Where To Buy Damaged Cars From Insurance Companies

Where Do Those Cars Go?

A lot of people have the unfortunate experience of being in fender-benders. Fortunately, in most cases, drivers and passengers end up personally unharmed. Many times, insurance companies “write off” the car, declaring it a total loss. You may think it’s repairable, but the insurance company decides that the repair cost is too close to the actual value of the car. Read More

Find Salvage Saab Cars At Insurance Auctions

93 900S Convertible, Salvage Title
93 900 Convertible

Saab Cars And Their Enthusiasts

Saab is the much-beloved Swedish car manufacturer that went out of business in 2011. That was only two years after parent company General Motors, in the middle of its own bankruptcy, sold it to an investment group. The Scandinavian carmaker had a reputation for solid engineering and quirky designs. This was the first brand to introduce headlight wipers and heated seats as standard equipment.
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Buy A Salvage High Performance Car

Salvage Auction 1988 BMW M3
Classic 1st Generation BMW M3

Finding A Discount High- Performance Car Can Be A Chore

You dream of buying a high-performance car. It could be an American Muscle Car with horsepower and straight-line speed, a German car meant for the Autobahn or a Japanese coupe with a high-revving engine. Performance, however, comes at a premium price. These cars can command high resale value and are still pricey used. But, there is an alternative, buy a salvage high-performance car at auction. Read More

What’s A Salvage Car Auction?

There are many different ways to get a car. You may buy or lease an auto, or if you are tight on cash and want to save some money, there are used car dealerships that can help you or even buying a second-hand car from someone you found on the newspaper or Craigslist. And there’s a salvage car auction.
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Video: How To Bid On Salvage Cars At Auctions

Here is a quick informational video on how to register, search and bid on salvage cars. It’s easy. Register and you will find yourself bidding on salvage auctions nationwide. Find that repairable salvage vehicle you have been wanting to buy at a fraction of what it would cost. Read More

Winter Is Coming… Relation Between Winter And Salvage Cars

Some weather conditions can get pretty extreme in the United States, helping increase the number of salvage cars dramatically. The winter brings many factors to the table that help the number of salvage cars in the market up, specially hail damaged cars. Read More

Should I Buy A Salvage Car For Parts At Auction?

It happens to a lot of us. You absolutely love your current car. It gets you to work and back, and is great fun to drive on the odd road trip. It has been reliable, despite being old enough to be out of warranty. But one day, it has a catastrophic failure or sustains a fair amount of damage. Your insurance doesn’t cover the damage or it has a high deductible. Whether it’s a trashed interior, the engine seizing up, or torn bodywork on the front end, you are looking at a sizable bill for parts and labor. If you want to keep the car, here is an affordable solution: buy a salvage car for parts you will use to repair it. 

Labor And Car Parts Are Expensive Read More

Do Your Homework – Inspect Salvage Cars Before Buying

Kia stolen and recovered with salvage title for sale
KIA On The Block – Salvage Title

You’ve probably heard about wrecked cars that are sold at auctions for much less than the market value of cars of the same model and year. Salvage title cars announce to potential buyers and the world that the vehicle has been involved in an accident and/or has suffered substantial damage to the point the insurance agency has paid the claim and written off the car. If you are trying to get a bargain, you can buy one of these cars and repair it  Many of these cars are repairable.  But, in order to do so,  you need to carefully inspect salvage cars you are looking into buying. 

Where To Find Salvage Title Cars

Once you have decided to go the salvage car route, you can register at one of the sites that sells junked cars online to buy yours. Copart has auctions all over the country with hundreds of thousands of cars on the auction block daily. While usually reserved for wholesalers and car dealers, there are brokers, like SalvageReseller.com, who will bid on your behalf or let you bid on your own without the need of a dealer’s license.

Personally Inspect Salvage Cars You Are Looking Into Bidding On 

The first step is to make sure you know what you are bidding on. Ideally, you should inspect the car personally. That way, you can get a much better idea of what the condition of the car is. Even to the untrained eye, there are things that can become apparent in person that won’t appear on a photograph, no matter how detailed it is. Look to see if the car has been in a flood. Is there moisture in the instrument panels? Does the interior smell moldy – or does it smell like a lot of air freshener has been used? Look for rust on parts in the interior, trunk and engine compartment.        

Always Have A Mechanic Inspect The Salvaged Car

 Have a Mechanic Inspect Salvage Title Cars You Are Interested In
ALWAYS INSPECT!

More importantly, have a certified mechanic with you. They will give you a better idea of what the damage is, and an estimate of what it would cost to fix with full parts and labor. Use that as a benchmark to guide you. By doing the work yourself and sourcing the repair parts, you will end up saving more money. A mechanic will give an estimate of what the repairs would cost at retail prices. Many of these cars are repairable. Some aren’t. You need to carefully inspect salvage cars you are looking into buying to make the determination for yourself. 

