Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 2/25/2009

Question
I was in an accident in October 2008 my car was totaled by my insurance company and I was paid for it. We bought the car back And fixed it ourselves. I have two questions 1 how do I get the salvage title off of it because we believe it could have been fixed ,the bodyshop said the insurance company should have fixed it. 2 The bodyshop that fixed the car for us is a certified repair shop for the other drivers insurance but I did not start a claim with them until about a week after the accident because the driver did not have any information with her at the time of the accident. she has admitted full respoibility for the accident. One more question her liability was the min. allowed by law in Ca. could I still fight this with her insurance to reverse the salvage. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Dominic,

There is nothing you can do to remove the salvage title. Once an insurance company declares a vehicel a total loss they must apply for a salvage title. If you bought back the vehicle, the insurance company will sign over the salvage title to you. Then in order to register the car in your name you have to take the vehicle to a state inspection facility where you will have to pay to have the vehicle inspected. If it passes inspection you can change the title back in to your name. The new title will be stamped "SALVAGE" or "REBUILT". In either case it will be a signal to anyone else that the vehicle was totaled. Also if you get collision coverage again, you need to know that if the car gets totaled again, you will only be paid 50% of the standard value because it have a salvage or rebuilt title.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh