Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so thankful for the support of the VINwiki channel this year. Thank you all for watching and we wish you and yours the happiest of holidays.
Never thought I would ever want to watch a video about an individual talking about the different types of titles for vehicles and how they occur and work, but of course Ed Bolian has made this subject seem very interesting with his storytelling skills! Happy thanksgiving Ed!
Tennessee, especially hawkins county, is the greatest. I've taken several salvage/rebuilt and once you register and pay wheel tax , they always print a clean sheet. That doesn't affect carfax, but it doesn't say salvage/ rebuilt. Don't say anything, just register it like anything else. ( Washington, Sullivan and unicoi counties are also a good bet) tennessee
@@robertperillo1799 -- you know why that is a red flag ? that means the state has no one qualified to inspect the cars for a proper repair.. so its up to the ethics of the "state approved body shop" that "fixed" the car
Carfax isn't a magical tool that knows anything going on with a car. If the person that got into minor accident never reported to their insurance and/or to the police, Carfax generally won't know that car was in an accident.
@@labeebrahman702 i mean think about it. Say the motor is gone but you wanted to toss a diffrent one in, or suspension is trashed ect. Youre going to get it way cheaper and then arent paying for stock then upgraded parts, youre cutting to the chase. If the other damage isnt huge it may actually be a far better option in that scenario
This made my Thanksgiving!! Thank you for taking my suggestion to heart and doing this video, Ed. Hope everyone from the VINWiki family is safe and enjoying the holiday. 🦃🥧
Well, as far as I know about Spain's, there's no such thing as branded titles. You have your car and the paperwork that shows you're the owner. When buying a second hand car, I think there's a way for you to know whether you are actually the second, third or n-th owner but I think you can't by looking at that paperwork. If you have an accident you have to options: nothing happened, including something happened but the car got repaired and back on the road. Or something actually happened, meaning it's deemed a "siniestro total" (kind of "totaled"). That is, the car has been destroyed, though sometimes it hasn't but the accident has caused some serious damage and the insurance company (the other guy's insurance company if it was their fault, sometimes yours if your car was insured as "a todo riesgo", which translates as "at all risk", meaning "no matter what happens, the insurance will have you covered") prefers to pay you the market value of your car rather than fixing it as this would be more expensive. Either way, you only have two options or kind of two and a half options. You have a perfectly legal car on the road of which you don't know its previous history unless the previous owner tells you, or your car is gone for good, be it due to an accident, be it because you get rid of it for good (*). There is kind of a third option, and this when your car is declared "dado de baja temporal", which means you oficially ask our "DMV" (DGT here) to declare your car as temporarily unable to get it on the road (I can't find a better translation). Your car is fine, but say you are going to live away from home for a few months and you're not taking your car with you, or maybe it needs a big repair that will take some time, or you have inherited the car and you want to keep it but won't use it for a while. That way you still own the car but you can't use it on the road. This way you won't have to pay taxes and some other things. (*) In Spain we have the so called ITV (Inspección Técnica de Vehículos - Vehicle Technical Inspection) which is, say, a periodic series of test every single motor vehicle has to pass. It depends on the vehicle but, for example, cars don't have to pass it until they are four years old. From then on they will have to pass it every two years until they're ten and, from then on, every year. My previous car was already 21 years old when it failed the test due to some problems with the rear axle. My mechanic tried to find another axle to replace it but didn't find any. I could have just taken it out temporarily until a good rear axle was found, but my mechanic didn't have good expectations and, given that I had to fix some other minor things in the car, I chose to say goodbye to it and find another. The car would run fine, but as it wouldn't pass that test, it had to go.
Same same. I know a guy who imports USA cars with some branded tittles. This is in Bulgaria. No problem with getting it registered, insured and etc. Since we don't have titles. Also fixing the Cars costs like HALF or 1/3 of what it costs in the USA. Problem is the Import tax and some other taxes. Which in total are 30 % on top of the price you bough the car. And you have to wait to pass Customs. It can take up to 4-5 weeks . On the hand, you can actually sell it to somebody in Europe as a clean car and make profit out of it.
I work in the Automotive Industry and we happen to specialize in all sorts of Branded Title Vehicles. I now consider myself a Branded Title Expert and I couldn’t have explained this better myself. Ed did a phenomenal job explaining each type of Brand. I just wish I had seen this video at the start of my career and saved myself from the trouble of learning all of this on my own!
Is there any way or loophole at all to end up registering a “parts only” or “non rebuildable” title, or any states or anything that allow you to re-title it as registrable?
Ed: I'm currently searching for my dream car on a budget, but in cash. This information is coming at the exact perfect time. Some of the candidates do have title brands, and I've had lots of questions Google hasn't been forthcoming in answering. I have to give you a heartfelt thanks and all the appreciation in the world right now as you may have made my dreams much, much more attainable. Thanks, Ed.
Interesting video Ed, in Australia it's very similar but simpler, we don't have a "title" per se, we have a different registration in every state (different colour number plates or "tags" for each state etc..) and that is your "title" of ownership. We also have the PPSR (Personal Property Securities Register) were you can do a $2 online search that will tell you if there is finance owing or any lien etc on a used vehicle that you buy privately or even through a dealer. In the case of damaged or insurance claims made on vehicle we have a WOVR (Written Off Vehicle Register), there are basically two types of "title brand" in relation to this, a statutory write-off (vehicle is too damaged to be re-registered and is only good for parts or scrap) and a repairable write-off, this is where the insurance company deems that it is not economical enough for them to repair the vehicle and pays out the owner (or finance company) the agreed or market value of the car but the car is not damaged enough to be a statutory write-off. Both types of these write-off's can be bought at salvage auctions and you are informed at the time of the auction what category they are, similar to what you said a repairable write-off can be fixed an after a safety check can be re-registered and driven on the road (apologies for long post).
Great info Ed! I was about to jump on here and then you got to the "owner retained" scenario. That is what happened to my 16 Mustang GT in Texas. It was totaled, but I kept it and rebuilt it. Since the damage was actually just below my state's total loss threshold (75%), a title brand was not required per my insurance company, so I didn't have to do anything to have a good clean title. I subsequently refinanced it with my credit union for the full value and they had no issues with it. If it had a rebuilt title, they would have loaned on it too, but not at the full retail value. The car is currently fully insured with the same company that totaled it and subrogated the claim to the other party, so that is good. It does have the "Total loss paid" brand on Carfax, but I don't plan on selling it. Fwiw, Carmax offered me $10,400 for a year and a half old rebuilt 16 Mustang GT Premium performance pack ($43k sticker, $32k retail clean title comp) with less than 12k miles on it! I have just over $20k in the buy back, parts, paint and body work. I have a couple videos of it on my channel if anyone is interested.
many, many, many videos I watch say, "I can't say, check your State laws". Which is fine, and truthful. My man, Ed, gives a thumbnail of how MOST States work. Very good and helpful. I'm not on YT looking for legal advice. I'm here to gain understanding.
