Salvage and title check by VIN

To check whether a car has a salvage, rebuilt, flood, lemon or junk title, enter its VIN below. The title and ownership section of the CarHenry vehicle history report lists every brand on record for that vehicle with the state and date it was applied, the title history by state, the number of previous owners, how the car was used, and any lien or repossession.

Check VIN

Full vehicle history report $9.90, instantly generated, no subscription.

Covered by the CarHenry Buyback Guarantee: if a DMV-branded title (salvage, rebuilt, junk, flood, fire, hail, lemon) exists for the VIN and is missing from the report, we refund it and CarHenry may buy the vehicle back.

What the title section shows

• Title brands. Salvage, rebuilt (also called reconstructed or restored), junk or non-repairable, flood or water damage, fire, hail, lemon or manufacturer buyback, and the odometer brands not-actual-mileage and exceeds-mechanical-limits. Each with the state and the date.
• Title history by state. Every title issue and transfer on record, in order, with the state. A car that has been titled in three states in two years deserves a question.
• Previous owners and length of ownership. How many owners, and how long each kept the car.
• Use type. Personal, rental, lease, fleet, taxi or police use where recorded. Rental and fleet cars are usually well maintained but driven hard by many people; a taxi or police car has lived a different life from a personal car with the same mileage.
• Liens and repossessions. A recorded lien means a lender may still have a claim on the car; a repossession explains a gap in the ownership history.

Where title records come from

Title brands are applied by state titling agencies when a vehicle is declared a total loss, rebuilt and inspected, damaged by flood or fire, bought back under a lemon law, or found to have an unreliable odometer. The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS), run by the US Department of Justice, collects brand and total-loss history across states so that a brand cannot be washed by re-titling the car somewhere that does not carry it forward. CarHenry's title section is built from state title records reported through those channels, so a brand applied in one state still shows after the car moves to another.

What each brand means for you

A salvage title means an insurer declared the car a total loss; it cannot be driven on the road in most states until repaired and inspected. A rebuilt title means it passed that inspection and can be registered, but the brand stays for life, the value is substantially lower, some insurers will not write full coverage, and the quality of the rebuild ranges from excellent to dangerous. A flood brand warns of electrical faults and corrosion that appear long after the car is dried out. A lemon brand means the manufacturer bought the car back because a defect could not be fixed. A junk brand means the car can never legally be titled again; a junk car offered as a driver is itself the fraud. Title brands explained in detail.

Title washing, and how the report catches it

Because states record brands differently, a car totalled in one state can be re-titled in another with a title that looks clean. The report shows the full title history across states rather than only the most recent title, so the earlier brand and the state that applied it stay visible. If the title history shows a transfer to a new state shortly after a salvage brand, followed by a clean title, you are looking at a washed title.

What to do with what you find

1. Compare the report with the physical title the seller shows you. The VIN, the state and the brand line must match. A seller who has a photo of everything except the title is telling you something.
2. If there is a rebuilt brand, ask for the repair invoices and the state inspection certificate, and price the car as a rebuilt car, not as a clean-title car at a discount.
3. If there is a lien, ask for the lien release letter before money changes hands.
4. Check the odometer section: title transfers are where mileage is declared, and a reading that drops between transfers is a rollback.

Questions buyers ask

How do I check if a car has a salvage title?

Enter the VIN on CarHenry. The title and ownership section of the $9.90 report lists every brand on record, including salvage, rebuilt, flood, fire, hail, lemon and junk, with the state and the date each was applied. A clean title shows "no record found" for brands, in writing.

Can a salvage title be removed?

No. Once a state applies a brand it stays on the vehicle's title history permanently, even after the car is rebuilt and re-titled. A rebuilt title replaces the salvage title as the current title, but the report shows both, along with the history by state.

Does the report show previous owners?

Yes. The number of previous owners, how long each kept the car, the states it was titled in, and the recorded use type (personal, rental, lease, fleet, taxi or police). Owner names are not shown; federal privacy law does not allow it.