Salvage Car Definition

• Salvage cars are those which have been totaled by an insurance company after an accident. A car is usually considered "totaled" if the insurance company determines that the cost to repair it exceeds 75% of the vehicle's value before it was damaged.
  
  

Damages

• One of the things that will immediately qualify a car as "totaled" is if it sustains major chassis damage that cannot be completely repaired.
  
  

Drivetrain Damage

• Since a vehicle only must be brought up to government specs on safety and emissions to be put back on the road, damage to the transmission or rear end is a genuine concern on salvaged cars.
  
  

Weld Failures

• Though a vehicle must be certified as safe when it's returned to the road, it is impossible to detect microscopic stress fractures in the frame welds that may have resulted from a collision.
  
  

Insuring

• Many insurance companies will only offer liability insurance on salvage-titled cars, denying any request for full physical coverage.
  
  

Purchasing

• If you see that a car's title says "salvaged," request a vehicle history report from a company like CarFax to check the extent of the damage.