Agreed. The local business I mentioned proves this time and again- they have an 03 F250 Crew right now that is mechanically perfect other than very high miles, but the body looks like a typical farm truck- dented up. The only accident damage is a light hit to the front- new bumper and grille would fix it. But it is a salvage title. They also have an 01 F250 standard cab with a fiberglass dog-catcher body. Only damage to this truck is a easily repairable crease in the door and fender and one door hinge broke on a compartment on the dog catcher body. Salvage title there too. I've looked at both of these trucks and wouldn't hesitate to drive either of them anywhere as is. Then they have some vehicles that are crashed so bad that you'd have to be a glutton for punishment to fix... with CLEAN titles!

 

Very true. The point I was making is that the VALUE of what is covered is diminished. For example, here in BC, insurance will repair a vehicle up to a certain percentage of its value. After that, the vehicle is written off and replacement value is given. As a salvage vehicle, its book value is much smaller than if it had a clean title. The insurance rate will be the same, the coverage is the same, the VALUE of what will be covered is much less.

My last f150 was written off in an accident on holiday 2 summers ago. During the claims process, I was contemplating, buying back the truck and repairing it, as the damage wasn't that bad. The adjuster pointed out to me that if I was in the exact same accident with that same truck with a salvage title, my payout would be practically nothing. Instead, I was able to purchase my Super Duty with the payout from my 94.

 

It does. I bought Audi for my son with salvaged title, that was repaired by good shop with nice paint job. It took about a year till my son got rear ended in front of High School by female driver on driving permit driving alone. Regardless low speed, the Jeep she was driving went well into station wagon rear and the car was totaled again. We had quite a dispute with adjuster who was insisting that the ST drops the value of the car by 40% regardless nice repair.

 

If you have low end insurance it can but most upper tier insurance companies it wont. I have SF and although their rates are higher then others my policy is very clear on how much they pay out on the salvage title on my chevelle. Its about 90% of what a non salvage title would pay out. I don't have classic car insurance either. They told me it didn't matter if the vehicle was salvaged because of a wreck or stolen. (mine was theft) it was covered about the same. On a side note better insurance companies have GAP insurance built in when you have both your auto loan and insurance through them on the same vehicle. Meaning even if my wife was to total her suv and the payoff was more then what the car was worth she can walk away from it and not be responsible for the left over balance and not pay a dime more for that coverage.

 

When I was hit in my salvage titled '03, the other driver and I both had Allstate. The salvage title made no difference. I flat out asked the adjuster when they were inspecting it and he said it makes no difference in coverage. I now have State Farm, same story.