You have to love a state like SC, I can buy a car from let’s say copart. Leave the car at the yard, goto the dmv, register the car and drive it home with real plates. All I’m the same day.
Growing up in Georgia it used to be like that. Not sure how it is anymore. First car I ever bought I picked it up from the "lot" that was just small enough to still be legally considered a private seller, drove it home stopping by the insurance place on the way. Next day I drove over to the DMV, paid my $35 if I remember right, and the lady behind the counter hands me a permanent plate from the stack next to her. Put the plate on, and on the way home stop by the parts store to pick up new brake lights because none of them were working, new plugs and wires to fix the misfire throwing the check engine light, and a multimeter to try and figure out why the horn wasn't working. Now that I live in California, buying a used car is very similar to buying a house except for slightly more paperwork involved for the car.
@@jasonpatterson2143 I saw a guy sitting on the curb on w 41st in Sioux Falls a couple of years ago. His quad was obliterated. Police used to do speed traps on Kiwanis with their 4 wheelers. Have not seen one of those in a couple years though. Yep 4 wheelers are all over. It is kind of neat seeing them in a group of motorcycles riding around town.
In Minnesota if a car off the road for 10 years and is salvaged it gets taken out of the system and they will give you a clean bonded title . Happen to me and I happily paid 76 bucks for title fees
Happy Thanksgiving to you Ed and the whole VinWiki family. If I had every professor like Ed in my college days, I would have graduated in 2yrs with a Masters.......
My roommate bought a theft recovery car. Title was technically clean and minus a few interior cosmetic flaws, the car has been awesome... and she saved like 35% off retail and was still able to finance at like 3%. Next time I’m on the hunt, I’m looking for theft recoveries lol
@@jasonpatterson2143 It's not a "clean" Carfax, but it's a clean title. If you want to know how insurance companies determine title status upon theft recovery, I suggest you spend about 12 seconds on Google before making uniformed statements.
I just bought a 2015 bmw 228i rebuilt and awesome awesome shape! Saw the before fix pics and no frame damage just the fender and door cut from a side swipe. No front end or chasis damage or undercarriage. So interior is immaculate and taken to a BMW dealer for inspection with service history and receipts. So i felt comfortable as it ll be a daily driver/beater to save gas and yet have fun. I have an SRT8 i love but gas kills me so is my 69 mustang. So this is fun without settling with a 130hp 05 corolla i had lol. First rebuilt car ive ever own and i love it
Idk about Louisiana title washing. I live in Louisiana and owned many clean and rebuilt title cars and any salvage/rebuilt title car i register even out of state always gets a Louisiana rebuilt or salvage brand depending if the required repairs were done. This is still holds true since the last car I built 2 days ago and got a rebuilt Louisiana title coming in the mail. One thing I will admit those is that the rebuilt process to get a salvage car back on the road is super laxed at least where I am.
In Michigan, there are a huge amount of cars on Copart with decent damage with clean titles. I bought a Cruze that needed a hood, bumper, grille, headlight and fender. No radiator damage, no frame damage. Bought it for 50% market value and only put 800 into it for parts and paint. It depends on your state, but there are good deals to be made.
one thing I've noticed with older lower value cars (like a 2015 civic) is that the insurance company is going to want to put new parts on and total it because an unpainted bumper cover is like $500 and then you have $600 of paint-matching labor. Or you can just go on ebay or your local junkyard and get one in the right color for like $60.
Hi Ed! This is amazingly interesting. I'm an aircraft dealer and own 2 "abandoned/rebuild project" aircraft. Alot of this is bang on what we say to people buying rebuilt airplanes too! The titles aren't really the same names but alot of it lines up exactly to what we do in the sky! If youre interested in how that works with airplanes I'd be happy to talk about what we do!
Oh wow...I can't imagine what airplane deals, buyers, and sellers are like. I wonder if it would warrant something similar to VINWiki? There have GOT to be some good stories at least 😁
@@jayring77 Way ahead of you there. I run a non-profit and we are restoring one of my projects, a Comanche 400 (400hp, 722 Cubic Inch, 11.8 litre 4 seater!) And filming it all to get some fellow young people into aviation. We will be doing stories like this along with the rebuild logs!
@@basithph8958 id love to unfortunately I live in Chicago and work 6 months out of the year in rural northern Wisconsin so I’m going to go after the AWD option because winters would be a nightmare in both states during the icy months, I’ve always been a very good driver in the snow and ice but knowing my luck it’ll run thin once I buy a new car lol.
I've used Progressive, Geico, American Family, Allstate, State Farm, and many smaller local insurance companies without ever having a single issue insuring and/or filing a claim throughout the years. This includes me literally insuring dozens of so called branded title cars and trucks, starting way back from 1999 all the way through my current policy I have in 2020 and beyond.
Happy Thanksgiving, I have found that most banks will do a loan on a salvage titled vehicle. They will only do 70% of the vehicles value. Otherwise they have zero problem doing the loans.
Pretty good explaination of the basics and introductory of purchasing advice IMO. The last minute or so being key to the 👍 from me for this video. I'm no longer in the automobile restoration business. But there is a huge difference in our work still on the road and the "affordable bid" cars in the junkyards now. 🤷♂️ To hard to make a bill paying living at but proud of seeing our work still on the road not eating tires up 2x faster than new.
This is an excellent and informative video. Many props to Ed. I'm going to rewatch it as it's worth a second look. I think every "car guy" with some time on his hands (hello Covid!) watches a youTub rebuild vid and thinks..."hey, I could do THAT". This gives a little hint as to what you may be getting into..legally...which is huge.
We sell an average of 75 repaired cars a month with rebuilt titles , and many of our customers require financing. Many banks and credit unions around here have no problem financing salvage/rebuilt title cars as long as they pass the inspection required by the state of Michigan to put them back on the road.
FYI I've personally title-washed a Florida cert of destruction car (only had a smoked oil pan) by transferring it to a friend in KY, where residents can get a salvage rebuildable title for Florida cert of destruction cars, if you get 2 mechanics to sign off on it as being safe, with pictures of the damage, and then transferred it back to me. I didn't even need to bring the car to KY.
I had someone pull out in front of me, and my van's hood got crunched. The insurance company refused to fix it and call it normal, so I have a salvaged title van. It still works awesome!
To back up what Ed said about lien sales. In Nevada, if you have a car from the east coast, you don't have to search their state if you can honestly say you don't know where it is from. They only require you to search the surrounding 6 states for ownership information. In this case a salvaged super car from New York or a similar place would not be searched and when all the documents have been submitted, it will be issued a clean title.
I buy and sell several salvage cars. In Texas you have to rebuild them in order to sell them again. Most of the we have to in house finance the cars or try to sell them cash. Sometimes car will have hail damage but still have a clean title but with a total lose making it as equal to a rebuilt title
@@adriandenson8855 More likely that they know the availability of repair parts and whether or not they'll even be able to get the things needed for a proper, roadworthy repair. Anything less than "as delivered new" condition to them is a potential liability down the line.
this was very informative, even though i dont live in the US... yet. but i plan to later down the line, so thats good to know! thanks Ed! Happy Thanksgiving!
