What is Salvage title?

Is It a Good Idea to Buy a Salvage Car in a Dealer Auction?

By Mike Richards Updated: 05/22/2019 Posted: 06/19/2017

Dealer auctions are an incredible thing. They give people the opportunity to purchase vehicles at incredibly steep discounts. How good are these discounts? In many cases it’s possible for a buyer to save thousands of dollars on their purchase, with total savings equaling 70% of a vehicle’s value or even more! This is especially true if you use dealer auctions to buy salvage cars.

Of course, there’s been one major drawback to these dealer auctions when it comes to average consumers. Namely, these auctions have been generally closed to the public and only open to those in possession of a dealer’s license. However, that’s all changed in recent years.

This is due to the rise of online auto dealer auctions that are open to the public. These websites essentially list vehicles from certain dealer-only auction houses on their site, thereby giving consumers access to thousands upon thousands of used and salvage cars at great prices.

As mentioned, if you really want to save money when you purchase a car through one of these online dealer auctions, you need to consider salvage. Still, when you hear that name, you might be wondering whether or not that’s a good idea. Let’s explore.

Understanding What Salvage Cars Really Are

Many newcomers to online dealer auctions fail to understand what salvage cars truly are. They mistakenly these vehicles are ones that have been wrecked in significant accidents or collisions. While that’s true of some salvage cars, it’s definitely not true of all.

Simply put, a salvage car is any vehicle for which the policy has been paid out by an insurer at a rate of 75% or greater of the vehicle’s value. So, whenever a policy is paid out in full, a vehicle is designated as salvage, regardless of the vehicle’s condition. For example, this happens when a vehicle is recovered subsequent to a theft.

Different Salvage Cars for Different Needs

Still, salvage cars run the gamut in terms of quality. However, this just means that there’s a salvage car out there to meet any kind of need.

For example, consider the case of a home mechanic. He or she might want a new weekend project and isn’t afraid of putting in a little elbow grease. Well, a salvage car that you buy in an online dealer auction that needs repairs can be bought for pennies on the dollar. This means there’s plenty of room left over in the budget for not just making repairs, but for really tricking the vehicle out.

Likewise, there are salvage cars out there that may not require much work at all. While these will be more expensive than their damaged counterparts, they’re still incredibly cheap. This is due to the salvage title designation. Simply need a car for getting around? You might want to turn your attention here.

Making a Wise Decision in an Online Dealer Auction

The truth is that salvage cars can be a wise purchase for a wide swath of auto buyers. To see why this is the case, sign up for an online dealer auction site today, and see what’s out there. You’re almost assured of discovering why so many other auto buyers are going this route.

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