Hey guys, i've been looking at an 2000 E55 that has a Rebuildable Salvage Title on it. Now i am thinking i can get this car super cheap, but as far as insurance.........how does that work on this car? Can i not insure it? What are the downfalls to owning a car with this title on it? Here is the link to the car

2000 Mercedes E55

I looked at the Ebay listing and I am a bit perplexed. My understanding of a salvage title is when an insurance company (or government official) decides a vehicle is a "total loss", then that vehicle is issued a salvage title. A total loss is when the cost of repairing a vehicle exceeds about 80% (sometimes 75%) of the value of the vehicle.

I am clearly not understanding something about this process, since the damage to this vehicle appears minor.

In any case, getting insurance on a salvage vehicle can be a bit challenging. Liability and medical insurance are normally not a problem. However, many insurance companies do not want to write standard coverage for collision and comprehensive insurance. You may have to get insurance at a certain declared value, such as a classic or antique car. This is usually expensive.

So it looks like you won the bid? From all appearances you got a deal. Minor damage that can be fixed with not too much cash outlay. Unless the car was already rebuilt from a salvage title previous to the theft recovery, it doesn't make sense...like alpinweiss said. Now that you have it, what's the deal on the salvage title?

negatives of salvage title, banks typically aren't willing to give a loan to buy one.

Insurance, you should have no problem. I got insurance for a salvage civic with no problem, just like if it were clean title.

Also keep in mind that Salvage titles do NOT always transfer from state to state, I am unsure as the exact criteria, but a car can be salvage in one state and be clear in another. So you might wanna look into that. Becuase it looks like you are located in the OC and the car is in Washington.

My thoughts: the car was stolen, not found immediately, the original owner was paid by the insurance company, then the car was found some time later. The insurance company then sold it to the eBay seller who planned on fixing it up and reselling it. He then decided it would be more cost-effective to get rid of it as is instead of replacing the iginition module (which I imagine isn't cheap), doing the other repairs and then trying to sell it - probably because being tagged with a "salvage title" (even though it wasn't actually totalled in an accident) hurt the car's final selling price to the point that he wouldn't be able to make a profit.