Need salvage title advice (1 Viewer)

[acai]

Recently I was rear ended in what was deemed to be a total loss situation for my 94 80 series with 236k on the clock. The damage isn't that bad and the truck is still 100% drive able. The rear bumper cross member is caved in and the horns are a bit bent, especially the right side but I think I can fix it. I was planning on cutting off the cross member regardless in order to install my 4X4Labs rear bumper.

I plan on keeping the truck and the insurance is giving me a little over $7k which should cover repairs.

Has anyone registered their Cruiser with a salvaged title in California? I know that I need to show proof of repair, so would straightening the rear out and installing my new bumper suffice?

Thanks guys

 

[chap79]

Fix it! If wanting to regain a normal title later establishing a mailing address in NV or AZ for the title will suffice then register it again in CA with a regular title. PO boxes are a wonderful thing.

 

[GW Nugget]

I bought mine with a salvaged title.
Nothing wrong with that.
Take the money then get that 4x4labs bumper, sliders & some belly armour while your at it.

 

[Fj81]

I dont know if you can get full coverage once its salvage title, but I would fix it and go wild with it.

 

[Rifleman]

Had a pickup once that had hail damage, (golf ball sized hail did a number on it's body panels) the insurance wanted to total the truck. I, like you, still wanted my truck, but i didn't want a salvage title on it. So what i did, i asked the insurance to pay me what ever the amount would be just under totaling the truck. That way i kept my original title for my truck, but still got a very good pay out from the insurance. Remember you still have to deduct the cost of buying your truck back from the insurance company from that 7 grand they are going to pay you. Had i let them total out my truck, and bought it back from them, i would have ended up with less money then i got by not having them total it. You see there is nothing that says you have to let the insurance total your truck, just work out a deal with them.

 

[LINUS]

I'm not positive on this since it's a state to state thing, but if your vehicle is involved in a accident & the title is a salvage, doesn't CA automatically asign fault to the salvage car?

I heard something like that in passing recently, no clue if it's true or not - was told it by a guy who moved to Montana from Cali & he said this, his 80 he was selling had a salvage title due to theft recovery & it was bought by him that way.

He was the source & I know nothing about CA laws - so I could be passing bad info, IDK.

 

[spartan]

Check state law. In many southern states there are no requirements for a salvage title on any vehicle 10 years or older and you can play the state to state reregistration / title game anywhere, so always get a Carfax on anything you are looking. It will disclose a total salvage shell game.

 

[Heckraiser]

Mine's got a salvage title (totalled twice, actually) no complaints. I don't keep full coverage on it, just the minimum required by state law. If I get in a cockup serious enough to take the truck off the road, I'll just take whatever piddling amount insurance offers me and move on. I guess it's a calculated risk, but I bought the LX with the intention of running it into the ground and full acceptance that it was going to be pretty much worthless if i re-sold it.

 

[Steve D]

I bought a salvage-title truck from Washington and it was a PITA to register in Georgia, but insurance was not an issue. Despite the fact that it had been registered as a repaired vehicle in 4 other states, Georgia required an inspection, which in turn required a new windshield.

If I had it to do over again, I would look for a clean title but if I already owned a truck that later got a branded title I wouldn't worry at all unless my state insurance laws or insurance carrier made getting coverage difficult.

 

[spartan]

Was that a " county " inspection requirement or " state " required inspection? This issue can vary from county to county in different states, just like emission inspection requirements.

 

[Steve D]

In Georgia it is a state requirement.

 

[spartan]

Ouch. Sorry friend, that just takes all the fun out of it. Did you have to do emissions as well - if so I won't be living in GA very soon. TN - no emissions in 95% of counties, no state income tax, no salvage title on anything older than 10 years, high sales tax - I can live with that. I don't spend much money in state. If the internet ever catches up with state taxes I'll be screwed. No more buying and selling expensive stuff interstate. I personally don't think they will ever get a handle on it.

 

[bmw635]

BTDT with a BMW 635 I had in CA. You can negotiate to keep the car and take 80% of the payout (salvage value is 20%) to REPAIR the car as you want to keep it and no salvage, Tell them you will not claim for more if the cost exceed what they pay you. The reason they want total is if they repair and est $7k cost then shop tearing into the job finding out it will cost $30k so they rather cut the loss at $7 and move on.

If this was the other party's inrsurance paying you, you can add up all the receipts to show the cost you added to the value of the vehicle to get a higher payout/ replacement value of comparable vehicle.

I got the check for repair and dealt with the shop directly and no changes to title, safety inspection, re-registering the vahicle-nothing. It was like they gave me the $ to repair on my own.

PM me your # if you want more details.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

@acai when you re-register a branded title vehicle it has to be repaired to its original state prior to the collision. Meaning you will need a new rear cross member and the rest of the bumpers as well as proof the frame horns were straightened etc. I'd take it somewhere that can square the frame
Up properly and install a new bumper. Have the local DMV do their inspection and go from there.

 

[spartan]

Now there's some excellent advice. I did exactly the same thing once in VA with a car. I had forgotten about that. Long time ago, but the same rule should still apply pending who your insurance carrier is. I'm with USAA - have been since 1979. I could get less for less, but they have been pretty good to me over the years so I stick with them for everything. Hard to beat free checking and no ATM fees these days. No local banks. All direct deposits or internet scan transactions. Excellent customer service and no I do not work for them.

 

[Offroads4x4]

As long as you dont surrender the title to the insurance company they cant brand the title.
Just take the money and run.

This is how its been done before. its worth a try.

 

[acai]

@acai when you re-register a branded title vehicle it has to be repaired to its original state prior to the collision. Meaning you will need a new rear cross member and the rest of the bumpers as well as proof the frame horns were straightened etc. I'd take it somewhere that can square the frame
Up properly and install a new bumper. Have the local DMV do their inspection and go from there.

Thank you, can anyone in CA confirm this? I have a 4X4Labs rear on the way so I would need to cut the cross member anyway. Repairing the cross member and tire carrier to the original state would be counter productive and costly because I would definitely have to source a new one. Does anyone know to what extent the DMV inspection is? Could I potentially get away with cutting off the cross member, straightening out the frame horn and installing the 4X4Labs bumper?

I asked similar questions to the adjuster, waitIng to hear back from them and I'll be paying my body man a visit to see if it can just be straightened out easily.

Thank you all for your thoughts

 

[cruiserdan]

That's a pretty good knock to the frame. Before I went too far I'd get it on a frame rack and see how much things moved around. If it is limited to the rear cross member and the horns it is a perfect candidate for one of Luke's bumpers. I'm not a fan of cutting off the frame but in this case I would.