Salvage Title
A title issued when a vehicle is declared a total loss but is still potentially repairable.
A salvage title is a state-issued vehicle title that replaces the original clean title once an insurance company has declared the vehicle a total loss. The exact threshold for "total loss" varies by state — some use a percentage of pre-loss value (commonly 70–80% in the US), others a strict formula that includes salvage recovery value — but the outcome is the same: the vehicle’s title is permanently branded.
A salvage-titled vehicle cannot be legally registered or driven on public roads in most US states without first being repaired and passing a state-mandated inspection, after which the title is re-issued as a rebuilt title. Salvage titles transfer with the vehicle for life: even after a perfect rebuild and decades of clean ownership, a future buyer will see "salvage history" on the title and on services like NMVTIS.
Most vehicles sold at Copart and IAA auctions carry salvage titles — those auctions are where insurers liquidate totaled inventory. Resale prices on salvage-titled vehicles run 20–60% below comparable clean-title cars, depending on damage severity and rebuild quality.