What the mechanic tells you about the actual condition of the vehicle is critical. The mechanic will also look at different car components and see failures or damages that have not been revealed in the catalog description. Autobody technicians can be of great help because they have experience tearing down all sorts of vehicles in different conditions.    

It is very possible that the car you want is not available near you. But that shouldn’t matter, because you can always hire a third party inspector to go look at the car for a fee. They are usually listed on the same sites that let you bid remotely. Be sure to ask the same general questions, such as “How bad is the body damage up close? Are there any components that could be close to failure?”. Ask all the questions you need to make you feel safe about the purchase.    

Play Detective With Salvage-Titled Vehicles

Find Information About Salvage Car from VIN Number
VIN Number on the door

The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the car is usually available before the auction even begins. Run a check with one of the paid services before you buy this salvage vehicle. Also, there are more limited services like the one offered by the Department of Justice, in addition to this one offered through an insurance consortium and vehiclehistory.com. They give you snapshots of the cars’ history include whether they were stolen, among other things. Some will also tell you in what state(s) the car has been titled in. However, some damages might not be in the free reports, so make sure to use at least one paid service if you want a more detailed and thorough report.      

Look For Insurance And Police Reports

See if you can get the estimate from the insurance company that is selling the car. Often times that is a great source that will tell you exactly what was damaged in the collision. Also, get a police report, if it was in a collision or if it was stolen. That can give you more clues to the extent of the damage and the circumstances around the theft or collision. You can usually request that by contacting the police department where the accident occurred. They might charge you a fee, but it is definitely worth it. What you are getting here are the pieces to the puzzle. What exactly happened to this car for it to be declared a total loss? The fewer issues it has, the better for you as the person who is going to fix it. 

Once you start doing this kind of due diligence you will feel better about whether you bid or not on the car you are looking at. Start searching salvage cars by brand and register to bid at

SalvageResellers.com Read More

Should I Buy Stolen And Recovered Cars?

There Are Lots Of Stolen and Recovered Cars In the US

In the United States, over 700,000 cars are stolen each year. The authorities recover an average of 46% of those vehicles.  That percentage varies by state: while Alabama has only a 28% percent recovery rate, Washington State had 71% and Utah, 63%. As a general rule,  agencies must classify as Motor Vehicle Theft all cases where automobiles are taken by persons not having lawful access ”even though the vehicles are later abandoned”.

 When a vehicle is stolen, the insurance company is (usually) alerted along with the authorities. If the car is not recovered by the next 3 weeks to a month, the insurance company will consider the vehicle as a write-off and the pay the value of the car to the insured. If the car appears after that period, the insurance company will take possession and issue a salvage title for the car. At that point, the car is considered a “stolen and recovered” vehicle and is given a theft recovered salvage title.

Salvage cars are normally those that have damages that are equal or exceed the cost to safely repair. The purpose of titling the car as salvage is to alert potential future buyers that the car has sustained damage. However, with stolen vehicles, insurers are also looking at different factors, including the time from theft until recovery. The reason is simple: uncertainty.  An insurance company does not know whether the car was driven while in possession and control of the criminal(s). Car thieves aren’t exactly known for taking care of the cars they steal unless they are going to export it somewhere, for example.  

Buying A Stolen And Recovered Car Could Be A Good Deal! Read More

Photograph Repairs To Your Salvage Car

So you bought that salvage title vehicle at auction. The next step after you get the car is to make the repairs. Your goal is to get the vehicle roadworthy, and for that to happen it must pass inspection. You might need to photograph repairs to your salvage car Maybe your state is one of those that requires you to submit before and after photographs of the build.  A friendly reminder: ALWAYS check your state’s regulations and the titling process. This article is purely informational and it’s not meant to be a comprehensive guide on what you need to submit to local authorities. That is something you need to research on your own.  

All I Want Is A Photograph

Among the States that require before and after photographs of your vehicle are New Jersey and Connecticut. Let me add that even if your state doesn’t require photographs, it is a good practice to document your build. You can certainly try to provide pictures to supplement what you submit to inspectors. It might be useful to them while inspecting the car and potentially help your case.   

You will need photographs, before and after the repairs take place. Usually, they have to be color photographs and “must be clear and cannot cut off any portion of the vehicle.”  

New Jersey Salvage Title Inspection specifically requires:

At least 1 photo of the entire front and left side of the vehicle (before and after repairs). At least 1 photo of the entire rear and right side of the vehicle (before and after repairs). Note: If repairs were started before pictures could be taken, a damage report from your insurance company is required. This report will substitute only for the before photos. Read More