Here is a little back story. My wife wrecked our 2005 Buick Rainier V8, Either a blown tire or black ice, spun out, backed into a ditch at 35mph if not more.

I had it towed to the bump shop, it looked to be a front and rear bumper, and the front right fender. It turned out to be $9000 in damages.

I was able to purchase the vehicle back for $800 (we bought a 2006 Buick Rainier) so I am going to use it for parts, sell things on ebay.

Here is the interesting part, talking to the body shop, he said that the vehicle is "TOO OLD TO GET A SALVAGE TITLE" SO technically I could fix the car and put it back on the road and no one would ever know. Even though the car was totaled, (I am going to receive some $5400) or so after my deductible, before my purchase of the car.

The reason I bring this up is be very wary of cars that have clean titles. It may not mean anything and the car might have been totaled once before.

It might be just a Michigan thing, but I found it to be quite interesting.

John

 

It doesn't work that way in California. I have purchased a 2000 trans am with no damage ever that came with a salvaged title from an auction.
The Rainier has the aluminum block 5.3l right?
That would make a killer swap candidate.

 

It is definitely state by state.

Whereas the state may not apply that to the title now, it may still be reported by ins. to state or to other reporting parties.

It might be applied to future registrations in your state. Or it might not, yet still sho something like reconstructed.
It might slip through the cracks if sold out of state etc etc.

But don't invest on what you think. Invest in what you know or on a clean title received from the state.

 

I did not know that, okfoz. Kind of scary, actually.

 

I just got the info from the insurance company, and apparently it changes every year. But right now (2015) salvage titles only apply to 2010 & newer vehicles. Kind of scarey

Yes it has the Aluminum block 5.3 V8. One of the things is the truck was AWD, so the front differential of goes through the bottom of the oil pan... It is a 15 hour job to just remove the engine. I just go thinking... what a conversion that would make. AWD Firebird!!! Supercharge that bad boy, 500 HP AWD could be one heck of a fun ride...

To be honest being the short truck that 300HP engine made the Rainier kind of fun, it would really get up and go when you mashed on the throttle...

The down side is the engine has 198,000 miles on it... It still ran great, only a puff of oil on start up, It would go through a quart every 1000 miles.. which according to GM is within specifications . Odd thing was I could drive it 3000 miles and as long as I was on a trip it would not go through oil, only after it sat and I got the buff of blue smoke. I think the valves need to be replaced honestly.

John

 

Ohio doesn't have that law either. If it gets totaled and you rebuild it, it gets a rebuilt salvage title no matter how old it is.

 

It is a Michigan thing... any car 6 model years or older does not need to be marked as salvage.... ALSO it is when the title is transferred (like when the insurance company settles the claim) that the title gets marked as salvage.

If you have someone who did not have full coverage and or did not file a claim the car could get repaired and never get the salvage title because the ownership did not get changed...

For more info see the state of Michigan web site... http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7...6323--,00.html
Dave

 

In my case I claimed it, the Insurance company paid me, and I "bought it back"... All in all I almost could not turn down the offer for $830... I could not get the engine for that... I believe because like you said, the insurance company did not take possession of it, I still have a clean title.

If you read the link from Michigan SOS, "Older-model distressed vehicles are titled as salvage vehicles only on a voluntary basis. Vehicle owners are discouraged from applying for a salvage title on an older-model vehicle because it is not necessary. It is also expensive and often difficult to obtain a vehicle recertification in order to purchase a plate."

I can not believe they actually discourage it.

 

Michigan is one of the easiest states to title a vehicle in. Open titles, titles in wrong names, no titles - only bill of sale on older vehicles - no problem whatsoever.

 

Do you know the number of cars in Michigan I have seen up for sale that the current "owner" never transferred the title? But it has plates, it has insurance! It is kind of crazy. I know of more than one car purchased by someone that the current owner never transferred the title, but had the signed off title...

I will add, ALL of my vehicles are in MY or my Wife's name.

 

IL is messed up like that also. The DMV here are ***** on certain things and just plain have no clue on other things. A joke really.

 

Tony,
Does your Title on your 89 Convertible state "Convertible"? Mine does and I always thought it interesting because I never told them that it was a convertible.

John

 

I'd have to look, I don't have a clue if it does or not!

 

My other cars have "two Door" Oddly enough only the old old titles before 2001 have "Firebird" the rest are just blank

 

This is why I like documentation when I buy a vehicle. I buy from owners and not car lots. When the owner can hand me a folder full of receipts I am a lot more comfortable. I have seen many cars that have had real hidden damage but a look up with a Vin to find history shows nothing.
The first thing I do is look at body lines and gaps. I look for blending of color. It can help you look for hidden damage from an accident. My eyes have always been my best defense against fraud or the indifference of the seller.

 

One thing to also consider is cars that are "too perfect" where things line up just a little too well. It would depend on who is doing the work and how much care they take.

