As usual I'm looking for a deal on another car and salvage titles keep showing up on the vehicles I have researched.The prices on a salvage title seems to be about 10 to 15% cheaper than a clean title some times more. Does the damaged title affect the value if it is in a wreck? Can you even get classic car insurance with agreed value on a car with a salvage title? Anyone been there done that with a classic car?..... Tedd

 

I am going to say that "salvage titles" are not available in some states after a certain age....... A salvage title can come from a salvage yard/junk yard and never been in a crash. If a car has never been crashed, but was "hauled off to the junk yard because its not worth fixing" (engine/transmission repair, minor body damage, etc.) and you can get the car and title, think about it.
Tedd, look at the 57 Olds in my profile, it was junked out at one time. Do you think its worth $125 I paid for it ?

 

I would contact the insurance company you have your car listed with to get it from the horses mouth. I'm going to say that if restored, no it won't matter.

 

Insurability yes. But DMV to see if "salvage" applies to car titles older than a certain age when registered in "your" state. "Salvage" titles became a tool to keep unscrupulous car dealers from selling totaled out cars as something undamaged. That would cover crash damage as well as floods.......in recent years.

 

Hi Tedd !!
So, what is the new 'score' ?
I have two salvage title vehicles. Yes, I insure them through State Farm with "Stated-Value" policies.
The benefit to this is there is no restrictions on use as there may be with a Classic Vehicle policy like maybe Haggerty.
Also, I have a nice clean jeep which because of blue book value being less than replacement value, it too, has a Stated Value policy of $15k.

I will exaggerate: my '02 Subaru WRX was purchased at 50% less than retail value at the time I purchased it in 2005, for $10k.
Carfax didn't reveal anything other than the auto having been registered in Arizona at one point, and i'm in Redding, California (Anderson). At the time of purchase, the WRX's with clean titles were selling for $20K. Nearest I could figure is the auto got hit right-front and left-rear. I wasn't concerned about concours-looks but driveability and function because this was my new Daily-Driver, and I wanted to drive it like Travis Pastrana. (dreaming of course).

The other vehicle with a salvage title is a '77 Ford F-350 Crewcab 4x4 longbed pickup. This vehicle I built from a menagerie of parts from numerous vehicles. The no-rust arid-climate cab came from an F-250 2wd. This pickup had a Clifford equipped 300 inline six with a cracked block. I bought several pickups and sourced a HD block from a pickup I bought to be the glass donor and misc. parts. I wound up buying an ex-logging crummy '77 F-350, from Holt Logging from a man in Janesville, Calif., to get a rear door, but had to buy the cab (badly cracked out) and chassis or no deal. I had to supply the rear axle assbly to be able to roll it onto my trailer. This being a 2wd frame was a Longbed, and 4x4 wasn't offered in a longbed model in F-350 series.
The Crewcab project scope was to build me a Wood-Cutting pickup that could safely carry a full chord of firewood from the woods to home. Hauling firewood from uphill in the mountains down to the valley meant I needed More-Brakes than Power.
I welded up 65 holes in the cab doors and bed sides, and ruined the door glass in the process. ( I had the windows rolled down ) !! dumb-me.

Long story short, the pickup got a Vin Verification in 1998 by the California Highway patrol because I put the '77 F-250 body on the '77 F-350 chassis and built me a pickup converting the F-350 chassis to 4x4. I had to go through the normal weight certificate and brake and smog certification.

I currently still own both of these salvage title vehicles and they are both currently registered and insured through State Farm on a non-classic vehicle policy, being Stated Value with no restrictions.
( State Farm has me on "fleet insurance' which is automatic with 5 or more vehicles insured ). (yes, I have the vehicle-plague).

p.s. - the Ford 300 six is a gutless wonder even with having been balanced and ported and cammed and too many $$$ invested with Clifford intake.
although, it still runs like new after 20-years of towing trailers but little wood hauling. (the Comp cam I installed during the build, had one lobe go flat within 2-years, and replaced it with a Clevite Cam, late 60's grind).

I think with the WRX, I had to obtain an Appraisal from a rod shop suggested by State Farm, local in Redding.
Driving that little WRX is like having a new girlfriend, it puts a big smile on my face every time I drive it.
Oh, too, my Travis Pastrana driving techniques need improvement because I keep kissing the snowbank trying to drift it. hahahaha oops !

