What a branded title actually is

The red box on a current California title reads VEHICLE HISTORY. Salvaged, Prior Taxi, or Lemon Law Buyback in that box is a brand: a mark on the certificate of title or the registration card for a condition or an event. It is not a grade of the repair.

California DMV says most states brand a title and that the wording changes. Recurring names include salvage, rebuilt, revived salvage, water damage, lemon law buyback, warranty returned, prior police, prior taxi, and gray market. California prints Salvaged, Original or Prior Taxi, Original or Prior Police, Non-USA (grey market), and Warranty Return or Lemon Law Buyback. On the latest certificate and salvage certificate, the brand sits in that red box near the upper right.

Salvaged and revived salvage are two stamps. Salvaged covers a wrecked or badly damaged vehicle, including flood or vandalism, and includes vehicles that were previously dismantled. Revived salvage means that vehicle was repaired and reregistered. DMV says many are expertly repaired and some are not properly repaired or tested. The second stamp records that reregistration.

Texas calls the later paper Rebuilt Salvage. A vehicle on the TxDMV salvage-brand list cannot be operated on a road until it is rebuilt and inspected. Until then the eligible papers are a salvage title, a nonrepairable title, or authority to dispose of the vehicle. The rebuilt brand means previously branded salvage, rebuilt to what Texas calls road worthiness.

Lemon law buyback and warranty return record a manufacturer return under California’s lemon law. Prior taxi and prior police record earlier use. Gray market, printed as Non-USA (grey market), records a vehicle built for sale outside the United States and converted to federal and California safety and emissions standards. Water damage is its own brand.

Florida section 319.14 carries a brand on a title, including an out-of-state title, onto the registration and onto later Florida titles and registrations for the life of the vehicle. It also stamps prior taxi or police use, a manufacturer’s buyback, and rebuilt or flood status. A rebuilt vehicle is examined to identify the vehicle and the major component parts that were repaired or replaced, then given a decal.

NMVTIS keeps a brand a state titling agency has reported. A flood brand in one state need not be printed by the next, a search can miss history, and a paper title can omit a brand the file still holds. California licensed dealers must obtain an NMVTIS report before displaying a used vehicle for sale, and must post a disclosure if the report shows junk or salvage or the title carries a brand, aside from the exceptions DMV lists. DMV also says sellers, dealerships included, must disclose a salvage title and its history, and that this is hard to enforce when the car came from another state.

Salvage is the earlier paper. Rebuilt or revived salvage is the later one, with the history still on it. California’s steps after salvage are in what a revived salvage title is. Texas’s later paper is in what a rebuilt title is.