A plain-English guide to salvage titles -- what the brand means, how a car gets one, and whether it's worth buying.
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A salvage title is a legal brand a state DMV places on a vehicle's title after an insurance company declares it a "total loss." It doesn't necessarily mean the car is wrecked beyond repair -- it means that, at the time of the claim, the estimated cost to repair it (plus its salvage value) exceeded a percentage of the car's actual cash value that the insurer was willing to pay out on.
Collision damage is the most common cause, but a car can also be totaled from flood damage, fire, theft recovery (after being stripped of parts), hail, or even a mechanical or electrical failure that's simply not worth fixing on an older car. The threshold that triggers a total loss varies by state and by insurer -- it's often somewhere between 60% and 100% of a car's pre-accident value, not a fixed dollar amount.
"Total loss" is the insurance company's internal determination; "salvage title" is what actually gets printed on the title once the state processes that determination. The two terms get used interchangeably, but a car can be a total loss without the title ever being formally re-branded, depending on the state and how the claim was settled.
In most states, no -- a car with a salvage title generally can't be legally driven or registered as-is. It first has to be repaired and pass a state inspection (sometimes called a salvage or reconstruction inspection), at which point the title gets re-branded "rebuilt" and the car becomes road-legal again. Requirements vary significantly by state, so it's worth checking your local DMV's rules before buying.
It depends entirely on the specific car. Salvage vehicles typically sell for 20-50% below what a comparable clean-title car would cost, which is a real opportunity if the damage was cosmetic, minor, or already professionally repaired. The key is doing your homework: review the damage photos, ask for a vehicle history report, and if possible have a trusted mechanic inspect it before you commit.