 

Even if it has a clean title, wouldn't it show up in a history report? ie Carafax

 

Not if the owner repaired it and the accident was not reported.

 

For some reason, I take those carfax reports lightly. I've seen many times where they are missing some documention of a service history. When I i first bought my GTA, I couldn't help noticed that the front part of my car was resprayed...from the bumper cover to the lower spoiler which showed overspray. The original nose emblem didn't have the rod backing with the tether end. (replaced with a aftermarket one) I doubt that was done from the factory. Plus i also found the original emission decal was missing which makes me wonder if perhaps that my car was involved in a frontal collision. Only time I ever seen a emission decal is removed is when the body panel is either being replaced or the panel is being repainted from a damaged incident. Even the original vin decal was missing.

I usually like to do alot of research on a "used" car before i buy and like someone said before, i feel more comfortable buying a vehicle with maintenance records, parts receipts, original manuals, etc. Knowing that the previous owner took care of the vehicle i'm about to buy.

I'm currently the second owner of my 93 s10 and the original owner had loads of receipts, even the original window sticker and owner's manual! Now i'm in the process of replacing the original rusted fenders, doors and wheel wells, that still had factory markings and vin decals on them! Very interesting!

 

My NJ Title is also blank for the model and also in NJ,You can't register a Salvage Titled car Historical.

 

I had a friend who's family had dealerships in the 60's / 70's. They always gave trade ins the string test. They measured opposite corners to see if the car had been wrecked. I learned a lot about how to look over a car watching them.
Like John said, sometimes the beauty's have lots of makeup. You get up underneath and see frame welds, supports missing Etc Etc.
Or worst of all, someone welds in the Vin from another vehicle on a stolen car.

 

1) Check this VIN 1G1FP87F9GL177419 It was a vin of a car in a Junk yard in Michigan that I took the ECM out of... The car had an engine fire, not much left

2) I dated a girl for several years when I was going to school. Her father owned a Frame shop, he straightened frames, and on occasion he would and I have seen where he would take two cars, and he would not weld in odd places. He would cut at the welds or the panels and then weld the new pieces in to hide his work. In the end it was seamless, unless you knew it was in an accident you would never know by looking at it.

IMHO anyone who does not fix it right by welding in panels where there should be no weld, are not worth my time and should be avoided.

I have a 1991 Firebird (parts car more or less) that you can see where someone welded a upper radiator support... Either A) it was not damaged enough to actually replace the entier piece, or B) it was a hack job... I suspect it was a crappy hack job.

 

I've seen similar things done to repaired cars. In the seventies it was not uncommon for hacks to cut cars in half (Frame included) and weld together the good halves of both. Once they were done with bondo and paint, you couldn't tell by sight. Though driving one gave you lots of clues.

 

I still carry a magnet with me when I look at cars.

 

My clip-on sunglasses for my glasses are magnetic... always have it with me

I drove some of his cars, and would have never known. He had an alignment rack and everything... quite the artist.

 

Not if it happened before 1990.

 

 

Make sure its a weak magnet. With modern lightweight fillers, you would be surprised at how thick it can be applied and a magnet still sticks. The flimsy refrigerator magnets you get from pizza shops are a good tool to use, besides finding areas with filler, they work well for gauging how thick it is too.


I don't have a problem with cars that have had a significant amount of body damage, so long as it's properly repaired. And as long as the seller is up front about it, not trying to hide anything.

 

I've sold cars professionally and privately for 15 years now...

Strangest car I've ever seen was a third gen, of all things...a '91 L98 Z28 with T-tops. That's right, I said it...here was a 91 Z L98 with T-tops a friend of mine bought back in 2000 or so. He paid $6k for it with 80k miles on it. He told me about it after he bought it, and knowing what I knew of third gens, this car made no sense to me...so I went to look at it.

Needless to say, when I was done telling him what I'd found, I thought he was going to cry. Sure enough, the VIN was for a 350 but the SPID sheet was missing from the center console. The car was red...but I noticed a little bit of blue paint under the red, where the red had chipped away on the back bumper.

I then took the T-tops off, and pried the gasket back just a hair...yep, there was blue paint under the t-top gasket.

A further, closer inspection later found a weld line right under the rear seat bottoms, across the entire car. The front 2/3 was a 91 Z28....the roof and back 1/3 of the car was an unknown, blue third gen...

No wonder it rattled a lot Title was clear...more than likely the owner bought it back from the insurance company and traded it in with the same title. In the days before Carfax, it was easy enough to do...

 

I met a friend of a friend one time that his son had a 91 or 92 Z28 350 with T-tops... I checked the VIN and sure enough it was a 350 car... I mentioned to him that I did not know they came that way, and they looked at each other and smiled...

I think they just took the T-top roof off of another car, and put it on their car. I did not check the door jambs for the wedges... If I saw the car again I would... Mind you this was 10 years ago before I knew what I know now...

John