When I was workings at the power sports dealer I used to export a lot of the machines. We certainly didnt want the customer going to port with an mso. It would become very costly. My main job was to collect the cash and start the export. That meant take the mso. Get myself a title and then off to have some fun. We had to actually use the machines because next week we would transfer ownership with the title to the customer. The machines were now used and on the second owner. This saved the buyer hundreds of thousands, made us money, and we had fun doing it.
Hey Ed, I am a rebuilt car salesman, I buy cars from Copart and Iaai to repair and sell them. I just wanted to point out a lot of times the insurance wont really care about branding a car, I have bought vehicles that just needed a new bumper cover. If you are interested in a rebuilt car try to look at the pictures of the car before it was repaired I always provide pictures when im asked. Thanks for reading!
Ed, USAA savings bank will still insure and finance salvage vehicles for their full value. This is only for service members and or their families though. I know this because when I was younger I had a lot of m3/m4s at less than 50% of the value but with 70-80% of the value on the loan...and they still do these loans to this day. They are normal loans and you will get rates according to your credit. You can even get gap insurance on the loan and they will pay (personal experience).
Here in NC I've title washed a few where I got a salvage title, got a rebuilt title, sign it over to my brother, then get him to write a bill of sale and "sell" it back to me and claim a lost title. Pay $200 for new title and BOOM Clean title. For some reason if the vin had a salvage attached, if the title was lost it would stick with the title when issued a new one, especially if it was an instate car. Out of state was a hit or miss But if i got a rebuilt title sold it to somebody, and get a new title it would work. And it was just easiest to claim a lost title. Mostly old C10 pickup that where saved from the local junk yard
It all depends on the state and the situation. My 2009 G6 convertible was totaled by ice when I was away on a business trip. To use the examples in the video, mine was an "owner retained salvage". The insurance company deemed it a total loss and issued me a check and allowed me to keep it. Because of the age, the car didn't get a salvage title (NYS). But had it been newer, it would have been as such. Also, at least with the same insurance company, once the car is a total loss and paid for, that same insurance company might only allow it to be insured for liability (to avoid repeated payouts). In my case, the car had low mileage, I bought it new, I knew everything about it, I've done all the non warranty work myself and I found a competent shop that was able to repair it. No sense in getting rid of it. Two things worked in my favor: the salvage value was low and my deductible was low. So only $850 came off the what the insurance company gave me. Also, don't just take their first offer for the value. Discuss it with them, especially if your car is in good shape. I got the adjustaber to go up a lot more, right up to NADA top value on my car because it was well kept, low mileage and had all of the options. He agreed, got approval to put me into a higher value bracket and then issued the check. I then negotiated with the body shop. I agreed to supply some of the GM new parts (trim and emblems) and let them get the rest. I told them if they wanted the job, they had to do better than the estimate that they gave the insurance company. They did. If you do your homework in some cases you can do just fine and keep the car that you've grown to like. Such was the case for me.
absolutlely loved it! not only is the channel entertaining, but in this case VERY informative!! i could, with ehat ive learnt on the channel, have a decent shot of owning a lambo one day. long as i play my money cards right of course. granted, itll be tough as an o.t.r reefer hauler, BUT these videos make the dream possible c'mon....
A lot of rebuilt title Vipers out there due to the cost and rarity of body panels/hoods/headlights/windshields. You can get some crazy good deals on these cars with zero frame or axle damage that's been fixed and runs as well as the day it left the factory.
My local credit union will issue loans on cars with branded titles. A friend of mine bought a beautiful new-ish bmw 540 years ago for half of what a clean one was worth, and they financed it for him. The banks manager has a theft title land cruiser for the same reason.
Great video and very insightful! One thing I wanted to point out as well that my buddy asked about was if a car had a branded title, and was then title washed and received a clean title, would he be able to get a loan for it and the answer is no, most lenders can check the car's history on a national level even if it's a smaller one or a county credit Union, they will see that the car had a branded title at some point and though it may be clean title now, will not issue a loan for it, be mindful of this before purchasing!
I bought a salvaged Buick daily driver. It was in a tornado. Some dents and dings but only 7 miles and I'm in it, including repairs for about 50% of MSRP. No warranty, but for 50% off I'm good with that.
Great video. I would have liked you to touch on "theft recovery" titles as the are so often misunderstood. Your vehicle is stolen and after a nominal period of time, 2-3 weeks, the insurance will pay out the policy as a total loss. Subsequently the vehicle is recovered or found by police and it is handed over to the insurance company that already paid the owner. Often these cars are in perfect condition but they go to auction with a branded title because they were paid out as a total loss. This scenario is very common for theft recovered motorcycles.
My dad used to sale a lot of used cars back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and then kind of transferred over to mainly running a small chain on repair shops in North Carolina but we have always maintained our dealers license selling maybe 5-10 cars a year but the main reason we maintain our dealer license and plates is run on our personal vehicles. I’ve always bought cars that are 2-3 years old but I will buy them at auctions that are legally selling the vehicle without the title because it cannot be obtained due to some issue. When I put my dealer tags on said cars my insurance covers the car and makes it legal for me to drive in the meantime I’ll file a mechanics lean on the car without a title and within 5-6 months I will have a title on the car and then resell it.. normally when I buy a car at auction without the title I will pay maybe 10-20 percent of what the vehicle would be worth with a title at that time. For example my last purchase was a 2019 4 door keep wrangler with a factory lift and every other option jeep offered with 11,000 miles on it. Normally that jeep would be selling for around 35-40k and I paid well under 10 for a basically new jeep with no issues at all.
I had a salvaged 240sx in NH we don’t title 25 year plus cars, i sold it too Massachusetts resident (they title everything) and mass didn’t check database and his new title came back clean!
You are incorrect about not being able to get a lien on a branded title vehicle. Me and my son have both Branded vehicles and we were both able to get loans thru our credit Union. I have a pastor friend of mine who has bought quite a few branded title vehicles. He never has a problem getting a loan.
My Tacoma had an export only title. And the damage was superficial. Was able to get it registered in California without much headache. Been driving it for 2 years no issues
Another way to deal with a "bad title" is..... register in a state that does not title older vehicles. In Maine, we only title cars newer then 1995. It its pretty common to buy vehivles with bad or missing titles from massachusets, which titles everything, and then bring to Maine, register, and drive no trouble.
American insurance auctions are a constant headache in europe, some a-holes buy up your totaled junk cars repair them in the most haggard way to still look presentable in low cost labor east countries and sell them all over europe with new clean european registrations as if they were never crashed into a shape of a spaghetti, classified ads are a minefield
When I lived in NJ over 20 years ago I would occasionally flip cars for profit. When a vehicle was registered each new owner had a letter inserted before the VIN # so, if I was looking at the car and ready to buy I would ask the seller if I could compare the title to the VIN on the dashboard? Letter F, J, or K was owner 6,7, or 8. I would give the title back and forget it. In some states many dealers hide behind the odometer statement, "If the vehicle is 10 years old or older the miles are exempt." For the life of me I don't understand why that law can't be changed nationwide on a computer database. So many back then and even today switch odometer clusters or re-adjust the number of miles whether mechanically taking it apart to roll it forward or buying some computer program to change it. I always heard if you had a vehicle branded with a "Flood" title you needed a friend in NM to buy it, because NM didn't have "Flood branded titles". Then a few months later he could sell it back to you with a clean title but I don't know if that story was BS or not.