Stated Value insurance has worked for me for 40-years


well, i built this pickup for wood hauling, but seldom do as using the 12-foot Stock trailer is much lower to the ground being easier to load.

 

That Dentside crewcab is a rare one, plus it's 4x4!

FWIW, I insure my 96 Olds 98 and 86 Ford f250 on full-coverage policies through USAA. I need to investigate a "stated value" policy. Definitely don't want to go to Hagerty since there are so many driving restrictions.

 

007/ 64- Just to answer a few questions I'm in the good deal looking stage for another Miata. Nothing wrong with the 91 it runs like a top but I run the hell out of it and I'm getting near the 200,000 miles mark and I a'm getting nervous just looking at miles that I a'm putting on the clock every month.

I use Grundy and I find their restrictions well within my needs for all my older cars and their rates reasonable. If you are looking to switch to agreed value they are a good choice in my opinion.

Good to see another Northern California member near me I'm in Redding on a regular basis, lunch would be on me if we could hook up sometime.... Tedd

 

But are there? I drive both my Olds and my GMC whenever I can, even to work, and occasionally on 500 mile road trips. Haggerty doesn't have a mileage restriction per se, but I did tell them each vehicle might see 5k miles a year. Only main stipulations are that they must be garaged, and you must have another vehicle as a daily driver. I pay $250 a year for both, combined, with $5k agreed upon value for each one.

 

I have all my cars insured thru American National for stated value. Wouldn't hurt to get a quote from them.

 

There is a major difference between Stated and Agreed value when it comes to car insurance. You guys need to do some research, you want an Agreed amount policy anything else your screwed.

 

Good point Eric. Here's a good explanation:

https://www.hagerty.com/insurance/in...aranteed-value

 

Ok guys, now i'm going to have to ask my State Farm rep what they can tell me about Agreed Value policies !
_ _ _ _ and Stated Value pay-off expected in the event of a collision which 'totals' the vehicle. more later already.

My whole concept all along, was to have at least some $$$ in coverage above the KBB values of the time.
I started using the Stated Value back in around 1982 when my daily driver was a home-owner-restored '56 Chevy Nomad wagon. At that time the blue book value for a bel air model was average retail of $2,500 bucks or so, and I wanted $15,000 coverage. I had to pay $2,500 when I purchased it in 1976, and limped it home on 4 of 8 cylinders (barely), and needing a Full Restore. At least if someone T-boned it I could expect something more than $2k or worse. And too, my local insurance agent inspected the vehicle. I sold the auto when I took a job on the Pacific Coast in Eureka, California, after 20-years of pleasure driving that Nomad. I sold it for 10k back in 1998. _ _ I am afraid to see what the value is today.

Tedd,
Let's get together sometime this spring after it is t-shirt weather and the birds are out chirping. (and pooping on fenders) ! _ _ and speaking of fenders and bird poop, I am considering some tree removal so I can park my vehicle in the driveway without being under a tree. ( I keep thinking back on those fires we had here in the rural-northern part of California, in 2018, and am hoping to take out more than One tree ).
I'll send you a pm so you can text me, and we will compare notes over a burger or sandwich.
For the first time ever, Burger King yesterday said they now charge $2.40 for a water. No more free water.

Before I forget to mention it - my buddy whom I have been assisting with the overall paint restoration of his ('77) Ford Bronco did finally get his (Salvage) title a few months back. I tried to explain to him that here in California, the Year of Title is dictated by the forward 1/3 of the Chassis.
Yes, he swapped chassis from his original '72 to a '77 or whatever year the new chassis was determined. I had trailered two Bronco chassis from Eureka, over the Sacramento Valley years ago, for him to use, and one being a 1969 (which I would have used). Omg
Had he kept his original frame, even swapping bodies wouldn't have changed the year of title, nor would it have received the (Salvage) title status.
When I had my Vin Verification on my '77 Ford crewcab project-build, I swapped out the '77 f-250 shortbed chassis for a '77 f-350 longbed chassis, so my pickup is now registered as a '77 F-350 longbed with Salvage Title. At the time I pieced it together, I was happy to have it legally registered as something, and my Salvage title was of no consequence at all.
The CHP (highway patrol) inspector told me it is heartbreaking when someone builds a nice 32 ford coupe on a '93 mustang front frame clip and the vehicle special build becomes registered as a '93 Ford mustang. OMG !! _ _ _ and after a $50k rod shop build-cost.

We're doomed any which way but loose. hahaha