Free preview · from the dealership side of the desk
A car’s title is supposed to tell you what it’s been through. When an insurer totals a car, when it sits in floodwater, or when a manufacturer buys it back as a lemon, the title usually gets a brand that follows the car for life. A rebuilt car priced $5,000 under a clean one looks like a bargain. It often isn’t, because much of that discount comes back off when you sell, and insuring it can be harder.
From the dealer side, a branded title changes a car’s category, not just its price. Many franchised stores won’t retail them and send them to auction. They end up on smaller lots and in private sales, sometimes with the brand only in the fine print, and sometimes with it gone after a trip through another state. Below: each brand explained, a worked rebuilt-bargain example, how title washing works, how to spot a branded or washed car, what the seller must tell you, and when one can make sense.
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In the full guide
- The main title brands
- Why these cars are cheap, and stay cheap
- Worked example: is the rebuilt bargain really a bargain?
- Title washing: how brands disappear
- How to spot a branded or washed car
- What the seller has to tell you
- When a branded car can make sense
- What to say
- Your game plan
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