Salvage Title Car – Financing One

Salvage Title Car. Once in a while, you find those too-good-to-be-true deals on great looking vehicles. If the price is not a typo, then the problem is with the car. You know dealers don’t do charity work.

Most times when you find one of those aforementioned deals, the wrecked cars for sale is talked up by the salesmen before they get to the point: Is the car a salvage title vehicle? The answer is “yes”.

Visit the yard to find the perfect salvage title car
Visit the yard to find the perfect salvage title car

For our friends that don’t know what “salvage title car” means, it’s a vehicle that has been in an accident or damaged in some way. The damage is so significant that the insurance company deems it too costly to repair.

Then, the car gets the salvage title and it’s sent off to a junkyard. However, sometimes car enthusiasts buy salvage title vehicles for parts or with the goal to fix them up and subsequently turn them into cheap transportation or resell them

But if you are considering buying a damaged salvage vehicle, there a few things to consider. One of them is if you don’t have the money right away to pay for the car. Can you finance it?

Can You Get A Title Loan On A Salvage Vehicle?

The truth is that most banks look at a salvage title as very risky. Once the vehicle was written off as a “total loss” by the insurance company for a number of reasons, it is understandable that the banks are iffy about financing a damaged or repaired car. If you are trying to finance a salvaged car that still needs rebuilding, you might be out of luck with the traditional lenders. That’s when you turn to family and friends and see if they can take that chance for you.

But who likes to owe family and friends a few bucks and maybe avoid them on family gatherings and every time you bump into each other?  Not many people. I know some folks go crazy when they see wrecked cars for sale and want to fix them up. If you are one of those, take a deep breath.

Bring a mechanic to inspect the car
Choose wisely. Salvage title cars come in many conditions.

Keep in mind that even if you got your uncle to lend you some cash, you probably need to arrange transportation out of the junkyard, substantially repair the vehicle before you take it on the road, and the most important expense of all, the inspection so your car can be reclassified as “rebuilt”.

My Uncle Thinks It’s A Bad Idea To Buy A Salvage Car. What Should I Do?

These following steps consist of many “IFs”. If you must go to a bank, the best thing to do is to go to an institution you have a good relationship with, and needless to say, you will need a great credit score.  If you’ve had a past auto loan experience with them, even better. Also, if you know an agent and can talk to him/her personally, it would help you a lot. Face-to-face is always the best option.

If option numero uno doesn’t work, look for a second-tier (even third) lenders who claim to finance salvage title cars. It’s likely you’ll pay high-interest rates to those people.

Financing a salvage title vehicle is a high-risk investment for anyone, so keep in mind that if you do get someone to finance it for you, the interest rates will be higher than if you bought a vehicle with a clean title.