Thread: can someone explain a rebuilt title?

Usually it's a car that has been totaled out and given a title so you can rebuild it. Insurance company let them "buy it back" for a really low price, like $1000. Then they replaced all the damaged parts. It's sometimes worth it to rebuild a car, but unless it's dirt cheap, DON'T buy one with a rebuilt (aka: salvage) title.

You may have trouble getting insurance for it, and you have no idea if any repair were done right. The frame could be fukced, since some rebuild inspections ONLY check if it's roadworthy and the parts replaced to insure you didn't used stolen parts on them.

If you have a wreck and its declared a total loss, you can opt to "keep the salvage" in order to try and find a higher bid for it than what the insurer is offering. Fair game. If you do so, the title is not flagged as a total loss (at least in my state). If you allow the insurance company to pay you for it and come get it, that title is marked total loss. So whether the initial wreck owner allows the insurance company to purchase it or not is where the wording comes into play. Does not mean anything about safety or the damage to the vehicle, or it's repairability.

Not for that price I wouldn't bother. If it was cheap I would say hey take a chance but you have no idea who did the repair and if it was done right. For that price you can find one without a rebuilt title with a little more mileage. It's your money.. Dk if you a gambling man but that's a gamble.

If they can provide the paperwork for the repairs and or you can someway obtain the paperwork, then I would think about it more.

It looks really clean and looks to be done right from the pictures.

In my state, it has to pass the state inspection for it to get a rebuilt title. With that, there would be somesort paperwork for the repairs.

And I can easily swap the DIC with a lower mileage one and make it more appealing

Originally Posted by 98GrandPrixIraqVet

changing the mileage from whatever title/salvage paperwork says is illegal just saying. Vehicles with replaced clusters or tampered odometers are supposed to be stamped vehicle mileage not actual!

Hey, a Q for you no hijacking intended but yeah thats what this is so sorry to the OP. I want to swap the 135K cluster from my 02 into my 203K 99 model because the needles are faded in the 99. My title is clear and says "EXEMPT" in the mileage field. Would it be illegal to re-sell it this way? If so, would it be legal if I carved "mileage not actual" into the 02 cluster?

Originally Posted by REDCOMPG

And I can easily swap the DIC with a lower mileage one and make it more appealing

car fax would catch this is the buyer had any brains.

you could always have the mileage changed in the dic to the correct mileage. most of these guys will want a odometer statement signed as well. for legal reasons.

i got a new to me rebuilt cluster in my regal, they guy who rebuilt it changed the miles to the miles my old one said.

Yup just saying not something I would do but OP seems to be attached because of the mileage.

Originally Posted by idrivejunk

Hey, a Q for you no hijacking intended but yeah thats what this is so sorry to the OP. I want to swap the 135K cluster from my 02 into my 203K 99 model because the needles are faded in the 99. My title is clear and says "EXEMPT" in the mileage field. Would it be illegal to re-sell it this way? If so, would it be legal if I carved "mileage not actual" into the 02 cluster?

If you ever sold it, the mileage would be LOWER than the last reported mileage. Unless the buyer was in on it and reported the lower mileage on the title transfer.

OP, find out WHAT was needed to total it out and repair it. On my motorcycle, the fairing is literally the most expensive part. You drop it once and the turn signal puts a crack in the fairing and it is "totaled" despite everything else being perfect.

The GP would need a lot more than body work to total it out. Did it need a new engine, transmission? Tony (afallucco) pretty much had to replace the full side of his car after the accident and they didn't total it.