Salvage title question

[MJ29]

Thanks! Actually the insurance company did not total it but I was under the impression if repairs were more than 70% of the value then it needed a salvage title. Is that not correct?

Per the Iowa DOT site:

A vehicle is considered wrecked or salvaged when it has repair costs exceeding 70 percent of its fair market value before it became damaged and had a fair market value of $500 or more before it became damaged.

After repairing your salvage-titled vehicle, you can get that title converted to a rebuilt title with registration plates issued by having the vehicle inspected. Iowa law requires the vehicle to be physically examined by a peace officer who has been certified by the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy before a rebuilt title can be issued. You must have the salvage title in your name or have the title assigned to you to have the vehicle inspected. The cost of the inspection is $53.

When you have the vehicle inspected, the officer will verify that no stolen parts were used to rebuild a vehicle and will authenticate the vehicle as being rebuilt. A typical salvage theft examination takes approximately 45 minutes but may take several hours if the vehicle identification numbers are not easily accessible or there are problems with the ownership documents. It’s important to maintain all receipts, invoices, and documentation for parts used to rebuild the vehicle and to bring these to the inspection as the officer will need to verify this information.


Also, I saw you were intending to sell the vehicle privately. I'm not sure the DOT would allow that based on this section on their site...

Salvage - Motor Vehicle Division

Q: Can an individual buy or sell a salvage titled vehicle from/to another private individual?

A: No, a salvage title may only be assigned or reassigned to an individual buying the vehicle by an authorized recycler licensed under Chapter 321H or a new motor vehicle dealer licensed under Chapter 322. Also, an individual can only sell a salvage titled vehicle to an educational institution, a new motor vehicle dealer, a person engaged in the business of purchasing bodies, parts of bodies, frames, or component parts of vehicles for sale as scrap metal, a salvage pool (means the business of selling at auction wrecked or salvage vehicles as defined in Chapter 321.52), or an authorized recycler, licensed under Chapter 321H.

 

[DJSteve]

There should be a question on the back of the title with respect to damage--what exactly does that say? Not sure but I think that verbiage (% / $ value you are supposed to disclose) may have changed over the years. If there is fine print with respect to vehicle age that might also be the place to find it. I'm not sure what happens if you check that it has had damage... but you could probably call your co treasurer's office or dmv and ask.

If you wanted to see what shows up on the vehicle history report, there are 3rd party sites that you can get carfax, autocheck, etc for <$10. Same info as if you paid full price to CarFax or whoever, just no buyback guarantee because I'm guessing they may not exactly be permitted to resell by the parent companies. I've used vinhub a few times recently and it worked pretty slick--just paid with paypal to not expose a CC#.

In 2008 or so my gf at the time wrecked her '99 Dodge Stratus. Damage was for the most part cosmetic but affected a bunch of panels so repair quote was high enough to total it out; was titled in her parents name and they didn't want to fix it. Salvage buyout was pretty cheap (like $650 or something like that for a vehicle that blue book was $3500ish IIRC) so they signed over the title, I put it back together with used/aftermarket parts, and transferred it to my aunt for my 16 year-old cousin to drive. As far as I know it never got a salvage title or any scrutiny, however in that case it was a little ambiguous whether that damage box should have been checked because what I spent putting it back together didn't meet the criteria but to have a body shop do the repairs would have.

 

[mkadl]

So in 2021 My truck was hit by another driver and I had it repaired. At the time repair was $12K and truck was worth about $14K . Since I was planning on keeping it I did nothing with the title. I'm looking to sell it and had some questions.

If I sell it privately to a family member and just transfer the existing title as is is there anyway the state/county can tell there was supposed to be a salvage title? If so what are the consequences for getting caught?

Along the same lines, said family member works for me, and vehicle is registered to my company. If I were to set him up on a "company vehicle program" we would not have to change ownership but would have to register in another state. Could the salvage title bit us in that case?

Update: I spoke to the body shop that did the repairs and he thought that in Iowa you didn't need to do a salvage title on a vehicle over 8 years old. Does this sound right?

I did not read all the replies.

You are not required to get a salvage title. If you bought it back from the insurance company yes it would be purchased back from the insurance company with a salvage title.

Iowa code says you must disclose the damage to the purchaser. Whether they care or not ?????????