A car's title establishes its legal owner. The government issues different types of car titles, such as clean, salvage, and rebuilt titles. Below is an overview of rebuilt title and rebuilt title insurance.  

Rebuilt Title and Its Difference from Salvage Title

If your car suffers damage in an accident, the insurance company will compare the repair cost to the car's value before compensating you. The insurance will compensate you for the repair cost if the car is easily repairable. Otherwise, the insurance company will pronounce the car totaled and compensate you for the car's value.

Say you are involved in an accident, and your $10,000 car suffers serious damage that requires $9,000 to fix. In such a case, your insurance company will likely declare your car a total loss, compensate you for the loss, and sell the car to rebuilders or salvage yards. The car will have a salvage title in such a case to show that the insurance company deems it a total loss.

Insurance companies usually sell cars with salvage titles to rebuilders or salvage yards. You will get a rebuilt title if the buyer repairs such a car and sells it to you. The title differentiates the car's history from other cars, such as those with clean titles that have never suffered extensive damage.

Insurance for a Car with a Rebuilt Title

You cannot insure a car with a salvage title since you cannot drive the car, but you can insure a car with a rebuilt title.

• Liability coverage is easier to get than comprehensive insurance for cars with rebuilt titles. The difficulty of getting full coverage makes sense since insurance companies struggle to know their true value or assess repair effectiveness.
• Insurance companies are also wary of hidden damages that increase the risk profile of cars with rebuilt titles. Some hidden damages increase the risk of accidents.
• Rebuilt title insurance is not available from all insurance companies.
• Rebuilt title insurance usually requires a statement from a certified mechanic, car photos, and original repair quite. The requirements certify the car as effectively fixed.

You may have to pay more to insure a car with rebuilt insurance than to insure one with a clean title.

Shop widely if you want to purchase insurance for your car with a rebuilt title. An auto insurance agent can help you with shopping and comparison. That way, your rebuilt title insurance won't deviate much from what you would pay for a comparable car with a clean title. 

For more info, contact a local car insurance agent.

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