Is there an influx of salvage/rebuilt title cars or am I clueless?

Like most of the folks on this board (I assume), I'm always searching CL and FB for cars for sale.  Not really in the market to buy, just more of a mindless time waster. 

I feel like the number of cars for sale with salvage or rebuilt titles has increased.  Just last night, of the first 10 new listings on CL, 5 of them had a rebuilt title.  I'll fully admit I have no empirical evidence.  I've never really tracked the number of rebuilt vs. clean titles before.  It just seems like there's a lot more.  Anyone else seeing something similar?

If there is an increase, I started to wonder why.  Is it because used car inventories are still recovering, so "rebuilding" a car is more cost effective now?  Are insurance companies more likely to total a car because of the cost or lead time of parts to repair it?  Or, are we seeing a trend where cars will be totaled more often because the crash protection design in modern cars means it's more likely to be destroyed to protect the passenger? 

If cars are more likely to come away totaled, even for what would have been a minor (read: repairable) accident 10 or 20 years ago, what's that going to do to the market?  Cars are already moving towards disposability, will that continue to increase?  Will rebuilt titles become more commonplace since two bent fenders and a crushed grill are more likely to total a car?  Could there be a change in financing where rebuilt title cars can be financed because clean title cars are too expensive or hard to find?  I know each state handles rebuilt titles differently, but could you see some type of "recertification" process that could make a salvage title car clean instead of rebuilt?

BTW, none of this is important, just one of those thoughts that rattle around in the old brain box.

-Rob

I've been van shopping, noticed the same thing, and mentioned it a few months ago. I wondered if some of the vehicles that were totaled during Covid due to parts shortages were now getting repaired. 

Just my .02, there have been a lot of catastrophic floods in the past few years due to hurricanes and whatnot.  Most of those cars will be totaled but have little or no crash damage.  If the electronics, sensors and airbags can be remediated I can see a lot of those cars coming back to the market. 

There is a ton of salvage titled cars here for sale.  Many are only a few years old, look fine and have reasonably low mileage.  They always state it only had a minor fender bender or bumper damage.  I saw a truck the other day listed for $39,000.  Even dealers are selling them.  I thought you couldn't insure a salvage titled car and banks won't loan money on them.     

spitfirebill said:

There is a ton of salvage titled cars here for sale.  Many are only a few years old, look fine and have reasonably low mileage.  They always state it only had a minor fender bender or bumper damage.  I saw a truck the other day listed for $39,000.  Even dealers are selling them.  I thought you couldn't insure a salvage titled car and banks won't loan money on them.     

I thought the same about insurance or loans, but I wonder if that will change if salvage cars become more numerous. The bigger question is, is this a temporary thing until the used car market catches back up or is this the norm with the increase in crumple zones and crash protection?  I've bought one rebuilt title car in my life, which my son still uses, but I can't seen spending close to clean title prices on one.  30-50% off, sure.  Only if it's something I'd pay cash for anyway.  10-15% used?  No way. 

And, while I'm sure flood cars make up a percentage of it, I don't think it's the bulk of them.  As said above, the ones I've seen are only a couple of years old and have low mileage.  Most even mention the damage in the ad.

-Rob

Are you also including a low price cap in your search filters?  Might be that inflation is catching up with your cap. 
 

I think "salvage" varies from state to state. In my state, it means it CAN'T be put on the road. AT ALL. It can't be insured. 
 

A REBUILT title can be insured and driven. 
 

A salvage title can be converted to a rebuilt title, with some investment, inspection, etc. 
 

Salvage and rebuilt are both branded titles, and should reduce the selling price. 

... we also have no title requirement for cars before 1986. The registration counts as the title. 
 

And conditional titles are available for cars built in 1961 or earlier (which don't offer assurances of clean title). I think they are just to make people feel good about buying classic cars without titles. 

SV reX said:

Are you also including a low price cap in your search filters?  Might be that inflation is catching up with your cap. 
 

I think "salvage" varies from state to state. In my state, it means it CAN'T be put on the road. AT ALL. It can't be insured. 
 

A REBUILT title can be insured and driven. 
 

A salvage title can be converted to a rebuilt title, with some investment, inspection, etc. 
 

Salvage and rebuilt are both branded titles, and should reduce the selling price. 

No price cap or anything.  Just sorting by recently listed.  Again, not shopping, just time wasting. 

I think the same condition applies here regarding salvage/rebuilt.  They start with a salvage title, do some work on on it, have a "shop" verify it and get a rebuilt title issued.  I'm also sure that people don't always choose the correct dropdown when posting an ad.

My original post isn't about looking to buy, just that the amount of salvage/rebuilt cars has seemed to increase and wondered why. 

-Rob

My R is a Salvage Title from a crash, then it was hit again, and again. Whatever, the thing is a berkeleying hoot to drive.

spitfirebill said:

There is a ton of salvage titled cars here for sale.  Many are only a few years old, look fine and have reasonably low mileage.  They always state it only had a minor fender bender or bumper damage.  I saw a truck the other day listed for $39,000.  Even dealers are selling them.  I thought you couldn't insure a salvage titled car and banks won't loan money on them.     

I don't know about loans, but as far as I know at least in OK, you can only obtain LIABILITY insurance. At least the last time I checked, and I admit that was more than a decade ago when I bought my NA to make into a track car. 

That's why I've never understood the appeal of salvage/rebuilt title, beyond a cheap track car. 

My wife recently got contacted by the guy who bought her totaled Telluride at auction. It had a fair amount of damage, but it shouldn't have taken too much to repair. I'm sure a huge part of it getting totaled was lack of parts. He said that he bought it for $10k, I don't know what he spent repairing it. It needed a fender, hood, grill, bumper, and front suspension. They paid us over $40k when the totaled it. I'm glad I didn't know how cheap it was going to go for, it would have been way too tempting to keep and fix it. 
 

Here in CA, salvaged cars just need to pass basic brake and light inspections. They don't need to be rebuilt. Salvaged just means that it was a total loss for insurance at some point. It could have been fixed good as new, or, like my truck- never touched after the accident that totaled it. I can still get full coverage with a catch- they only cover the loss at the salvage value, but your rate is based off a non salvaged car.