Here in Australia it's just registration, any time I've bought an unregistered car, I get a signed document (self made) saying I purchased the vehicle and all that, then get them to sign and date it and I do the same, just means its safe if they say it got stolen or some shit
I know in some states You can’t title if it’s had a rebuilt title Like in Tennessee you can title a rebuilt Alabama or rebuilt Georgia title but not a rebuilt Kentucky title
Always go to the dealer and have them pull the maintenance records, if a car was wrecked and rebuilt the computer will have thrown codes that have to be cleared by a dealer. The insurance company is the entity that issues the 'branding'. It is possible to go back to them and get that changed. A friend bought a Corvette with a Florida COD title. It had the Challenge Car RPO but had not been retrofitted with the complete race package before being wrecked. Since it was a desired RPO he went back to the insurance company and was able to get them to change the COD after rebuilding the car to their satisfaction. May have been a once in a lifetime thing but he now has a clear title. I have a 1988 King of the Hill Corvette (ZR-1 prototype) that was never issued on an MSO. It is one of 25 built as a proof of concept car for testing. All were slated for destruction but at least 2 escaped. I bought the car on a Georgia clear title using the production line vin although the vin in the window is EXxxxx. The car has an EPA sticker under the hood exempting it from EPA restrictions but would prohibit it from being driven on the street. It got a clear title after a vin check of all databases came back clear but a check of the Chevy maintenance records (not done for titling a car) show it is a donated or destroyed vehicle, ie never titled. ALWAYS do a title search on a vehicle before putting any money in it, especially a C1 or C2 Corvette. Several years ago there were 2 1967 BB Corvettes on the judging field with the same VIN, each was told to bring back documentation the next day. One disappeared that night and all the registration information was bogus.
Hi Ed, thanks for the great video and happy Thanksgiving! What states are commonly used to wash titles? I always heard Mississippi, you said Louisiana, what others are commonly used?
A friend of mine bought a 2007 Shelby GT500. Really sharp, white with blue stripes, 36k mile car. He bought the car locally (WV) and had it for a while. Brought it to me to trade it in (Ford store), so I ran the CARFAX only to find it had been a total loss in 2009. It had a rebuilt title according to the CARFAX, but he showed me the clean WV title. Of course, I had to do a little digging only to find that it was issued a rebuilt Ohio title and that branding seemingly went away when the car was sold to the prior owner and titled in West Virginia. To this day, I don't know how this happened, but it is a nice car and he enjoys it to this day. After reading the CARFAX, we didn't trade with him as we really do not deal in cars of this nature, but I felt bad for him because he truly paid full clean retail for a rebuilt car.
I lost my butt on an ‘03 Mach1 with a stamped title. It only happened because the motor had a previously undiagnosed issue from the accident. Engine failure happened after about about 2500 miles. But the car looked good.
15:12 im 100% with u Ed manufactures have have a tolerance of +/- 3inches out of square when a car go goes on a fram machines ( ik most cars are nobody's but u still use a frame machine to straighten it out)most shops have a tollerance of less then 1" out od square The huge manufacture tollerance is often why cheap aftermarket parts dont fit right they based it of a signle car and added there own tollerance ( aka as tollerance stacking) Good aftermarket companys messure multiple cars figures the manufactures tolerance then sets theres in the middle. so unless u get a part thats the max tolerance and ur cars the minum tolerance (or vise a versa) they should fit just fine.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so thankful for the support of the VINwiki channel this year. Thank you all for watching and we wish you and yours the happiest of holidays.
Enjoy your day, Ed!
Happy Thanksgiving to you Ed, we appreciate your work!
Mr bolian I need information about a manual murcialago this is not fake seriously
Same to you, and yours sir. Many thanks to you and your production crew for all that you do for the automotive community.
Happy Thanksgiving Ed, nice video
Never thought I would ever want to watch a video about an individual talking about the different types of titles for vehicles and how they occur and work, but of course Ed Bolian has made this subject seem very interesting with his storytelling skills! Happy thanksgiving Ed!
Ed is the type to go into the DMV with a salvaged title, shrewdly negotiate, meet in the middle smack dab on a clean title and walk out.
If Ed was my Professor at university, I would’ve gotten straight (A)s
This was my EXACT thought while I was watching this.
I agree.
I’d wager you’d end up right smack dab in the middle with straight (C)s
Would you own a car with a branded title?
wait why is it 20 hours ago
@@14ronn13 LOL
@@14ronn13 they uploaded it to the channel before putting it to public
& yes i would if i knew it was worth it
As long as it's not flood damage. Been there done that. Never again
I could follow it, but i'm hungry for more info on title washing states. Well spoken Ed, thanks
Tennessee, especially hawkins county, is the greatest. I've taken several salvage/rebuilt and once you register and pay wheel tax , they always print a clean sheet. That doesn't affect carfax, but it doesn't say salvage/ rebuilt. Don't say anything, just register it like anything else. ( Washington, Sullivan and unicoi counties are also a good bet) tennessee
@@chuckwhitson654 do you need a TN address to register/get a title?
@@robertperillo1799 Not shady at all...
@@ebels3 Im just trying to buy some salvage auction cars and my state doesn’t allow rebuilds by anyone who’s not a state approved body shop
@@robertperillo1799 -- you know why that is a red flag ? that means the state has no one qualified to inspect the cars for a proper repair.. so its up to the ethics of the "state approved body shop" that "fixed" the car
Happy Thanksgiving Ed. I hope you and you family have a great day. Thank you for the free knowledge us newer guys really appreciate it.
Carfax isn't a magical tool that knows anything going on with a car. If the person that got into minor accident never reported to their insurance and/or to the police, Carfax generally won't know that car was in an accident.
Only Ed can use “ delta “ instead of “ the difference “ in a car conversation and no one bats an eye
Every so often he lets it slip how much he's a businessman with a strong background in accounting.
Very valuable information in this video. Great video Ed!
The law of ed: any story involving a gallardo there will be a photos of kimmies lambo
Another thing. My cousin bought a 911 with a parts title, and even though it can never be titled for road use, he rebuilt it as a race car.
That's the best way to build a car on the cheap.
@@ebels3 total waste of money
If I ever have enough disposable income, that will be my plan as well...
@@labeebrahman702 i mean think about it. Say the motor is gone but you wanted to toss a diffrent one in, or suspension is trashed ect.
Youre going to get it way cheaper and then arent paying for stock then upgraded parts, youre cutting to the chase.
