Avoid Buying Used Cars that Don’t have a Clean Title
You have to be very careful if you decide to buy a car that
does not have a “clean title”. Most of the time, a car loses its clean title
when it is deemed totaled. Most of the time, a salvage title is given to a
vehicle that has been in a very severe accident that causes structural damage
to the vehicle. It can also happen if the vehicle has been flooded, or very
severely rusted.
Coming Back from a
Totaled Vehicle
 |
| Salvaged Title |
When a car has been deemed totaled owners can bring them
back from the dead as long as they are willing to fix all the problems. Under
the current laws, when they fix these cars up they have to take a different
title to let future buyers know the situation. The titles are known as a
Salvage Title, a Flood Title, a Rebuilt Title or a Buyback Title. If you see a
title with any of these names you need to figure out the story of that vehicle
before you buy it.
Learn the Story
Unless you have a reason to trust in the person who is
selling this vehicle to you, you can’t believe the story that they tell you
about the car. Instead you have to find out what happened to it from a
secondary source. One of the best sources that you can get is a car report. Car
reports are usually very cheap to obtain over the Internet, and they will give
you a full break down of all the information that they have on the vehicle.
The two details that you should be paying attention to when
you are looking over the history report is any possible accidents that occurred
and any inconsistencies with the odometer. There should be an accident shown on
the report that led to the vehicle being totaled. Make sure that you avoid any
vehicle that took severe structural damage to the frame, or vehicles that were
damaged in a flood.
Possible Problems
When you purchase a vehicle in Reno Nevada that doesn’t have
a clean title, you are asking for problems with it. Not only will you risk
dealing with a vehicle that is not structurally sound, but there could also be
issues with things like resale value, insurance coverage, and getting
financing.
Many insurance companies are not willing to accept a vehicle
with a salvage title, and the companies that do are going to want more money to
cover the vehicle because it is more of a risk. The companies that accept you
will also give you a hard time about actually paying much money toward the
vehicle in the event of an accident. They will argue that your vehicle is not
worth much because of the past damage that it has incurred, no matter what
condition it is in today.
Most of the time it is just better to avoid a vehicle that
does not have a clean title, when you are shopping for used vehicles. Make sure
that you always ask to see the title before you agree to give them any money or
to sign any paperwork for payment of the vehicle. Avoid these vehicles at all
cost and you will improve your odds of finding something reliable, and hasslefree.