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If you bought a car and only later found out it had been declared a total loss, you may have a claim. California law required the dealer to tell you in writing, before the sale. When that didn’t happen, you have legal options the dealer is counting on you not knowing about.
A salvage title is a permanent brand placed on a car declared a total loss, usually when repair costs exceed roughly 70 percent of the car’s pre-loss value. Once a car gets the salvage brand, it stays. If it’s later rebuilt and passes inspection, the title may convert to “rebuilt,” but the salvage history stays on the record.
California requires written disclosure before sale of any branded title: salvage, rebuilt/reconstructed, flood, fire, junk/non-repairable, or a Lemon Law Buyback.
It isn’t just paperwork. The brand exists for reasons that affect you directly.
Hidden structural damage, repaired collision points, or airbag systems that weren’t properly restored.
A salvage or rebuilt car is worth significantly less. If you paid clean-title prices, you overpaid.
Many insurers won’t write full coverage and many lenders won’t finance branded vehicles.
When you sell or trade in, the brand surfaces and you get far less than you paid.
Outright concealment. The dealer doesn’t mention the brand and sells the car as if the title was clean.
Buried disclosure. The brand appears in an addendum the dealer didn’t point out.
Title washing. The brand was scrubbed across state lines before you saw the car.
“Minor damage.” A total-loss event described as a fender-bender.
No title at all. You signed paperwork without ever seeing the title showing the brand.
Focused exclusively on automotive law. Lemon law, dealer fraud, and automotive class actions are all we do. Our focus is evident in our results.
20 years against California dealers. Dealerships have strong legal teams, but we’ve been outmatching them for two decades, and they know it.
$400M+ recovered across 6,000+ cases. Dealers don’t write fair settlement checks without a fight, and we know how to make them.
In-house inspection capability. The Margarian Garage lets us physically inspect and document concealed damage, giving us evidence most firms simply don’t have.
A salvage title is applied when a car is declared a total loss and not yet repaired for road use. A rebuilt title is applied after a salvage car has been repaired and passed inspection. Both indicate the car was at some point a total loss.
No. Salvage and rebuilt vehicles can legally be sold. The brand just has to be disclosed in writing before the sale. The fraud is in skipping the disclosure, not in the sale itself.
Possibly. California disclosure requirements often apply regardless of the dealer’s actual knowledge. A dealer who didn’t check the title history before sale may still be liable.
An “as is” disclosure doesn’t necessarily shield a dealer from salvage non-disclosure claims. California’s branded-title disclosure requirements apply even when the dealer tries to sell the car “as is.”
If you suspect the dealer hid your car’s salvage history, our attorneys are here to help. A free case review is easy, and it could change everything. Call (818) 553-1000.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is evaluated on its individual merits. Outcomes vary based on the dealer, the conduct involved, the documentation available, and the case posture. Attorney fee recovery in California consumer protection cases depends on the specific statute violated and the outcome of the case.
