Salvage title after 2 years not being registered. Ca.

[DDDsquad_s13panda]

Alright well i went to DMV today and got my car FINALLY TAKEN CARE of, besides smog.

When i originally bought the car,about a year and a half or so ago, the owner who had it before didnt have a pinkslip under his name but was under the owner who he had bought it from.
And the pinkslip -or- the registration paperworks does not states that it was "salvage" and so does the transfer paper where it has the fees and such under HIS NAME. I bought the car a year ago and right off the bat i went to DMV and get it switch to my name. Fees were paid and agian with the transfer paper, doesnt state that it was salvage. Never did do the smog because the car had broke down and i never got it renewed for the coming '09' sticker.

Now i went to DMV for the '2010' sticker and i paid $386 for late fees and such which is understanble but now the guy said it is now salvage title. Like WTF? This car never had ins. since i got it or been in an accident because it only ran for 4 months under my possesion till now. And now its salvage???? WHATS UP CALIFORNIA. IM LOST???


ANY INPUTS OR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THIS?..

thanks
-john

[projekt_s13]

The guy that owned it could of had insurance on the car, crashed it, collect insurance monies, fix it, then sell it to you. Car fax it to see whats up, Im sure it was in a accident,theft,or junkyard.

[Fonix36]

yea registration should have nothing to do with it. do the carfax

[DDDsquad_s13panda]

no but you see when i FIRST transfered the car under my name a year ago. registration papers where it says on top" this is not a permit to blah blah blah...." with all the fees and my name being the new owner and such, it wasnt salvage. NOW the same paper with the fees and such has salvage title on it.

[5t341tH]

i dont believe that paper will tell u if its clean/salvage or not. maybe ur new one is special

[projekt_s13]

The only place it should say that to my knowledge is the pink slip, but maybe they changed it up this year and they started putting it on the reg.

[DDDsquad_s13panda]

only if i have a camera...=/ ill try to get some photos of the paperwork it self, for better understanding

[SILVIA_KIDs14.5]

ithe only place i know of it saying anything for salvage is on the title man thats what mine says after the ins totalled it out

[Dousan_PG]

i bet it was salvaged
but the paper work he gave you (pink slip) was before it was salvaged

basically, you got f*cked on this deal

sucks!
run the carfax.

[BorHor]

i bet it was salvaged
but the paper work he gave you (pink slip) was before it was salvaged

basically, you got f*cked on this deal

sucks!
run the carfax.

What he said.

[DDDsquad_s13panda]

fucking bitch!!! i guess sooo =/. i should always invest on a $20 carfax report.

[!Zar!]

i bet it was salvaged
but the paper work he gave you (pink slip) was before it was salvaged

basically, you got f*cked on this deal

sucks!
run the carfax.

Ding Ding Ding.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

[projectRDM]

Carfax is useless. Seriously. If the guy scammed you on the title info, you think he was stupid enough to report it to carfax?

Carfax registers cars that are reported, period. If it's repaired under the table you'll get nothing back from it, which happens 75% of the time in older cars.

[marveluz]

^ But wouldn't Carfax list when the title was salvaged?

[shishcabobers]

Or you can get a free report from the DMV, but you just need to wait in line.

[projectRDM]

^ But wouldn't Carfax list when the title was salvaged?

Nope. Not unless it's reported to them.

[BorHor]

But since the DMV already knew wouldn't it show up on the carfax a well? It is just that because he had an older pink slip it didn't show it was salvaged, and when he got the new one it was then he found out. Or at least that is what I am getting out of this post.

[gerson408]

He shafted you!!

[s13.dark1]

^^ yes we all now that

[projectRDM]

But since the DMV already knew wouldn't it show up on the carfax a well? It is just that because he had an older pink slip it didn't show it was salvaged, and when he got the new one it was then he found out. Or at least that is what I am getting out of this post.

No. Carfax doesn't do any fact checking of their own. They're not entitled to any information unless it's given to them. If no report is made to carfax they have no record, period. That's why carfax is such a scam, people trust it with their life and end up buying cars that have been folded in half, flooded, or used to haul toxic waste.
Best way to buy a car, look over it yourself if you have any clue what to look for or hire someone qualified to do it and run a DMV report before you buy it. You also don't buy a car from anyone without a title in hand. No title, no proof of ownership. That means it's anyone's guess who actually owns it and what money is still owed on it.

[DDDsquad_s13panda]

ok well this is pretty much the low-down of this whole situation. I sure appreciate all the response to this.