If the other damage isnt huge it may actually be a far better option in that scenario
@@labeebrahman702 to be fair this entire hobby is a waste of money
Of course Ed does photo shoots with the gated Mercy and a snake.
This made my Thanksgiving!! Thank you for taking my suggestion to heart and doing this video, Ed. Hope everyone from the VINWiki family is safe and enjoying the holiday. 🦃🥧
It’s pathetic that I know much more about the US car market than the European Market and I live in Europe ..
Well, as far as I know about Spain's, there's no such thing as branded titles. You have your car and the paperwork that shows you're the owner. When buying a second hand car, I think there's a way for you to know whether you are actually the second, third or n-th owner but I think you can't by looking at that paperwork. If you have an accident you have to options: nothing happened, including something happened but the car got repaired and back on the road. Or something actually happened, meaning it's deemed a "siniestro total" (kind of "totaled"). That is, the car has been destroyed, though sometimes it hasn't but the accident has caused some serious damage and the insurance company (the other guy's insurance company if it was their fault, sometimes yours if your car was insured as "a todo riesgo", which translates as "at all risk", meaning "no matter what happens, the insurance will have you covered") prefers to pay you the market value of your car rather than fixing it as this would be more expensive.
Either way, you only have two options or kind of two and a half options. You have a perfectly legal car on the road of which you don't know its previous history unless the previous owner tells you, or your car is gone for good, be it due to an accident, be it because you get rid of it for good (*). There is kind of a third option, and this when your car is declared "dado de baja temporal", which means you oficially ask our "DMV" (DGT here) to declare your car as temporarily unable to get it on the road (I can't find a better translation). Your car is fine, but say you are going to live away from home for a few months and you're not taking your car with you, or maybe it needs a big repair that will take some time, or you have inherited the car and you want to keep it but won't use it for a while. That way you still own the car but you can't use it on the road. This way you won't have to pay taxes and some other things.
(*) In Spain we have the so called ITV (Inspección Técnica de Vehículos - Vehicle Technical Inspection) which is, say, a periodic series of test every single motor vehicle has to pass. It depends on the vehicle but, for example, cars don't have to pass it until they are four years old. From then on they will have to pass it every two years until they're ten and, from then on, every year. My previous car was already 21 years old when it failed the test due to some problems with the rear axle. My mechanic tried to find another axle to replace it but didn't find any. I could have just taken it out temporarily until a good rear axle was found, but my mechanic didn't have good expectations and, given that I had to fix some other minor things in the car, I chose to say goodbye to it and find another. The car would run fine, but as it wouldn't pass that test, it had to go.
Same same. I know a guy who imports USA cars with some branded tittles.
This is in Bulgaria. No problem with getting it registered, insured and etc.
Since we don't have titles. Also fixing the Cars costs like HALF or 1/3 of what it costs in the USA.
Problem is the Import tax and some other taxes. Which in total are 30 % on top of the price you bough the car. And you have to wait to pass Customs. It can take up to 4-5 weeks .
On the hand, you can actually sell it to somebody in Europe as a clean car and make profit out of it.
@@fadetounforgiven mis dieses.
@@honestguy7764 aunque no sé por qué, gracias.
I work in the Automotive Industry and we happen to specialize in all sorts of Branded Title Vehicles.
I now consider myself a Branded Title Expert and I couldn’t have explained this better myself.
Ed did a phenomenal job explaining each type of Brand.
I just wish I had seen this video at the start of my career and saved myself from the trouble of learning all of this on my own!
Is there any way or loophole at all to end up registering a “parts only” or “non rebuildable” title, or any states or anything that allow you to re-title it as registrable?
Ed: I'm currently searching for my dream car on a budget, but in cash. This information is coming at the exact perfect time. Some of the candidates do have title brands, and I've had lots of questions Google hasn't been forthcoming in answering. I have to give you a heartfelt thanks and all the appreciation in the world right now as you may have made my dreams much, much more attainable. Thanks, Ed.
My brothers c4 corvette has a clean title though it’s been wrecked a couple times. But the wrecks were never reported.
Just like the IRS. No paper trail means it didn't happen.
@@1337penguinman lol
1year later and 1/2 a million subs, here we are. Appreciate the content Ed and crew.
Interesting video Ed, in Australia it's very similar but simpler, we don't have a "title" per se, we have a different registration in every state (different colour number plates or "tags" for each state etc..) and that is your "title" of ownership. We also have the PPSR (Personal Property Securities Register) were you can do a $2 online search that will tell you if there is finance owing or any lien etc on a used vehicle that you buy privately or even through a dealer. In the case of damaged or insurance claims made on vehicle we have a WOVR (Written Off Vehicle Register), there are basically two types of "title brand" in relation to this, a statutory write-off (vehicle is too damaged to be re-registered and is only good for parts or scrap) and a repairable write-off, this is where the insurance company deems that it is not economical enough for them to repair the vehicle and pays out the owner (or finance company) the agreed or market value of the car but the car is not damaged enough to be a statutory write-off. Both types of these write-off's can be bought at salvage auctions and you are informed at the time of the auction what category they are, similar to what you said a repairable write-off can be fixed an after a safety check can be re-registered and driven on the road (apologies for long post).
Great info Ed! I was about to jump on here and then you got to the "owner retained" scenario. That is what happened to my 16 Mustang GT in Texas. It was totaled, but I kept it and rebuilt it. Since the damage was actually just below my state's total loss threshold (75%), a title brand was not required per my insurance company, so I didn't have to do anything to have a good clean title. I subsequently refinanced it with my credit union for the full value and they had no issues with it. If it had a rebuilt title, they would have loaned on it too, but not at the full retail value. The car is currently fully insured with the same company that totaled it and subrogated the claim to the other party, so that is good. It does have the "Total loss paid" brand on Carfax, but I don't plan on selling it. Fwiw, Carmax offered me $10,400 for a year and a half old rebuilt 16 Mustang GT Premium performance pack ($43k sticker, $32k retail clean title comp) with less than 12k miles on it! I have just over $20k in the buy back, parts, paint and body work. I have a couple videos of it on my channel if anyone is interested.
many, many, many videos I watch say, "I can't say, check your State laws". Which is fine, and truthful.
My man, Ed, gives a thumbnail of how MOST States work. Very good and helpful.
I'm not on YT looking for legal advice. I'm here to gain understanding.
Thanks Ed! So many people get lost in the sea of title brands! Cheers
You have to love a state like SC, I can buy a car from let’s say copart. Leave the car at the yard, goto the dmv, register the car and drive it home with real plates. All I’m the same day.
Growing up in Georgia it used to be like that. Not sure how it is anymore. First car I ever bought I picked it up from the "lot" that was just small enough to still be legally considered a private seller, drove it home stopping by the insurance place on the way. Next day I drove over to the DMV, paid my $35 if I remember right, and the lady behind the counter hands me a permanent plate from the stack next to her. Put the plate on, and on the way home stop by the parts store to pick up new brake lights because none of them were working, new plugs and wires to fix the misfire throwing the check engine light, and a multimeter to try and figure out why the horn wasn't working. Now that I live in California, buying a used car is very similar to buying a house except for slightly more paperwork involved for the car.
