How to Clear Salvage Title

The meaning of title cleaning / clearing, methods and even whether it is legal or not, depends on what information one wants to remove from the title and what one understands saying clear / clean title. Please note that some practices are normal and widely used and some are against the law.

1. Turning Salvage Brand into Rebuilt to Make it Roadworthy

This is a legal procedure widely used as millions of vehicles get written off by insurance companies as total loss.

First and most importnat to remember, if you have a salvage title vehicle you cannot remove the brand permanently because it indicates total loss in the vehicle's history (as a rule, due to damage) and the information about it should remain on the title. What you can do is repair it, pass state inspection and rebrand it as Rebuilt. Rebuilt is a permanent brand meaning that once the vehicle had a Salvage title. Please note the major difference between the 'salvage' and 'rebuilt' titles: unlike a salvage vehicle, the one with the rebuilt title can be driven legally or insured, while a salvage one cannot be used on public roads because the issue that totaled it is supposed to be still present and the vehicle is unsage to drive. In very rare cases, junk titles are also converted to Rebuilt / Revived / Reconstructed branded titles.

To find out whether the the branded title is roadworthy you should search for words like Rebuilt/ Restored / Reconstructed / Revived on it. The exact title name depends on the state's law and titling practices. Even if the title has a 'Rebuilt Salvage' brand its basically the same as 'Rebuilt' and is roadworthy. Plase note that the term 'clean title' is not quite corrent for this situation, it's just a roadworthy title because a title once branded as salvage can never be clean again.

2. Title Washing

Title washing is a scam dishonest car dealers use to pass vehicles with a branded history off as clean vehilcles without a brand on the title in order to raise their resale value. A vehicle with a branded title is moved to another state that does not recognize the current title and issues a new, clean title. A vehicle may change several states or even leave the country. Title washing with the purpose of hiding a problem history is illegal. VIN check and vehicle history reports help used car shoppers avoid this kind of scam.

3. Clearing Lien off the Title

Clean vs Clear title

First of all, note the difference. Clear title means that the owner of the vehicle owns it free and clear of encumbrances. In other words, it's without any kind of lien or levy from creditors.

Regarding hidden from view facts about a vehicle, the title has information not just about branding but also about loans/liens. And that's where the term 'title clearing' is often used. A clear (cleared) title term is often used when the title holder pays off the loan and the lien information is cleared off the title. Please note that in many cases the information about lien removal does not reach the DMV or the vehicle history company timely. For this reason, the lien may still be present on the title even if the debt is paid. On the vehicle history reports, one can often find records about registering a new lien and the date but not always about removing the lien. That's up to the buyer to investigate and get the proof that the lien is removed from the buyer.

A lien on the title is not a brand so clearing the title is this sense does not have anything to do with branded titles.