Expert: Bennie719 - 2/4/2008

Question
Hi,my truck was hit and the at-fault drivers' insurance,(Allstate),has accepted responsibility for truck damages. They want to total it and pay me a fair amount but I don't think it is that bad and I don't want to total it.Do I have to salvage the title if I don't want to?Their estimate to repair is $6300.00 and the truck is worth $5600.00,They say.I just want my truck and some cash to fix it without changing the title. Is this possible? Thank you, Ken

Answer
Hi Ken,
The motor vehicle laws in most, if not all states, require that when an insurance company totals a vehicle, it must be re-titled as 'salvage' so that any future owner will be aware that there was a past problem.  The laws were weaker in many states until all the flood damaged cars from hurricane Katrina started hitting the market (hundreds of thousands that were brand new).
Many would be cleaned up and then re-titled in states with more lenient motor vehicle laws that didn't show 'salvage', and then re-titled back to other states and sold to unsuspecting buyers as new.
This caused the federal government to apply pressure to the states with weak laws.
Allstate should be willing to total your car for it's fair market value and resell it back to you for an amount equal to the highest salvage bid that they received for your truck.  They would be required to process the title through the motor vehicle department and your new title would show 'salvage'.  Once you have repaired the vehicle, you would be required to pass whatever tests that are required by your state safety inspection laws.
A 'salvage' title reduces the value of the repaired vehicle by approximately 50% and many insurance companies will not put comprehensive or collision on a vehicle with a 'salvage' title.
I hope that this has been of help.
Your feedback by rating my answer will be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area