I think South Dakota also. You can throw a headlight and taillight on your 4 wheeler and get plates for it also.
@@jasonpatterson2143 I saw a guy sitting on the curb on w 41st in Sioux Falls a couple of years ago. His quad was obliterated. Police used to do speed traps on Kiwanis with their 4 wheelers. Have not seen one of those in a couple years though. Yep 4 wheelers are all over. It is kind of neat seeing them in a group of motorcycles riding around town.
@@jasonpatterson2143 same way in west Virginia lol!
In Minnesota if a car off the road for 10 years and is salvaged it gets taken out of the system and they will give you a clean bonded title . Happen to me and I happily paid 76 bucks for title fees
not after the NMVTIS came into play
Happy Thanksgiving to you Ed and the whole VinWiki family. If I had every professor like Ed in my college days, I would have graduated in 2yrs with a Masters.......
My roommate bought a theft recovery car. Title was technically clean and minus a few interior cosmetic flaws, the car has been awesome... and she saved like 35% off retail and was still able to finance at like 3%. Next time I’m on the hunt, I’m looking for theft recoveries lol
How is it technically clean? It's either clean or it isn't. A "Theft Recovery" title is far from clean.
@@jasonpatterson2143 It's not a "clean" Carfax, but it's a clean title. If you want to know how insurance companies determine title status upon theft recovery, I suggest you spend about 12 seconds on Google before making uniformed statements.
I just bought a 2015 bmw 228i rebuilt and awesome awesome shape! Saw the before fix pics and no frame damage just the fender and door cut from a side swipe. No front end or chasis damage or undercarriage. So interior is immaculate and taken to a BMW dealer for inspection with service history and receipts. So i felt comfortable as it ll be a daily driver/beater to save gas and yet have fun. I have an SRT8 i love but gas kills me so is my 69 mustang. So this is fun without settling with a 130hp 05 corolla i had lol. First rebuilt car ive ever own and i love it
I appreciate the informational uploads a great deal.
Idk about Louisiana title washing. I live in Louisiana and owned many clean and rebuilt title cars and any salvage/rebuilt title car i register even out of state always gets a Louisiana rebuilt or salvage brand depending if the required repairs were done. This is still holds true since the last car I built 2 days ago and got a rebuilt Louisiana title coming in the mail. One thing I will admit those is that the rebuilt process to get a salvage car back on the road is super laxed at least where I am.
Thank you, very much, Ed. This is real, detailed information that is the foundation of many enthusiast's first supercar experience. Very important.
Ed - the info in this vid is so good you should sell access to it for $1,000 a view. Thank you for enlightening us mere mortals.
speak for yourself. we ain't paying *hit
Thank you, these videos are always SO informative/entertaining!
In Michigan, there are a huge amount of cars on Copart with decent damage with clean titles. I bought a Cruze that needed a hood, bumper, grille, headlight and fender. No radiator damage, no frame damage. Bought it for 50% market value and only put 800 into it for parts and paint.
It depends on your state, but there are good deals to be made.
one thing I've noticed with older lower value cars (like a 2015 civic) is that the insurance company is going to want to put new parts on and total it because an unpainted bumper cover is like $500 and then you have $600 of paint-matching labor.
Or you can just go on ebay or your local junkyard and get one in the right color for like $60.
Such great info! I’ve shared this with non-car-nerd friends as a short, easily understandable explanation of things to know about cars’ history.
Who could dislike this video. Incredibly informative and all around great video.
Hi Ed! This is amazingly interesting. I'm an aircraft dealer and own 2 "abandoned/rebuild project" aircraft. Alot of this is bang on what we say to people buying rebuilt airplanes too! The titles aren't really the same names but alot of it lines up exactly to what we do in the sky! If youre interested in how that works with airplanes I'd be happy to talk about what we do!
Oh wow...I can't imagine what airplane deals, buyers, and sellers are like. I wonder if it would warrant something similar to VINWiki? There have GOT to be some good stories at least 😁
@@jayring77 Way ahead of you there. I run a non-profit and we are restoring one of my projects, a Comanche 400 (400hp, 722 Cubic Inch, 11.8 litre 4 seater!) And filming it all to get some fellow young people into aviation. We will be doing stories like this along with the rebuild logs!
I’ve had two cars totalled by insurance TX. One because of hail damage and one from being rear ended. I kept both and both retained clean titles.
Thanks Ed! Really good info in this video. I would enjoy more of informational videos like these
happy thanksgiving ed & the family
Happy thanksgiving y’all! Looking to finally buy my first brand new car. Gonna be buying a 2021 Cadillac ct5 v series.
Same to you. Nice choice. Enjoy it and good luck. 👍🏼
Yeahhhh buddy!!! Happy thanksgiving and enjoy the ride
Do some burnouts!
a ctsv would crank
@@basithph8958 id love to unfortunately I live in Chicago and work 6 months out of the year in rural northern Wisconsin so I’m going to go after the AWD option because winters would be a nightmare in both states during the icy months, I’ve always been a very good driver in the snow and ice but knowing my luck it’ll run thin once I buy a new car lol.
I've used Progressive, Geico, American Family, Allstate, State Farm, and many smaller local insurance companies without ever having a single issue insuring and/or filing a claim throughout the years. This includes me literally insuring dozens of so called branded title cars and trucks, starting way back from 1999 all the way through my current policy I have in 2020 and beyond.
Great informational video! I try to explain all of this to people constantly. Now I can just refer them to this great video!
One of the longest or even the longest video on vinwiki.
And happy Thanksgiving everyone
Happy Thanksgiving VinWiki
Happy Thanksgiving, I have found that most banks will do a loan on a salvage titled vehicle. They will only do 70% of the vehicles value. Otherwise they have zero problem doing the loans.
Pretty good explaination of the basics and introductory of purchasing advice IMO.
The last minute or so being key to the 👍 from me for this video.
I'm no longer in the automobile restoration business. But there is a huge difference in our work still on the road and the "affordable bid" cars in the junkyards now.
🤷♂️ To hard to make a bill paying living at but proud of seeing our work still on the road not eating tires up 2x faster than new.
This is an excellent and informative video. Many props to Ed. I'm going to rewatch it as it's worth a second look. I think every "car guy" with some time on his hands (hello Covid!) watches a youTub rebuild vid and thinks..."hey, I could do THAT". This gives a little hint as to what you may be getting into..legally...which is huge.
We sell an average of 75 repaired cars a month with rebuilt titles , and many of our customers require financing. Many banks and credit unions around here have no problem financing salvage/rebuilt title cars as long as they pass the inspection required by the state of Michigan to put them back on the road.
FYI I've personally title-washed a Florida cert of destruction car (only had a smoked oil pan) by transferring it to a friend in KY, where residents can get a salvage rebuildable title for Florida cert of destruction cars, if you get 2 mechanics to sign off on it as being safe, with pictures of the damage, and then transferred it back to me. I didn't even need to bring the car to KY.
