Used Cars w/ Rebuilt Titles

[FUJIMO]

Owned several rebuilt rides and the wife is driving a rebuilt 2008 hhr right now. Another poster (murgatory) made a valid point, when its possible you need to buy a wreck and repair it yourself or have a shop you know do it. It's not hard and there are an array of capable mechanics in the east Tn area that I know of.

Just remember cash is king and if you pay as you go it seems things get done quicker and cheaper. The '08 we bought was already rebuilt and the mechanic went over all the repairs made, had a list of parts replaced, and before pics. But at that time in Alabama ( where I bought it ) they required a rebuilder to do these things on a car that new (bought it in 2010) . Saved a ton of cash and the hhr has been nothing but great.

In the case of Florida and wrecked vehicles, GOOD LUCK, I had a Saturn I bought cheap from a local because his state ( Fla ) refused to issue a title. Seems they ain't fond of the wrecks,lol.

[Defender]

How can you tell if it's a rebuilt title?  IS it clearly marked as such?

[FUJIMO]

Well since laws change year to year and vary state to state I'm not sure, but in my case every vehicle I've had that were rebuilt and retitled had a yellow title instead of the green title.But those were all wrecked,rebuilt,and resold in this state. The wife's car we have now was wrecked and rebuilt in Alabama and has a "rebuilders" stamp on the frame but carries a green title just like the rest of my vehicles.

 

I really p!ss the guys off at Carmax because that's their introduction when you walk in. For those that have never been our one and only visit started by getting approached by a salesman as soon as we walked in. He introduced himself, asked if it was our first time there and what vehicle we were looking for. I told him and he started into his routine. They take you up to a car that looks used but in good exterior shape. He asked me if I'd buy a car like this in which I said, yeah I guess. He then proceeds to point to the pics of the "before" shots of the car and tell me their in house rebuilders fixed this car to prove what's on the outside isn't neccesarily the whole story. After finishing his story and feeling pretty good about his speech I asked if the car was for sale ? He looked puzzled and said "oh no sir we can't sell you this car it's been totaled". To which I replied "hell that's all I've drove for the several years", lol. Needless to say he wasn't amused. Long story short they didn't have what we were after which at that time was a REASONABLE price on a good car and a fair trade in price for our car. They fell way short in both areas and my trade in was a mint condition, non rebuilt, sports car.

 

I would watch govt. auctions and buddy up with a car dealer. Maybe MCR can shed light on the subject, isn't he a car dealer ?

[Murgatroy]

I would watch govt. auctions and buddy up with a car dealer. Maybe MCR can shed light on the subject, isn't he a car dealer ?

I am pretty sure he is, but I haven't seen him post much outside of the Classifieds in a while.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Already did that. Still not good enough.

 

We've been to the DMV here in Orlando 4  times and each time we visit they tell us we need to do something different. 

Erik, you need to go up the food chain. They are screwing with you, I believe. Have you called someone in the main office?

I never had that much of a problem. I had to go to Nashville on my first one, and call them on the others after I got used to

how it works. I doubt you even have to have a rebuilt title, any way, just have the car certified as something other than

salvage. Maybe have the insurance company help you. don't give up, though, because those TN tags will get you a ticket

in Florida, eventually.

Go to the Florida DOT website and look around for help, or ask a used car dealer how they do it. Some of them might

actually help you.