The Expert Podcast

a lot of the calls we get about car titles have to do with the vehicle that at some point originated from Copart or IAAI or Manheim or one of the other salvage auctions. and they're a source of some really good deals on vehicles as long as you know how to work the system and make sure that the disadvantages aren't in conflict with what you're trying to do. the first thing to do is try to buy direct. try not to buy through a broker there's lots of people that are representing to buy cars through copart but really you're buying it from a guy who's buying it from copart. if you can establish a direct account with Copart which you probably can you're better off doing that. first of all you gonna save any markups from that person more importantly you're not going to have a person between you and copart to deal with the paperwork and the title. one of the biggest sources of title problems with an end user is the broker in between. the broker gets the paperwork and loses it and now there's nothing you can do. or the broker doesn't understand what they're supposed to get and they get the wrong paperwork to give to their buyers. so deal directly with the auction that way you'll have somebody that you can talk to because here's the thing if you buy through a broker and there's a problem with the paperwork and you call Copart they won't even talk to you because you were not their customer. you have to be their direct customer. and that broker once to get your money they're not gonna care about talking to you and helping you out. the next thing to do is make sure you get a good title. make sure you're not buying a car with a certificate of destruction or non repairable title. those two designations for the most part are permanent death sentences for that vin number and vehicle. can't put it on the road you can't fix it can't inspect it can't do anything. so make sure you understand what title is being given to you it will always be disclosed on the auction disclosure. it'll be on that auction sheet or that auction listing what kind of title it is. make sure you understand what it is even a salvage title or rebuilt title that can be put on the road you may have to go through an inspection process before you get a title in your name. so think about that for a minute you get a title from Copart for this you know two thousand and ten Acura it's not gonna be in your name it's going to be in the name of an insurance company signed over to you. in some cases before you can get a title in your name you have to have the vehicle inspected to show that it's been repaired and road worthy. so now you have this title from that you got from Copart it's from State Farm insurance sign over to you. it takes you three four months to get it fixed up and you lose the title. now what you gonna do State Farm is not gonna get you duplicate you can't get a duplicate it's a big mess. right so make sure you understand the title you're getting and if you can immediately put into your name or if you have to go through inspection and if you do make sure you understand what you your requirements are not obligations are to do that. in many cases Copart will have a vehicle sold bill of sale only. you might think well up for it we're about getting a title later you have to understand why it's only a bill of sale it might be because it's a certificate of destruction. it might be because before titles issued you have to get inspection so understanding what bill of sale only means will help you avoid getting jammed up in the car you can't do anything with. also go back to the last thing in many cases before you get a title or registration you have to get inspected. that's more than just fixing up the car to make it look good. the inspector is going to go through the car depending on what state you're in New York is notoriously difficult Washington state is too they're gonna check every part of that car make sure the air bags are all operable make sure the brake system is intact make sure there's no frame damage there's no water damage on the frame even though you might say well the car was just in three feet of water and there's really no damage the inspector might look at a different way. they might say well these brake lines were under water we want to have replaced because we don't know if they're kind of rust and hit the brakes and go off the road to kill somebody. so these inspections are very very intense make sure you know what you're getting into the cars are really really cheap but they're really really cheap for a reason. because there's a risk when you buy these cars many of the buyers of these vehicles are buying them just to take apart because the parts may be worth more than the whole car. in fact there's a whole industry of these nationwide parts warehouses that buy up all these cars and they categorize the engines transmissions they know how to get the maximum value from taking apart a car these people fly around in jets to just all these auctions and buy the cars and ship them all over the country. they can get full value out of the car sometimes they can get more value from the car than if it wasn't crash. so if you're looking to fix this car put on the road because this seems cheap look a fifteen thousand dollar car that you can buy for five thousand isn't a deal if you have to spend six thousand fixing it and then you can't get on the road. right so make sure you know what you're getting into there's some good deals on there but the paperwork is the key. understanding what you have to do to get that paperwork done is the key and it's not just about what kind of title is it's also about what state it's from. if it's from New York state doesn't matter if you're in Pennsylvania you can't get a Pennsylvania title until you jailbreak it out of New York and that requires an inspection. but if you are in let's say Florida which might be easier it might be a simpler process if the titles from your state so not only look at what type of title it is but look at what state it's from because that could affect what kind of inspection you need what kind of bureaucratic obstacles you have to face as a buyer.