A salvage title car or Truck is a vehicle thats been in accident, weather related incident or stolen and the repair cost is almost as much or more than the car is worth. Most states have a threshold on the amount needed to declare the car is a total loss. In Tennessee, that percentage is around 70% of the value of the vehicle.
Insuring a salvage title vehicle can be difficult. Most companies will insure for liability coverage, but few companies will write collision and comprehensive coverage. Why? Because it’s very difficult to determine a value on a salvage title. Kelly Blue Book and other vehicle estimating services dont provide pricing on these types of cars and trucks because there are just too many unknown variables. Financing can also be a problem due to the same reasons.
Occasionally there may be some perfectly good vehicles that get branded as salvage but its definitely buyer beware. Safety is the biggest reason to avoid these cars. These cars can be dangerous. If you do purchase a salvage title car or truck, plan on keeping it a long time. They can be hard to sell and when they do its at a big discount.
