Don't make our mistake...

[cbc58]

We learned the hard way that just because a car comes with
a "clear" title, and the carfax report shows no accidents, and you
personally look it over to the best of your abiltity - that the vehicle can still have seen substantial damage.

It turns out that a "salvage" title is issued when an independent insurance company pays on a comprehensive claim. But if the owner of the vehicle self-insures their own cars (like the large Fleet companies), they do not have to let anyone know the car was totaled and can
fix it up and resell it with a clear title... like nothing happened.

Any damage caused by the accident that shows up later voids the manufacturers warranty and the new owner gets stuck with the bill.

This is unethical, but legal. Even worse - a dealer that knows this has occured doesn't have to disclose this... they should.....

Buyer Beware.

[drewh4386]

of course dealers with do anytihng to sell a car almost.

[autosmith]

Actually, depending on the state, a dealer may be required to report this - if they know about it.

One of the reasons why Carfax is so much better than Autocheck is they get data from lots more sources. So even if the salvage is not reported, you might see an auction sale with a salvage note or a repair record.

[TorinoGT69]

The only way to protect yourself is to run a history report, check book value, and have a qualified pre-purchase inspector check over the vehicle, if you do all these things your used car buying process will be much happier.