When i first bought the car:

Pink-slip under "jerry"=title clean
:the owner who i bought i from "gary", he has the registration under HIS name(paper that state "incomplete registration need smog. etc.) = title clean
When i bought the car from "gary", i transfer it under my name right away, same paper with the "incomplete registration need smog. etc.)= clean title
:AFTER the car not being registered and having no tags. I paid for all the late fees and whatnot. SAME PAPER with the incomplete stuff and smog, states that it is salvage title now.

how is this possible if i transfer it under my name THE FIRST TIME, and it wasnt salvage. Now that i paid all the FEES it states that it is salvage now.

I havent gotten the paper works from my smog-tech, but soon as i do. i will take a picture of what im tryin to explain.

[DCP94]

hmmm something sounds fishy!! good luck fixing the situation

[racepar1]

This may not be as big of a deal as everyone is making it out to be. If you scuff a friggin bumper on a 240 and try to fix it through insurance they total it. As long as there is no visible chasis damage who cares? Check for damage to the chasis and for bondo on the doors/quarter panels. The doors really don't matter though as they can be replaced for cheap.

[ronmcdon]

I've had some interesting experience with Carfax myself.
Some 3-4 years ago, I got my clean titled crx stolen.
car was found by police, taken to impound, & I got it back from there.
after a few months, I wanted to sell the car & did a carfax on the car to facilitate the selling.
Carfax for my crx said it was a clean title.
Thats one example for sure that shows Carfax failed. (assuming salvage titled is awarded b/c of theft)

That being said, I wonder if the reverse is true.
Would carfax mistakenly report a clean title car as 'salvaged'?
I doubt it, but it would be interesting to see if anyone thinks otherwise.

[kornaz]

I've had some interesting experience with Carfax myself.
Some 3-4 years ago, I got my clean titled crx stolen.
car was found by police, taken to impound, & I got it back from there.
after a few months, I wanted to sell the car & did a carfax on the car to facilitate the selling.
Carfax for my crx said it was a clean title.
Thats one example for sure that shows Carfax failed. (assuming salvage titled is awarded b/c of theft)

That being said, I wonder if the reverse is true.
Would carfax mistakenly report a clean title car as 'salvaged'?
I doubt it, but it would be interesting to see if anyone thinks otherwise.

Yes. They failed. The stolen car gets salvage title only when the car is not found and the owner gets paid from insurance, and then they find the car later (or never) and salvage it. No matter what condition the car is. OR if the car has been stripped, and the buyback thing.

[ronmcdon]

I wasn't aware of that detail, thanks for the info.
So (if I get this correctly), if there's insurance company involvement,
there cannot be any salvage title regardless of the actual condition of the vehicle.

If you're just paying liability only insurance on a car,
it pretty much means there's no way it can be salvaged.
Or at least not unless it gets junked and sold off in an auction.

[projectRDM]

I wasn't aware of that detail, thanks for the info.
So (if I get this correctly), if there's insurance company involvement,
there cannot be any salvage title regardless of the actual condition of the vehicle.

If you're just paying liability only insurance on a car,
it pretty much means there's no way it can be salvaged.
Or at least not unless it gets junked and sold off in an auction.

Not quite. It can be salvaged (and will be) if the damage is deemed too high to repair and it's totaled. The difference is with owning the car you have first right to buy it back, full insurance or not. If you don't report it they can't salvage anything, if you do and they declare it totaled it's issued a salvage title but as the owner you're entitled to keep driving it. There's no law that says you can't drive it unless it's unsafe. The law only steps in when you try and sell it, as the title being labeled salvaged can't be transferred. You can have the car rebuilt and inspected and then sell it, otherwise you just keep it.
i know plenty of people who own salvage title cars but continue driving them, there's no law to dictate against it. That's where the duplicate salvage title comes in, you can wreck it again and a duplicate title is issued because it was already deemed salvage once, and again you can keep it or let it go as you decide. People rarely realize that but you have first crack at buying it back any time, and since it's a buy back you only pay the title fees, you still get the insurance paid based on value of the car.
Say if your car is worth $6k and is totaled, you buy it back and get a check for the $6k, minus title fees. Typically a salvage title runs about $600 but can be as high as $1200 depending on the car, so for repairable damage you keep the car, get a check for $5400, and go on about your business. The insurance company doesn't care who gets it as long as the paperwork is in order.

Let me add that is in Georgia, other States may differ as far as what's allowed.