salvage title and total loss

What if you own a vehicle with a salvage title that has been totally restored to factory condition? Then get in an accident with same vehicle and they declare the vehicle a total loss. how is the value determined?

Answer

Having a salvage title will certainly diminish the value of your settlement. They are supposed to be evaluating the value of your car in local market conditions as “if the accident never existed” or in other words, the value a willing buyer would of paid, if you car was not in an accident.

The problem is this: will a willing buyer pay less for a vehicle with a salvage title than a vehicle with a clean title – even if you argue that the vehicle was restored to normal conditions, the title is stilled salvage, and a willing buyer will probably used that against you (the seller) to get a substantially better price.

You will have a difficult time arguing that your vehicle was back to factory conditions. If it was, then why did you fail to have your state inspect your car and clean the title?

In any event, you will have to show by receipts and payments that you car was back to factory conditions. If the vehicle was salvaged, it means that at some point or another it was dimmed a total loss. You will have to show that the damages from that total loss were fixed back to pre accident condition, a pretty difficult standard.

However, if you have receipts and can show that you did spend substantial amount of money fixing this car (remember that your own time is not included on this figures), then you can probably have them increase your value.

To answer you question more on point: How do they determine the value of your car as salvage? They will look to see how much they could sell your car as junk and add the damage the caused. That is usually how salvage value is determined.

I hope this helps,

Good Luck