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Salvage Titles

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fabuloso

fabuloso

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Joined
May 30, 2009
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Location
McAllen
First Name
Len
Long time lurker, firs time post:

I am searching for my first motorcycle and I would like to get the groups over all impressions on the pros and cons of purchasing a salvage title motorcycle as apposed to a used moto.

I have friends who are avid riders and say that a salvage bike is definitely the way to go for track days, but how about for a first bike?

thanks in advance.

Len.
 
as long as everything is repaired, I don't see a problem with it. The salvage title really hurts resale value, but if you plan on keeping it a while it would be a good way to get a bike cheap.
I'd have it checked out, make sure the forks are staight, no frame or swing arm damage. Some bike all they have to do is slide on their side and they get totalled out because of the cost of new plastics or chrome bits.

My bro-in-law bought a slavage titled Subaru, for him it worked out ok, because he bought the car cheap and would have upgraded most of the parts he replaced.
 
What Poser said!

I bought a salvage title bike. I bought a bike to be a money saving commuting platform that would be getting used 40 miles a day. It's easy to save with them when you buy them cheap and don't intend to resale anytime soon. The bike has performed flawlessly. I do all my own work (save mounting tires) and knew what key factors to look for on a wrecked bike when I was buying. This bike had been looped out but had no frame/sub-frame damage. It was put back together sans fairing (naked) with a new tail.
 
My CBR got salvaged after a HD crasehd into me. The damage were scratches and broken plastics. Easy fix and run like a champ.
Salvage means that it has sustained some costly (as a % of the actual cost of the bike) damage. A new bike should have some serious damage to be salvaged (frame?). An old bike can be salvaged for a scratch on the stickers.
As far as buying or selling, you should consider that the owner already got paid for the bike. The salvaged bike should hold only residual value. 60% of the KBB value? I do not know, but I've seen people trying to get almost retail value with a salvage title. This is a free market and I will try to make as much as my bike the day I'll sell it but...
 
Seems like the over all senses at this point is that a salvage title bike isn't such a bad way to go for a first time buy as long as a few things are kept in mind when buying..

Poser I'll keep this in mind when looking for my bike
poser said:
I'd have it checked out, make sure the forks are straight, no frame or swing arm damage. Some bike all they have to do is slide on their side and they get totalled out because of the cost of new plastics or chrome bits.
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for the response, I will really consider going the Salvage Title route; I got a local mechanic in my neighborhood who specializes in the bikes I'm interested in.
 
I'm looking at a Ducati Monster, I understand they have potential of needing much attention, but they are just so dam sharp. The naked body, the raw style, and simple beauty just say, YES to me.

Looking for it in a salvage probably isn't the most keen idea, but considering the over all costs for new/used, I can get into one for 3K or less.

Considering it's my first moto, i would like to keep it under the 1000 cc range, pref 650/750
 
Nice choice, espescially for a first bike. I was going to mention the maintenance on them, but I see that you're aware of that. I never had any trouble with mine, but I also knew what I was getting into when I bought it as far as maintenance goes. I only had mine a little over a year. I think some people are turned off by Ducati because they think the maintenance requirements equates to unreliability. I'm a little partial to Ducati though, see sig line :trust:
 
I had the same question a couple of years ago - see the discussion here.

Similar to the info here - the main thing to consider is value (resale and insured).
 
I built a '03 ST1300 from a salvage purchase. Turned out to be a great machine and sold it for more then I had invested in it and the buyer was very happy with the bike.

If you don't mind doing some work on it to get it going and possibly keep it going, go for it.
 
Found a salvage bike at a great cost. It already has a salvage title. The guy bought it from an insurance company.

All I need to know is can I ride it on the rode just like my bike that has a regular title.
 
It's the same as a regular title. It just says salvage to let people know that at some point it was severely damaged, basically to keep people from being sold a "Like new" car that was flooded, wrecked, ect.
 
Its my understanding, though I've not confirmed, that the salvage title reverts to a normal title after the 2nd or 3rd change of hands.
 
Well. The bike may already be sold. Still waiting on a reply. I'm always late on a great deal.
 
