Title (Clean / Salvage / Rebuilt / Branded)

A car title is the legal document showing ownership. Title status types: (1) Clean — no significant damage or insurance writeoff history. (2) Salvage — declared a total loss by an insurance company; cannot legally drive on public roads in salvage status. (3) Rebuilt — was salvage, then repaired and re-inspected; legal to drive but typically worth 30-50% less than equivalent clean-title car. (4) Branded — has a permanent disclosure (flood, hail, lemon law buyback). Always pull a Carfax/AutoCheck before buying a used car to verify title status — sellers occasionally try to "wash" branded titles by retitling in lax states.