Hi All,

Well, to contribute.  CLEAN TITLE cars are best when you know why the former owner is selling. The trick here is REALLY KNOWING WHY THE FORMER OWNER IS SELLING a clean titled car.
1. Could be for an upgrade
2. For financial strain issues
3. The car has a fault(matured or maturing fault)

Now, of the three reasons above you can never be sure of which is causing the sale of the vehicle, you can only rely on what you are told. Most times, some maturing faults would not be detected by the dealer/importer importing the vehicle from the USA/Canada/europe/asia as most buy from auctions, online bids or individuals who don't give the buyer enough time to inspect the vehicle properly before purchase. This puts the end user at a very bad position as you're buying a car that that you can ONLY HOPE has no hidden maturing faults, and is as CLEAN as its TITLE/CARFAX/AUTOCHECK records tell you.
I can confidently tell you that I've witnessed cases where customers bought and shipped in clean title cars from the USA themselves, and less than 1 month the engine knocked, some had electrical faults that were not recorded in the USA, and as such became a thorn[i]( its not a funny experience at all )[/i]
Like earlier stated, the trick in buying a CLEAN TITLED car is in being sure it has no electrical or mechanical maturing fault which prompted its sale. If you scale that, then you must be ready to pay PREMIUM for such a perfect vehicle.
For instance, you see some buyers calling/writing some dealers on here and asking them for e.g. a 2005 Honda accord EX FULL OPTIONS!!! and insisting they have 1.4M naira. How do you expect that to happen?
CLEAN TITLED cars come at a premium.

Now, lets move to the SALVAGED zone:

The term SALVAGE has been basterdized in this forum section a lot over the few years by, most especially, the ignorant(Yes! ignorant) individuals who know next to nothing about cars, and how they work.
A SALVAGE vehicle means a vehicle that was accidented and was restored/fixed back to driveable state. The TRICK now is knowing the extent of the damage that was fixed. As the extent of damage should inform you if its still worth a buy or not.

If the damage is a Side fender, door accident or boot accident which the part can be removed and just REPLACED WITH A NEW PART then its good enough as a CLEAN TITLE, and you get to buy it at a lesser price than its clean title counter-part. The most important part of a car is the chasis/frame; once an accident doesn't affect the chasis/frame, EVERY-OTHER PART OF THE CAR CAN BE REPLACED WITH NEW PARTS AND WILL RUN PERFECTLY, I SAY EVERY & ANY OTHER-THING, ASK PEOPLE WHO MODIFY/love-vendor CARS e.g Nairalands Sienna etc Once an accident affects the frame of a car, DO NOT TOUCH IT WITH A 100foot pole, INFACT, DO NO TOUCH WITH EVEN YOUR MIND/THOUGHT 

One other reason why some customers I've met prefer minor salvage cars(strangely) to clean title cars is because of the issue I've explained above: With a clean title car, buyers are never sure why the owner is selling; but with a salvage car you're quite sure the owner is selling because of the accident they had. Now, that a car is salvaged doesn't mean it would be sold like biscuit, GETTING NEW PARTS FOR FIXING COSTS MONEY YOU KNOW? 
Funny enough, some minor salvaged cars, after fixing, come out better than their clean title counterparts as their old worn-out parts would have been replaced with new ones having a new longer life-span.

In conclusion, buy wisely, if you want a CLEAN TITLE be ready for any eventualities, and don't blame the dealer for any hidden/maturing fault that comes up after purchase because, they MIGHT not be aware of it. Also be ready to pay for the value you are getting as they are more expensive than their salvaged counter-parts. Good things don't come cheap, So don't call a dealer telling him "My colleague/cousin/neighbor just bought one for blahblahblah price why is your own so expensive. 

As for salvage vehicles, if its salvaged properly, its worth the buy as I've stated above. So go yourself or have someone inspect it for you physically before purchase. Same goes for even clean titles, when buying a car, inspect it physically or have someone do it for you before you purchase.

I have attached below(PICTURE 1)  some minor accidents, that is a minor damage - GOOD BUY
picture 2 shows a nasty fender accident that has affected the chasis - NOT A GOOD BUY

Consider this. Salvage vehicles cannot be sold in US why Nigeria. As a matter of facts, salvage vehicle are nothing but death trap. Stay away from them.

