Insuring a vehicle with a salvage, rebuilt or flood title is
not impossible. The main thing to do when considering the purchase of a vehicle
with a salvage, rebuilt or flood title, is to call multiple insurance companies
to find out if they do in fact insure vehicles with these sorts of titles. Some companies may only insure one type of
title but not the others.
My own experience had to do with a 2010 Lexus ES 350 flood
damaged total loss vehicle. The seller
had sold many total loss flood damaged vehicles (bought at dealer auctions) and
explained to me why the car was not such a risky purchase. The vehicle's
appearance was great. It had 65k miles on it and the seller was asking $7k
below market value for it. Sounds great right? He explained that the flood
water had not reached the electronics at the dashboard level where the most
damage would occur in a flood situation. The flood water had reached a couple
of inches above the door threshold, nowhere near the main electronics. He had removed the carpet, checked for rust,
replaced the carpet and had driven it around for 500 miles. My only concern
about buying this car had to do with the power seat electric motors which the
water had definitely reached. Replacing
those for the mechanically inclined, or with the help of a YouTube video, is an
afternoon DIY job. I was ready to buy.
All I needed was to find a company to insure it.
I called 3 or 4 companies and found one that would insure it
as long as I verbally stated that the car had been fully repaired. They did not care if it was a salvage,
rebuilt or flood loss vehicle. Great,
right? Well, the catch, as you may have
thought, was the cost. I wanted to
insure at full market value of 16k with collision. 9k was a bit much for me to
risk on liability only. This would be car number three for our family and I was
on a budget, so I decided to stick with 2 cars and adding my 16 yr old to our
policy. The seller told me most of the flood damaged vehicles he had sold that
year (80 in all) were Hondas or Toyotas at price in the $3k - $5k range. I think this is definitely worth the risk of
liability only coverage.
Unless you purchase a damaged vehicle from auction yourself
and can oversee the repair process yourself, I would stay away from rebuilt and
salvage titled vehicles. Buying a flood
title vehicle? Well, that might just be worth the risk.