Vehicle Reviews | Vehicle News | Vehicle Information

Where I live, (Iowa), you have to get a salvage title in your name when you first get the car. When you’re finished fixing it, you take it to get inspected, if everything looks good, they sign off on it. Then you can get a “prior salvage” title for it. It will always have a prior salvage title, but it can be registered and bought and sold as usual.

Having a prior salvage title makes the car’s value significantly lower, up to half as much, so keep that in mind when buying supplies and such. I’ve rebuilt several wrecks. It’s a great way to have a nice car for not a lot of money, but I always get screwed when I sell.

South Carolina is the only state I’ve ever heard of that will (would) clean a ‘salvage’ title if the car was repaired. In every other state that I know of once the vehicle has been declared a ‘total loss’ it lives with some form of altered title forever. Many states have ‘destroy’ titles — meaning that the vehicle can only be used as parts and they are dismantled or crushed. My state requires that you have to be a licenesed ‘rebuilder’ in order to get the vehicle tagged and sold.