@viperman

God bless you!!!

Thanks for taking the time to write your post. You've said a lot of things that will surely shape the decision of anyone reading this thread and I hope they read to this end of the thread. Thanks for the picture too.

[b]I guess we are Interchanging SALVAGED TITLES with REBUILT Certificate ( Salvaged Cars That has been Repaired and Certified Fit to be driven )

There is Nothing Like Minor Salvage And Salvaged Title Does not mean the Vehicle Has Been FIXED or REPAIRED.

In-fact  SALVAGED title means that the Vehicle has been SEVERELY Damaged and has been declared TOTAL LOSS by the Insurance Company.

Salvaged means the Extent Of damage will cost Above 75% the Market value of the car to REPAIR.

For example, If a Vehicle Cost 1 Million Naira, and its Involved in an accident or Damaged, The Insurance company will asses the Damage, If it will cost 750,000 Naira to repair it back to a drivable State, A Salvaged title will be Issued.

It doesn't make sense to Spend 750,000 Naira to repair a car when the Market Value Pre Damaged is 1m Naira.

In Some States in the USA, Stolen vehicle Recovered are Issued Salvaged Titles, In These rare cases, Buyers Could be Lucky

Not all Accidents Results in Issuing Salvaged Title, As long as the Damage is not Severe A Salvaged title may not be issued.


Salvaged cars Are Cheaper To Buy Simply Because Most People Don't want them, These are the Cars That are Exported to Nigeria, Fixed By Our Panel beaters, Using Inferior Spare Parts, Painted and are Sold at Ridiculously Low Prices.

In Nigeria on a Daily basis Salvaged and Severely Damaged cars Are SOLD to Unsuspecting buyers, these Cars are the Road without Proper Repairs, So many Lives have been Lost Due to these Badly damaged Vehicles Fixed with Cheap Cosmetic Repairs.

In Very Rare Cases, Buying Salvaged Cars may not Be a Bad Idea, IF it has been PROPERLY RESTORED But Before You BUY any Salvaged Car, make a Thorough Inspection, Most Car dealers Especially in Nigeria WILL NOT tell you their Cars are Salvaged.


Finally In My Humble Opinion, Salvaged Cars May Save you Some Money But the Overall Wahala Before and After Purchase MAY Not be worth it.



[/b]

Honestly ignorance is surely a disease.

Lets break it down this way and write  the little i know because i dont build the vehicles.

Salvage : what it is:

Vehicles are classified salvage when insurance adjuster declared it so whether the damage is substantial or not. The Ministry of Transportation, in North America, say such vehicles are repairable/rebuilt and should pass certain test for it to be on the road.

Why salvaged? Many things make a vehicle salvage. Flood is one of those thing. Road impact , small or big; hard or scratches. Hail, blood stains, vandalism and theft recovery and many more.

What you should ask the seller when buying a salvage.
Let the seller shows you pictures of the damages sustained by the vehicle.
Test drive the vehicle.
Demand for alignment if you agree to purchase the car.
If hail or flood vehicle make sure you are taken to a diagnosis center of your choice for electrical examination.

What you should not buy:

Viperman has already stated it.

The good:
Most of these vehicles are daily driven before the accident occured which seems to suggest that the car is road worthy.

The bad:
If it is not new, it's not the same as new. Salvage or not.

Samples:

Clean title:

These cars are the most desirable if you actually know what you are looking for and can afford it.

Clean. What it is:

Some cars are decleared clean even if they've been a an accident before. This depends entirely on the adjuster opinion. Mind you some cars are never reported accidented and will have a clean title history.

What are the tricks?
In some states, as soon as a vehicle is rebuilt, it becomes a clean title car ( cleaned salvage cars).

In some instances car are presumed clean title when the owner have a first choice of buying back the car after an accident for a consideration of a lower compensation from the insurance company.

What you should do:
Some clean title/repaired cars are so well repaired that you hardly noticed the difference.
Check by taking a test drive.
Check the door rail/guard/panel.
Open the hood/bonnet to check the frame.
Open the trunk/booth to check the tire storage compartment.
Check car history.

Remember there's always a choice of the; good, bad and worse.

There are those who could afford to marry a queen and others can only marry an orange hawker. You decide what is good for you, can afford and will make you happy.

