"Salvaged motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle purchased or acquired as salvage; scrapped, dismantled, or destroyed; or declared a total loss by an insurance company.Checked 2026-08-11
Salvage title
A title brand recording that the vehicle was acquired as salvage or declared a total loss.
Also called: salvage brand · salvage vehicle
What it means
Definition
A salvage title is a brand a state places on a vehicle's title after it has been acquired as salvage or declared a total loss. Vermont's statute, as one example, defines a salvaged motor vehicle as one purchased or acquired as salvage; scrapped, dismantled, or destroyed; or declared a total loss by an insurance company. Title branding is written state by state, so both the triggering conditions and the wording differ between states.
Why a buyer cares
What it changes
The brand records that an insurer, owner or state treated the vehicle as a total loss at some point. It does not describe what was damaged or how the vehicle stands today.
In practice
Where you meet it
Printed on the title document itself, disclosed in a listing, and carried on a vehicle history report.
Two things that look alike
Not the same as
A rebuilt title is the later stage: the same vehicle after repair and a state inspection that allows it back on the road.
Read next
Related terms
Rebuilt title
A title brand recording that a previously salvage-titled vehicle was rebuilt and restored for highway operation.
Total loss
The insurer's decision to pay the owner to replace a vehicle rather than pay to repair it.
Flood-damaged vehicle
A car that sat in water deep enough to fill the engine compartment; some states brand the title accordingly.
Where this comes from
Sources
One state's statutory definition, cited as an example rather than a national standard.