Were you able to register it in fl again?
I had someone pull out in front of me, and my van's hood got crunched. The insurance company refused to fix it and call it normal, so I have a salvaged title van.
It still works awesome!
Interesting learning for me. I have bought my own wrecked car and never understood about branded titles.
To back up what Ed said about lien sales. In Nevada, if you have a car from the east coast, you don't have to search their state if you can honestly say you don't know where it is from. They only require you to search the surrounding 6 states for ownership information. In this case a salvaged super car from New York or a similar place would not be searched and when all the documents have been submitted, it will be issued a clean title.
I buy and sell several salvage cars. In Texas you have to rebuild them in order to sell them again. Most of the we have to in house finance the cars or try to sell them cash. Sometimes car will have hail damage but still have a clean title but with a total lose making it as equal to a rebuilt title
My experience most insurance companies will total a car that is over 6 years old even if its repairable .
Yep - it’s because they’re in cahoots with the manufacturing co. to keep new products coming off the line and onto the road.
@@adriandenson8855
More likely that they know the availability of repair parts and whether or not they'll even be able to get the things needed for a proper, roadworthy repair.
Anything less than "as delivered new" condition to them is a potential liability down the line.
Because after six years, most mainstream cars have depreciated enough that relatively minor damage will exceed the remaining value of the car.
Labor needed on the frame both on body on frame and uni body, can total a car out before the cost of replacement parts.
@@Default78334 yep, its all depreciation
this was very informative, even though i dont live in the US... yet. but i plan to later down the line, so thats good to know! thanks Ed!
Happy Thanksgiving!
When I was workings at the power sports dealer I used to export a lot of the machines. We certainly didnt want the customer going to port with an mso. It would become very costly. My main job was to collect the cash and start the export. That meant take the mso. Get myself a title and then off to have some fun. We had to actually use the machines because next week we would transfer ownership with the title to the customer. The machines were now used and on the second owner. This saved the buyer hundreds of thousands, made us money, and we had fun doing it.
Hey Ed, I am a rebuilt car salesman, I buy cars from Copart and Iaai to repair and sell them. I just wanted to point out a lot of times the insurance wont really care about branding a car, I have bought vehicles that just needed a new bumper cover. If you are interested in a rebuilt car try to look at the pictures of the car before it was repaired I always provide pictures when im asked. Thanks for reading!
Very good. Looking forward to more.
Great breakdown... I was always so confused by all the different terms and stuff...
Ed, USAA savings bank will still insure and finance salvage vehicles for their full value. This is only for service members and or their families though. I know this because when I was younger I had a lot of m3/m4s at less than 50% of the value but with 70-80% of the value on the loan...and they still do these loans to this day.
They are normal loans and you will get rates according to your credit. You can even get gap insurance on the loan and they will pay (personal experience).
Here in NC I've title washed a few where I got a salvage title, got a rebuilt title, sign it over to my brother, then get him to write a bill of sale and "sell" it back to me and claim a lost title.
Pay $200 for new title and BOOM Clean title.
For some reason if the vin had a salvage attached, if the title was lost it would stick with the title when issued a new one, especially if it was an instate car. Out of state was a hit or miss
But if i got a rebuilt title sold it to somebody, and get a new title it would work. And it was just easiest to claim a lost title.
Mostly old C10 pickup that where saved from the local junk yard
saving cars from junk yards is banned in most states, sadly
It all depends on the state and the situation. My 2009 G6 convertible was totaled by ice when I was away on a business trip. To use the examples in the video, mine was an "owner retained salvage". The insurance company deemed it a total loss and issued me a check and allowed me to keep it. Because of the age, the car didn't get a salvage title (NYS). But had it been newer, it would have been as such. Also, at least with the same insurance company, once the car is a total loss and paid for, that same insurance company might only allow it to be insured for liability (to avoid repeated payouts).
In my case, the car had low mileage, I bought it new, I knew everything about it, I've done all the non warranty work myself and I found a competent shop that was able to repair it. No sense in getting rid of it. Two things worked in my favor: the salvage value was low and my deductible was low. So only $850 came off the what the insurance company gave me. Also, don't just take their first offer for the value. Discuss it with them, especially if your car is in good shape. I got the adjustaber to go up a lot more, right up to NADA top value on my car because it was well kept, low mileage and had all of the options. He agreed, got approval to put me into a higher value bracket and then issued the check.
I then negotiated with the body shop. I agreed to supply some of the GM new parts (trim and emblems) and let them get the rest. I told them if they wanted the job, they had to do better than the estimate that they gave the insurance company. They did.
If you do your homework in some cases you can do just fine and keep the car that you've grown to like. Such was the case for me.
I bought a truck with salvage title from GA, brought it to TN and rebuilt it, filed the paperwork and received a clean TN title when I registered it.
absolutlely loved it! not only is the channel entertaining, but in this case VERY informative!! i could, with ehat ive learnt on the channel, have a decent shot of owning a lambo one day. long as i play my money cards right of course. granted, itll be tough as an o.t.r reefer hauler, BUT these videos make the dream possible c'mon....
A lot of rebuilt title Vipers out there due to the cost and rarity of body panels/hoods/headlights/windshields. You can get some crazy good deals on these cars with zero frame or axle damage that's been fixed and runs as well as the day it left the factory.
Great video Ed. Thank you
My local credit union will issue loans on cars with branded titles. A friend of mine bought a beautiful new-ish bmw 540 years ago for half of what a clean one was worth, and they financed it for him. The banks manager has a theft title land cruiser for the same reason.
Great video and very insightful! One thing I wanted to point out as well that my buddy asked about was if a car had a branded title, and was then title washed and received a clean title, would he be able to get a loan for it and the answer is no, most lenders can check the car's history on a national level even if it's a smaller one or a county credit Union, they will see that the car had a branded title at some point and though it may be clean title now, will not issue a loan for it, be mindful of this before purchasing!
Happy Thanksgiving Ed from your family in Colorado much love
I bought a salvaged Buick daily driver. It was in a tornado. Some dents and dings but only 7 miles and I'm in it, including repairs for about 50% of MSRP. No warranty, but for 50% off I'm good with that.
Nice comprehensive video dude. Thanks for sharing ur knowledge.
Great video. I would have liked you to touch on "theft recovery" titles as the are so often misunderstood. Your vehicle is stolen and after a nominal period of time, 2-3 weeks, the insurance will pay out the policy as a total loss. Subsequently the vehicle is recovered or found by police and it is handed over to the insurance company that already paid the owner. Often these cars are in perfect condition but they go to auction with a branded title because they were paid out as a total loss. This scenario is very common for theft recovered motorcycles.
The video none of us knew we needed
Great info! Happy Thanksgiving!