This is a clean title car .
Avoid it.
When rebuilt, you hardy noticed the accident and it is a "clean title"

This is a previous salvage rebuilt without any forms of any accident.

This is a vandalized car and has been labelled a titled salvage

@INSPIRED_M

My brother, you need to really UNDERSTAND what goes in in the car business in America/canada/europe and the tricks car dealers play with insurance and vice-versa before you just make conclusive posts. If you are REALLY in the business of buying & importing cars from the states/canada/europe YOURSELF you'd be conversant with these tricks they use to make money of insurance.
A car labeled salvaged [/b]may just be a[b] clean title with JUST a broken side mirrors. That broken glass reduces the cost drastically for the importer/buyer, now tell me the any car which its side-mirrors cost 75% of the cars worth, name one, even any bike/power-bike.

Read B_FIREs posts above so you can understand more.

Learning.

bfire:

This is a previous salvage rebuilt without any forms of any accident.

A contradiction.

Rebuilt means it was damaged in an accident and then rebuilt.

I'll say this, directed again to the OP, not interested in arguing with folks who make their livelihoods on selling salvaged vehicles.

If you get a chance to watch a show on TV (US) called Modern Marvels, they usually go to automobile assembly plants. Onc eyou view this program and see the finite details that goes into making even the most basic cars, the level of painting, dipping the fram ein rust proofing, critical measurements by robots, etc then you can decide if you want to save money and buy a salvaged or rebuilt vehicle.

I have never seen a car that was deemed salvaged due to a broken side mirror ever.

Most of my cars in the last 6 years have been rebuilt title. I change one of our cars (me and my wife) once a year. So do the calculation I have used alot of cars that were prior salvaged. I bought most of them at the salvage auction myself and I got them fixed at a friend's body shop. Here is the deal, vehicles are salvaged for alot of reasons. The notion that vehicle with over 75% cost of the vehicle only are salvaged is far from true. I have friends that have body shop and there's just too much to explain when it comes to salvaging a vehicle. Some vehicles are totally wrecked that it makes no sense to fix them. Below are some pictures of the last 2 vehicle I bought at the salvage auction.

more

bfire:

This is a clean title car .
Avoid it.
When rebuilt, you hardy noticed the accident and it is a "clean title"

This is seriously funny but no offense to you though.

Only a non autoist will nto notice all the tell tale signs of a rebuilt vehicle. Not me though. I don't rely on a title to tell me if a can has been rebuilt. Tools of my hobby are overalls, floor jack, magnet and a good flashlight

Men i am learning 4rm d masters of d game.ryd own

I have read through most of the posts on this thread and everybody has given his/her candid opinions and personal  experiences on the issue. The only statement i want to disagree with is the saying that 95%, 80% blah blah of the vehicles imported to Naija have salvage titles. On my honour i think as at the last count i have checked the vins of nothing less than 12 different SUVs mostly Ford Explorers XLT thanks to cretin and autocheckng both of NL of all only two came close to what we have been advised to run away from in American used vehicles. One was reported to have been registered in a flood area, but the report warned that it might not have been caught in the flood as it was probably registered and moved out of the area before the flood came in. The other one was clearly said to be flood salvaged, on seeing the vin report of this one, Carl Lewis or even Usain Bolt will be green with envy the way i took off from the dealer, and surprisingly some of them were even completely accident free!!! But we are always warned that "not all accidents are reported to autocheck" From experience the guys in the US who go for the auctions do tell their dealers in Naija which vehicles had accident and which one has savage titles so this reflects on the price tag they place on this vehicles. The long and short of my post is that we should not wave off our auto dealers as a bunch of wicked, heartless beings they too know that like what my people say if you throw a stone to a market your own close relation may be the target. NB pls i am not a dealer o i have been on Lagos streets for the past three weeks looking for a SUV and i have bought one case closed.

Was thinking of going into the salvage business myself,being as It's one of the profitable ways of getting your money back from car sales in the competitive Nigerian auto-scene. but with all the risks you guys mentioned, I don't want to be held responsible for the death of fellow Nigerians all in the name of cutting costs and making profit.so I'll stick to modifying cars that I have and driving them for the hell of it.

can i get used, clean,land rover freelander 2003v6 model for 600k

2024 are we all still in agreement about salvaged cars being a No No cos their influx into Nigeria has more than tripled.