Branded Title
Any title carrying a state-issued brand (salvage, rebuilt, flood, lemon, etc.) that signals damage or status history.
A branded title is any vehicle title that carries a state-issued brand notice indicating an event in the vehicle’s history that buyers and lenders need to know about. Once branded, the brand follows the vehicle’s title for life — even a brand-new state of registration in a different state must carry the brand forward.
The most common brands include salvage (insurance total loss), rebuilt (salvage vehicle that has passed re-inspection), flood (water damage), lemon-law buyback, junk / certificate of destruction, and odometer rollback. Each brand has different financing, insurance and registration consequences.
Branded vehicles trade at significant discounts to clean-title comparables — typically 20–50% off retail — and many lenders refuse to finance them at all. They are well represented at Copart, IAA and other salvage auctions, where insurers and tow yards liquidate inventory.