registered, there is no need to insure it anyway.
So, vehicles with salvaged titles do not require insurance, cannot be legally registered, and therefore, should never be driven on public roadways and streets. Salvage vehicles can still be sold for parts and metal recycling purposes. Generally, but not always, salvaged vehicles are priced around 40% less than the KBB market value. Or it can be measured by the weight of metal material in it, depending on the condition of the vehicle.
Rebuilt Titles
It is important to know that a rebuilt car title used to be a salvaged car title. If a person owns a salvaged car and wishes to rebuild and restore it, they can do so, but not without some degree of difficulty. First, it is usually very costly to repair a vehicle that has been written off as a total loss by an insurance company. For this reason, many people do not choose to restore a totaled vehicle. Banks are not likely willing to approve financing or loans to repair a vehicle either, so the car owner would be entirely responsible for all repair costs. Second, finding an insurance policy to insure a rebuilt vehicle may be difficult, or expensive. A person might not be able to find full coverage, and will only be able to get covered for general liability. And last, a salvaged vehicle can only be rebuilt by a licensed car re-builder, and then must pass the state inspection to be approved and given a rebuilt title. So this means a person cannot just find a neighborhood mechanic repair their totaled vehicle.