The brands and what they mean
Salvage means an insurer declared the vehicle a total loss and the state recorded it. A salvage-titled car generally cannot be registered or driven on the road until it passes a rebuilt inspection. It can be sold — to rebuilders, dismantlers, and recyclers.
Rebuilt, reconstructed, or prior-salvage means a salvage car was repaired and passed the state's inspection, so it's road-legal again with a permanent brand. These cars retain real market value, typically well below a clean-title equivalent.
Junk, certificate of destruction, or non-repairable is the terminal brand: the vehicle may never be titled for road use again in any state. It is sold for parts and metal only. Flood, hail, and lemon brands are separate disclosures that a state may add and that follow the vehicle.
Terminology varies state by state, and so does what each brand allows. Check the exact wording on your document and confirm the current rule with your own titling agency rather than assuming another state's process applies.
Who can legally buy your branded car
Licensed salvage buyers, dismantlers, and recyclers can buy branded vehicles as a matter of course — that's the market these cars belong to. Some states restrict certain brands so that only a licensed entity may take title at all.
Private buyers are a much narrower field. A rebuilt-title car can be sold privately with disclosure, but financing and insurance options for the buyer are limited, so the pool is small and the price reflects that.
Never present a branded car as clean-title, and never sell one 'off-title' with just a bill of sale because the paperwork is inconvenient. Both create liability that follows you, not the car.
How branded titles are priced
For a recycler, the brand barely matters — the car is being valued as recoverable parts plus metal, and a total-loss history has no bearing on what the steel weighs or whether the converter is present.
For a rebuilt car being resold to drive, the brand is a large permanent discount against a comparable clean-title vehicle. If you're weighing a private sale against a salvage offer, that discount is the number to compare.
Where a branded car does earn a premium at salvage is a recent model with clean, undamaged sections — panels, lights, modules, and interior parts from newer platforms are what dismantlers actively want.
Paperwork that makes the sale go smoothly
Bring the actual branded title in your name, plus ID. If the insurer processed a total loss and you retained the vehicle, make sure the branded title has been issued to you before you schedule a pickup — a pending title is the single most common cause of a failed handover.
Disclose the brand in writing on the bill of sale, along with any flood or fire history. Keep your copy.
Follow your state's plate and notice-of-sale steps. Several states want plates surrendered and a report of sale filed, and that's what formally ends your responsibility for the vehicle.
If the title is missing as well as branded
This is common — the paperwork went astray during the claim. Most states have a duplicate-title path, and many have a specific process for transferring a salvage vehicle to a licensed buyer without the original document.
That process is state-specific, so start with your own titling agency's salvage or duplicate-title page rather than a general answer. Our per-state guides point you at the right agency and the forms usually involved.
Do not let anyone tell you a bill of sale alone is fine 'because it's salvage'. Sometimes it genuinely is, in a specific state, for a licensed buyer — but that's a rule to verify, not to assume.