My dad used to sale a lot of used cars back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and then kind of transferred over to mainly running a small chain on repair shops in North Carolina but we have always maintained our dealers license selling maybe 5-10 cars a year but the main reason we maintain our dealer license and plates is run on our personal vehicles. I’ve always bought cars that are 2-3 years old but I will buy them at auctions that are legally selling the vehicle without the title because it cannot be obtained due to some issue. When I put my dealer tags on said cars my insurance covers the car and makes it legal for me to drive in the meantime I’ll file a mechanics lean on the car without a title and within 5-6 months I will have a title on the car and then resell it.. normally when I buy a car at auction without the title I will pay maybe 10-20 percent of what the vehicle would be worth with a title at that time. For example my last purchase was a 2019 4 door keep wrangler with a factory lift and every other option jeep offered with 11,000 miles on it. Normally that jeep would be selling for around 35-40k and I paid well under 10 for a basically new jeep with no issues at all.
Another thing to add is higher insurance cost. I purchased a car at lien sale only to find out later it was salvaged.
I had a salvaged 240sx in NH we don’t title 25 year plus cars, i sold it too Massachusetts resident (they title everything) and mass didn’t check database and his new title came back clean!
You are incorrect about not being able to get a lien on a branded title vehicle. Me and my son have both Branded vehicles and we were both able to get loans thru our credit Union. I have a pastor friend of mine who has bought quite a few branded title vehicles. He never has a problem getting a loan.
My Tacoma had an export only title. And the damage was superficial. Was able to get it registered in California without much headache. Been driving it for 2 years no issues
Those things are bulletproof.....you won’t regret it
ohh I recognize the building @5:30. I work 2 minutes from there and got my car ceramic coated in that same office park. Small world.
Another way to deal with a "bad title" is..... register in a state that does not title older vehicles. In Maine, we only title cars newer then 1995. It its pretty common to buy vehivles with bad or missing titles from massachusets, which titles everything, and then bring to Maine, register, and drive no trouble.
i doubt that, NMVTIS is really tight
Ed bolian is a gift to the auto community
Well you did it again Ed👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
American insurance auctions are a constant headache in europe, some a-holes buy up your totaled junk cars repair them in the most haggard way to still look presentable in low cost labor east countries and sell them all over europe with new clean european registrations as if they were never crashed into a shape of a spaghetti, classified ads are a minefield
I know I'm not the only one, but I learned something today
When I lived in NJ over 20 years ago I would occasionally flip cars for profit. When a vehicle was registered each new owner had a letter inserted before the VIN # so, if I was looking at the car and ready to buy I would ask the seller if I could compare the title to the VIN on the dashboard? Letter F, J, or K was owner 6,7, or 8. I would give the title back and forget it. In some states many dealers hide behind the odometer statement, "If the vehicle is 10 years old or older the miles are exempt." For the life of me I don't understand why that law can't be changed nationwide on a computer database. So many back then and even today switch odometer clusters or re-adjust the number of miles whether mechanically taking it apart to roll it forward or buying some computer program to change it. I always heard if you had a vehicle branded with a "Flood" title you needed a friend in NM to buy it, because NM didn't have "Flood branded titles". Then a few months later he could sell it back to you with a clean title but I don't know if that story was BS or not.
Here in Australia it's just registration, any time I've bought an unregistered car, I get a signed document (self made) saying I purchased the vehicle and all that, then get them to sign and date it and I do the same, just means its safe if they say it got stolen or some shit
I know in some states
You can’t title if it’s had a rebuilt title
Like in Tennessee you can title a rebuilt Alabama or rebuilt Georgia title but not a rebuilt Kentucky title
Always go to the dealer and have them pull the maintenance records, if a car was wrecked and rebuilt the computer will have thrown codes that have to be cleared by a dealer.
The insurance company is the entity that issues the 'branding'. It is possible to go back to them and get that changed. A friend bought a Corvette with a Florida COD title. It had the Challenge Car RPO but had not been retrofitted with the complete race package before being wrecked. Since it was a desired RPO he went back to the insurance company and was able to get them to change the COD after rebuilding the car to their satisfaction. May have been a once in a lifetime thing but he now has a clear title.
I have a 1988 King of the Hill Corvette (ZR-1 prototype) that was never issued on an MSO. It is one of 25 built as a proof of concept car for testing. All were slated for destruction but at least 2 escaped. I bought the car on a Georgia clear title using the production line vin although the vin in the window is EXxxxx. The car has an EPA sticker under the hood exempting it from EPA restrictions but would prohibit it from being driven on the street. It got a clear title after a vin check of all databases came back clear but a check of the Chevy maintenance records (not done for titling a car) show it is a donated or destroyed vehicle, ie never titled.
ALWAYS do a title search on a vehicle before putting any money in it, especially a C1 or C2 Corvette. Several years ago there were 2 1967 BB Corvettes on the judging field with the same VIN, each was told to bring back documentation the next day. One disappeared that night and all the registration information was bogus.
Hi Ed, thanks for the great video and happy Thanksgiving!
What states are commonly used to wash titles? I always heard Mississippi, you said Louisiana, what others are commonly used?
Man O Man Mr. Ed this is good quality Information and the way you explained it is so well!!#$
A friend of mine bought a 2007 Shelby GT500. Really sharp, white with blue stripes, 36k mile car. He bought the car locally (WV) and had it for a while. Brought it to me to trade it in (Ford store), so I ran the CARFAX only to find it had been a total loss in 2009. It had a rebuilt title according to the CARFAX, but he showed me the clean WV title. Of course, I had to do a little digging only to find that it was issued a rebuilt Ohio title and that branding seemingly went away when the car was sold to the prior owner and titled in West Virginia. To this day, I don't know how this happened, but it is a nice car and he enjoys it to this day. After reading the CARFAX, we didn't trade with him as we really do not deal in cars of this nature, but I felt bad for him because he truly paid full clean retail for a rebuilt car.
I lost my butt on an ‘03 Mach1 with a stamped title. It only happened because the motor had a previously undiagnosed issue from the accident. Engine failure happened after about about 2500 miles. But the car looked good.
Some banks will loan a percentage of the value on a salvage title. Atleast in state I'm in. Just FYI.
I bought/ sold and repaired many salvage and clean title vehicles no problem
15:12 im 100% with u Ed manufactures have have a tolerance of +/- 3inches out of square when a car go goes on a fram machines ( ik most cars are nobody's but u still use a frame machine to straighten it out)most shops have a tollerance of less then 1" out od square
The huge manufacture tollerance is often why cheap aftermarket parts dont fit right they based it of a signle car and added there own tollerance ( aka as tollerance stacking)
Good aftermarket companys messure multiple cars figures the manufactures tolerance then sets theres in the middle. so unless u get a part thats the max tolerance and ur cars the minum tolerance (or vise a versa) they should fit just fine.
Bull, no new car has a 3" tolerance for being out of square. A new Mack dump truck is >1".
Back in the late 90s I bought a car with a salvaged title in California then I moved to Oregon when I got the title it was an unbranded title.
I wonder if there is any way or loophole to fight the “parts only” or “non-rebuildable” title to get it registered l
nope, NMVTIS is super tight. but you can export it to live a good life with a foreigner.
Happy thanks giving Ed from my family to yours from Canada by the way our title system is pretty similar to yours