Salvage title

[Bellingo]

Please help me with the topic of insurance too! I am working as a marketing assistant and I was given the task to promote an insurance company in the USA and now I am studying everything about insurance in the USA and I cannot understand the translation of words and how to interpret "Salvage Title" correctly, I can share an article (https://american-reia.com/auto-insurance/salvage-title-cars-is-the-game-of-repair-worth-it/). Title is the name of something and Salvage is the destruction of something, but then why does this combination go as Salvage Title? It is not meant to destroy the title of something (such as a book, in this case the title of a car). Why is it used that way and what does it mean? Do all people in America use this word combination? Perhaps there are other synonyms?

 

[emsr2d2]

Welcome to the forum.

The answer to your question is available on the website you linked to. Look at Page Contents and click on "What is a Salvage Title?"

 

[Skrej]

You need to look at some other definitions of 'title' as well. See definitions 6a-6c, as well as 9 for the legal sense of the word. Additionally, 'salvage' isn't the destruction of something, but rather saving part of what was lost or destroyed. See the noun and verb definitions here.

There are several different types of legal title (the article mentions at least one other), of which salvage title is only one. I can guarantee you'll see 'title' used in this sense many times dealing with insurance. Anyone who owns property or vehicles will be at least passingly familiar with the term in some form.

While some specific types of title might be unique to the US, I'm pretty certain the term of legal 'title' (in the sense of ownership) exists in the UK, Canada, Australia, and other English-speaking countries.

 

[SoothingDave]

A car that is sold as "salvage" has a special type of title (official ownership document from a state).

"Salvaged" cars have been involved in an accident and sustained so much damage that they were "totaled." That is, the insurance company did not fix the car for its customer, rather they gave them the typical resale value of the wrecked car so they could go buy another car. The car was a total loss.

These totaled cars can then be sold on another market to people/businesses that want to fix them and try to sell them. But they are marked as such, so new buyers are aware that the car they are looking at was involved in a serious accident, thus could have underlying damage.

 

[Bellingo]

Ok, now I get it! It reminds me of a persistent expression. Some things just take some getting used to and learning. The comment that helped me the most is @Skrej. Thanks again to everyone!