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm from New York and I haven't had a chance to read the Texas DPS's 73,000-page tome on the subject, but aren't there 2 different kinds of titles being discussed here?

Salvage Title: Vehicle has been totaled and may not be used on public roads until it has passed a state inspection specifically for totaled vehicles.

Rebuilt Title: Vehicle was totaled, but has passed the inspection to be removed from salvage and can be used on public roads.

At least in NY, a rebuilt bike is worth a lot more in resale than a salvage.

Also, just as a general rule, it's way safer to buy a rebuilt/salvage fully-faired sportbike than a factory naked like a Monster, just because you know that whatever damage the Monster took was not to the fairings...

Cheers,
-Kit
 
1TallTXn said:
Its my understanding, though I've not confirmed, that the salvage title reverts to a normal title after the 2nd or 3rd change of hands.
Click to expand...

No I don't thank it ever changes, I think you are confusing that with a "Bonded" title.
You can get a bonded title (for a vehicle that was sold without a title) and buy a bond on it, then after 3 years (I think is the time frame) it reverts to a normal title if nobody has made a claim against it or it doesn't turn up to be stolen.
But if a claim was to be made against the new owner as an illegal sale then they must also prove previous ownership then they can take you to court. But after 3 years it's too late to change anything. Any previous claims of ownership would have no case.
That scares some folks away from buying a bonded title but I have had several in different states including Texas and never has an issue. 99.99% of the time it is usually a bike that had title lost and was resold maybe several times and the new owner can not track down the original title, so it's just easier to bond it, Also sometimes you find an estate sale where the original title was in someones name that died and no title can be found, or it was maybe an offroad bike sold with only an MSO but now it's used so it can not be registered as a new model and they need to title it for road use.

But I am sure once a title is changed to a "Salvage" status it remains that way forever. Unless Texas is same as others where you get it inspected - deemed road safe - and title changed to rebuilt.

but your answers are sure to be found here - http://www.txdmv.gov/whatyouneed/forms/salvage.htm
 
KitNYC said:
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm from New York and I haven't had a chance to read the Texas DPS's 73,000-page tome on the subject, but aren't there 2 different kinds of titles being discussed here?

Salvage Title: Vehicle has been totaled and may not be used on public roads until it has passed a state inspection specifically for totaled vehicles.

Rebuilt Title: Vehicle was totaled, but has passed the inspection to be removed from salvage and can be used on public roads.

At least in NY, a rebuilt bike is worth a lot more in resale than a salvage.

Also, just as a general rule, it's way safer to buy a rebuilt/salvage fully-faired sportbike than a factory naked like a Monster, just because you know that whatever damage the Monster took was not to the fairings...

Cheers,
-Kit
Click to expand...
I think a Salvage title is what it has when you buy the vehicle from the salvage yard. Once you rebuild it and turn all the info into the state, it gets a rebuilt title.
At least thats what happened with my ST1300 I built/sold

EnduroRdr said:
No I don't thank it ever changes, I think you are confusing that with a "Bonded" title.
You can get a bonded title (for a vehicle that was sold without a title) and buy a bond on it, then after 3 years (I think is the time frame) it reverts to a normal title if nobody has made a claim against it or it doesn't turn up to be stolen.
But if a claim was to be made against the new owner as an illegal sale then they must also prove previous ownership then they can take you to court. But after 3 years it's too late to change anything. Any previous claims of ownership would have no case.
That scares some folks away from buying a bonded title but I have had several in different states including Texas and never has an issue. 99.99% of the time it is usually a bike that had title lost and was resold maybe several times and the new owner can not track down the original title, so it's just easier to bond it, Also sometimes you find an estate sale where the original title was in someones name that died and no title can be found, or it was maybe an offroad bike sold with only an MSO but now it's used so it can not be registered as a new model and they need to title it for road use.

But I am sure once a title is changed to a "Salvage" status it remains that way forever. Unless Texas is same as others where you get it inspected - deemed road safe - and title changed to rebuilt.

but your answers are sure to be found here - http://www.txdmv.gov/whatyouneed/forms/salvage.htm
Click to expand...
Sounds like I got them mixed up, thanks for the clarification :thumb:
 
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