A car's title proves who owns it. A title brand is a label a state motor vehicle agency adds to that title when something serious has happened to the vehicle, such as being written off by an insurer or badly damaged in a flood. Brands are meant to follow the car for life so that every future buyer knows its past.
Branded cars aren't automatically bad buys, but they are worth far less, can be harder to insure and finance, and deserve a much closer inspection. Here's what the common brands mean.
Salvage
A salvage brand usually means an insurance company declared the vehicle a total loss, because repairing it would cost more than a set share of its value. Each state sets its own threshold. Some use a fixed percentage of the car's value, while others use a formula that compares repair costs plus scrap value against what the car was worth.
Damage behind a salvage title can be anything from a major collision to theft recovery, hail or fire. In most states a salvage-titled car cannot be registered or driven on public roads until it has been repaired and inspected.
Rebuilt or reconstructed
A rebuilt (sometimes called reconstructed or prior salvage) title means a salvage vehicle was repaired and passed a state inspection, so it can be registered and driven again.
Flood or water damage
A flood brand marks vehicles that were submerged or seriously damaged by water. Water can quietly ruin electronics, wiring, airbag sensors and brakes, and problems may not appear for months. Warning signs include a musty smell, new carpet in an older car, silt or rust under the seats and in the spare tire well, and fogged lights or gauges.
Junk, non-repairable or certificate of destruction
These brands mean the vehicle was judged fit only for parts or scrap. In many states a car with a junk or non-repairable brand can never be titled for road use again. If one is offered to you as a normal car, walk away.
Lemon law or manufacturer buyback
Many states brand vehicles that a manufacturer bought back from the original owner under a lemon law because of a defect it could not fix. The problem may since have been repaired, but you should ask for the repair records.
Odometer brands
Title records can also carry mileage warnings. Not actual mileage means the odometer reading is known to be wrong, and exceeds mechanical limits means the car has rolled past what an older five-digit odometer can display. Read more in our guide to odometer rollback warning signs.
Title washing: how brands disappear
Because every state has its own rules, a branded car can sometimes be moved to a state with looser rules and re-titled without the brand. This is called title washing, and it's one of the main reasons the federal government created the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS).
NMVTIS was established by the Anti Car Theft Act of 1992 and is overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice. States report title information to it, and insurance companies and junk and salvage yards are required to report the vehicles they declare total losses or take in. That means a brand applied in one state, or a total-loss report from an insurer, can show up even after the car's paper title has been "cleaned."
How to check a car's title history
- Look at the physical title, but don't rely on it alone.
- Run a VIN check to see the title brands, total-loss and salvage records and reported odometer readings tied to that VIN.
- Compare the history to the seller's story. A car described as "never damaged" with a total-loss record is a red flag.
- If a brand shows up, get a pre-purchase inspection and price the car accordingly.
A title brand isn't the end of the story, but it should always be the start of a conversation. Knowing about it before you pay is the difference between a bargain and an expensive surprise.
