There are a few reasons why a vehicle ends up with a salvage title, and a lot of them are not mechanical; major hail damage is a common reason. Even a minor accident with only superficial damage can be enough to total out an older vehicle and leave you stricken with a salvage title. But there is a way that you can legally register your vehicle with a salvage title without having to conduct any inspections, and you can start right now!

What Is a Salvaged Vehicle?

When we refer to a 'salvage vehicle,' we are not referring to the function of the vehicle; we are referring to the status of the title itself. Now, having a salvage title is not an automatic disqualifier for using the car on public roads. Instead, it generally means that the vehicle will be legally roadworthy once the required repairs are made and inspected. Not all states require an inspection before being registered and deemed roadworthy, but several of them do.

There is a significant difference between a salvage title and a rebuilt title, which we will get into in a bit. But the bottom-line upfront is that you want your vehicle back on the road, or you found a great deal on a car or truck with a salvage title, and it operates excellent, but you are pretty sure that you will have to pass inspection first; you need some assurance that you aren't getting yourself an albatross.

Register Your Salvage Vehicle Out of State When You Intend to Keep It

If you own the vehicle already and it incurs significant damage, you are going to be faced with two options from your insurance company: they will sell it to a scrap yard, or you can keep it. This event occurred for me a few years ago with an aging 2003 Chevy Trailblazer; it was involved in a relatively minor but bizarre accident (the tow truck it was riding on ran into a guard rail, totaling the tow truck but only doing minor damage to my car).

Since it was already well over a decade old, the cosmetic damage it received was enough to total it. I wanted to keep the truck, but after years of sitting for repair, the back taxes had accumulated, and the hassle of getting the car registered with a salvage title was beyond the value of the truck itself. This service would have changed everything for me if I would have known about it; don't be like me.

Registering your car or truck with a salvage title out of state is a great option when you want to keep the vehicle. However, if you do not intend to keep the car, you may want to move to another solution like repairing it completely and requesting a rebuilt title. Unless you are in South Dakota, our target state for this study, you may well find out that it is hard to sell your car with a salvage title. The reason being that the prospective owner will need to jump through the same hoops as you to get a rebuilt title for it and register it in-state. This factor will substantially impact your car's resale value.

What Is The Difference Between Salvage and Rebuilt Title?

Part of the answer to this question is up to you, the owner because each state is different. Many states require an inspection to get the car back on the road, conducted upon repairing the vehicle to a roadworthy status.

A rebuilt title indicates to a buyer that the vehicle in question has been brought back to a fully restored safe working order. The other branding for the rebuilt title might be a reconstructed title. Now, it is important to differentiate that a 'restored' title in this sense does not mean restoration of a classic or collectible car or truck. It just means that the vehicle in question has been brought back to a road-legal condition.

The reasoning behind an inspection before issuing a rebuilt or reconstructed title is largely pro forma; it is to cover everyone's backside by allowing a vehicle back on the roadways that were once in an undrivable condition. In addition, it lends credibility that the car is basically in as good of shape as it was before being damaged.

But I'm Not Interested in Selling; I Just Want To Drive It!

Then our service is for you. Most states do not afford the option to legally register and drive a car still branded as salvage without having it inspected, and we all know what that means. If you get the car inspected and it doesn't pass muster, you will receive a veritable laundry list of repairs that need to be made, and then you must come back for reinspection. Well, at this point, you might as well just do all the work necessary to get the car on a rebuilt status! South Dakota is rare in that you can register and tag the vehicle with no inspection required!

Insurance Concerns

Perhaps the biggest concern with the scenario is whether you can insure your car or truck with a salvage title. Just because you can register it legally does not make you road legal.

The short answer is yes: you can legally insure a salvage title car or truck. But the devil is in the details.

There is no guarantee that your insurance will cover the titled salvage car, so you will have to contact your insurance provider and see what their policies are. Travelers and Direct General do not offer insurance for vehicles with salvage titles. The best estimates are that about 20%-30% of insurance companies will not underwrite and issue a policy for salvage titles.

One option that you might try if your existing company doesn't insure a car with a salvage title or if the rate is high is to contact a non-standard company that assumes high-risk cases, some examples of which are located here.

The bad thing about a salvage vehicle title is that it is not always an accurate indicator of a vehicle's roadworthiness. For example, a car that has been damaged by hail is probably fine mechanically, but it ends up being titled the same as a flood or theft recovery. However, if your state has unrealistic or untenable salvage vehicle registration, Dirt Legal has your solution right now. Register it out of state and get back on the road fast with a perfectly legal registration and tag.