Romulus, MI Personal Injury Law Firms & Lawyers

Your certificate of title should indicate whether the car was ever totaled. If a lien holder has the title, contact the lien holder to see if it was ever a salvaged title. The applicable laws are set out below. There is a procedure whereby an owner of a vehicle with a salvaged title can obtain a regular title, but it the regular title must indicate it was formerly salvaged. I do not know whether a dealer must disclose this when selling the vehicle. One way to find out is to call a competitor (another dealer) and ask them. These laws can be found in the SC Code. You can find the SC Code online by googling ?SC Code of laws?. There may be something in there regarding a duty to disclose, but I couldn?t find it. If you are looking, ignore anything referring to ?lemon laws?. Lemon Laws apply only to the sale of new cars. SECTION 56-19-480. Transfer and surrender of certificates, license plates, registration cards and manufacturers' serial plates of vehicles sold as salvage, abandoned, scrapped or destroyed. (A) An owner who scraps, dismantles, destroys, or in any manner disposes to another as wreckage or salvage, a motor vehicle otherwise required to be titled in this State immediately shall mail or deliver to the Department of Motor Vehicles the vehicle's certificate of title notifying the department to whom the vehicle is delivered together with a report indicating the type and severity of any damage to the vehicle. (B) If a vehicle is acquired by an insurance company in settlement of a claim to the vehicle by fire, flood, collision, or other causes, or is left with the claimant after being declared a total loss by the insurance company, the company or its agent immediately shall deliver to the department the certificate of title together with a report indicating the type and severity of damage to the vehicle. At such time as the insurance company may thereafter transfer the damaged vehicle, the company or its agent shall notify the department to whom the transfer was made on a form prescribed by the department. Notwithstanding another provision of law, when an insurance company obtains title to a vehicle from settling a total loss claim, the insurance company may obtain a title to the vehicle designated as "salvage". The insurance company must pay the title fee contained in Section 56-19-420. (C) All insurance companies which make payments on liability, collision, fire, theft, or comprehensive policies for damaged motor vehicles in this State shall allow department officials to examine all records of the company which pertain to payments made pursuant to the policies during normal working hours. (D) Vehicles acquired by insurance companies as outlined above are exempt from ad valorem property taxes and inventory taxes, and the transfers of the vehicles to and from insurance companies exempt from sales taxes. (E) If a salvage vehicle is rebuilt, a regular certificate of title may not again be issued except upon submission of an application stating that the vehicle has been rebuilt and containing the information ordinarily required by the department for the issuance of a certificate of title as well as any information the department may require about the identity of the vehicle, the source and cost of any parts used in, and the extent of any repairs or other work done to the vehicle. In addition, the department may require the vehicle to undergo an inspection by the Highway Patrol or someone authorized by the department to check the identity or the safety of the vehicle, or both. Any regular certificate of title issued by the department for a previously salvaged vehicle must be annotated to show that the vehicle was "salvaged-rebuilt" and the reason why the vehicle was salvaged. (F) The manufacturer's serial plate or vehicle identification number (VIN) plate must remain with the vehicle at all times until the vehicle is shredded, crushed, melted, or otherwise destroyed.