Rebuildable Title? How Do You Register it?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I was thinking about this tonight, but don't have a clear answer so I figured I would post it here. I will need a new car soon, but don't really want to pay full price. One of my ideas was to buy a rebuildable title car from an insurance auction run by a company like Copart and then use that. I was thinking that my best bet would be a car with hail damage but intact windows and low miles. Either that, or some other sort of mild damage all over sort of car that had no real structural issues or airbag deployment. I live in Florida where we have no vehicle inspections of any kind either. I was thinking I could do a "good enough" job to make it a safe, usable vehicle without being cosmetically like new. Say, leave the hail damage on the roof, but repair the windows, lights, mirrors and other legal essentials, for example.(It will get damaged with the magnetic sign anyways!) Looks are secondary to function in a pizza car as they do tend to get pretty beat up in a hurry, and usually have no value left in them when they are done. However, I am not a licensed repair facility. I'm a schmuck who wants to use the car to destruction by delivering pizza with it and sees this as a way to get a good car for a lot less cash. In reality, it's like half price compared to a similar car in perfect condition. So, how would I go about titling and registering it? Could I even do it as an individual?

Here's the website of Copart: http://www.copart.com/c2/home.html It was the place my last Sentra went after it got totaled, so I have been there before.

 

[Doober]

I'd imagine you go to the DMV and they'll inspect the car, then if it meets their standards they'll give it a 'rebuilt' or similar title. Found this, it might shed some light on the subject (I'm sure there are more sites out there, but this was one of the first few that didn't have 'rebuilt' mixed in with 50 pages of unrelated jargon):
http://www.dmv.org/fl-florida/salvaged-vehicles.php

 

[Bonnewagon]

I'm sure Florida is a lot looser but here in NY once damage reaches the value of the car it is "totaled". After that it goes to the insurance company or the junkyard or the owner. From that point on if repairs are done and the car is to be registered again it needs a "salvage title". To get that it must go to an inspector to see that only legitimate parts were used to repair the vehicle. That means if a parts car was used the title of the parts car must be presented so hidded vin#'s can be matched up like on fenders and doors. Any parts bought must have receipts. Notice I didn't say anything about safety or reliability or roadworthyness. All they care about is that stolen parts were not used to repair the car,or legitimate parts were not used to title a stolen car. That's all they care about here. My wife's Buick LeSabre was hit and totalled but I kept it and fixed it. But because I was the original title holder/registrant , no salvage title was needed unless I tried to sell it later.

 

[Doober]

I still wish I would've known this with the truck I used to have (was 21 when it happened so I didn't know a lot of what I know now)... I was rearended and they totaled it, they quoted $3k to repair it, all that was damaged was a cab corner & a small portion of the left bedside. Mechanically nothing was ever wrong to start with, and I was planning on replacing the bed that summer (~$600) anyway because it was rotting away. The drivetrain had maybe 10,000 miles on both the engine and transmission, so needless to say I was pretty peeved when they only gave me $2k, which happened to be the same amount I was paying every year for the past 3 years. Today I wouldn't care if it had 'salvage' in the title, I'd probably still have the truck.

 

[DRIVEN]

I'm sure every state is different. In Oregon, if a car is "totalled" in an accident and the owner decides to keep it it will be re-titled and "totalled" will appear in the note box on the new title. Otherwise it goes to an insurance auction where it can be purchased by the public. We don't have safety inspections here either - only emissions testing. As long as it will still pass DEQ and is legal (lighting, mirrors, etc.) it can be driven on the street with a tainted title. The only issue that may arise is that if you do repair it, and are involved in another accident later, the insurance company may not pay out as much due to "pre-existing damage". My wife's neon has been totalled and properly repaired twice and is still on the road. It would take a sharp eye to know it's ever been in any accident but the title is branded.
For a delivery situation a rebuilder makes great sense! You certainly have the skills to patch one back together. Obviously you should avoid flood/hurricane cars. A recovered theft, hail damage or vandalism (cosmetic only) car may be a safe bet. Let us know what you decide.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

In Florida, you have several classes of title, not all of which can be registered for street use. There is "Certificate of Destruction", which is what a junkyard gets and means the car is to be crushed. Then there is Salvage, which is when the car is damaged beyond 80% of it's value and bought by the insurance company, and those too are not normally able to be registered again ( not sure though...). After that is Rebuildable salvage which is when the car did not pass the 80% threshold, but it was bought out by the insurer. Finally, there is Clean Title which is self explanatory. If the parts origin is all that matters, registering the car would be a piece of cake. Just get a receipt for the parts and prove that the car is functional and you're there. I was just hoping someone on here had a more definitive answer for me. I guess if no one posts anything better, I will just have to go to the DMV and see what's what before spending my money. I will potentially save $5-7k over the price of a perfect car, so I think it is worth the time to investigate it.


I also had an interesting thought: If I can buy a cert. of Destruction vehicle, I may see if I can find a wrecked, low mileage Frontier. That way, I can pull all the drivetrain and mechanical parts from it along with some interior and trim parts to rebuild my truck. Then, I can cut up what remains and sell it off to a scrap yard. If it only costs me a few hundred bucks, it would be worth it in the long run. That may end up being preferable to buying another vehicle as I probably won't be delivering pizza much longer. I am hoping to be out of that within 18 months.