Record check
Title check by VIN
The title is the car's legal identity document. A title check shows what states have recorded about it: when titles were issued, in which state, and - most importantly - whether any of them carry a brand like salvage, rebuilt or flood.
What a title record is
Every time a car is titled - first sale, ownership change, move to another state - the state DMV issues a title record keyed to the VIN. The sequence of these records tells you how many hands the car has passed through, in which states it lived, and whether the paperwork timeline matches the seller's story.
A title brand is a mark a state adds when something serious happens: an insurer declares the car a total loss (salvage), a salvage car is repaired and re-inspected (rebuilt), water damage is recorded (flood), the vehicle is written off as parts and scrap (junk), the manufacturer repurchases it under a lemon law, or a transfer declares the mileage unreliable (an odometer brand). Brands follow the vehicle rather than the owner, and the six mean six different things - each has its own page below.
The classic trick is title washing: moving a branded car to a state that does not carry over that brand type, then re-titling it "clean". A multi-state title history makes this visible - you see the brand in one state's record and its suspicious disappearance in the next.
The six brands, one page each
Salvage, rebuilt, flood, lemon buyback, junk and the odometer brands are six different legal states with six different consequences for registration, insurance and resale. Each has its own page here - what it means, what it does to the car, and how to check a VIN for it.
- What is a salvage title? - declared a total loss. In most states it cannot be registered until it is repaired and re-inspected.
- What is a rebuilt title? - a salvage car that passed the state inspection and came back to the road, with the brand kept for life.
- Flood damage check by VIN - water damage, the failure mode that arrives after the sale - and the flooded cars that were never branded at all.
- Lemon law buyback check by VIN - repurchased by the manufacturer over a defect it could not fix. Nothing was damaged; the question is what the fault was.
- What is a junk title? - parts and scrap only. In most states the VIN can never be titled for road use again.
- Not-actual-mileage brand check by VIN - the title says the mileage cannot be relied on - which is not the same as saying anyone rolled it back.
Where our title data comes from
Title and brand records in our reports come from the national title database - the official title records that state DMVs are required to report into - supplied by a licensed data provider, plus insurer total-loss and salvage-auction records that often show damage before a brand appears on paper.
What it looks like in the report
Title events appear as dated ledger rows. A brand is highlighted as a finding:
- 2016-05Title issuedFirst title record in the reportTitle
- 2019-11Salvage brand reportedInsurance total loss preceded this recordSalvage
- 2020-03Title issued in another stateCompare brand carry-over between statesTitle
How to read the title section
The title section is a sequence, and the sequence is where the meaning is. Read it in this order:
- Count the brands, then read each one with its state and its date. One salvage brand followed by a rebuilt brand a few months later in the same state is a coherent story. The same brand with nothing after it, on a car being advertised as drivable, is not.
- Compare the brand list against the current title status. They are two different fields, and a clean current title above a brand in the history is not a contradiction - it is the report doing its job. The brand is the half that matters.
- Watch the states. A title issued in a new state immediately after a brand, with no inspection in between, is the shape of title washing. Whether a brand is carried forward at all depends on the receiving state's own vocabulary and rules.
- Then open the page for the brand you actually found. Salvage, rebuilt, flood, lemon buyback, junk and odometer brands differ in what they do to registration, insurance and resale, and advice that fits one of them fits none of the others.
Frequently asked questions
What is a clean title?
A title with no brands recorded against it. “Clean” is a statement about paperwork rather than about the car: it means no insurer or state agency ever reported something that triggered a brand. Damage that was never claimed, and brands a later state failed to carry forward, both leave a clean-looking title behind them.
Do title brands transfer between states?
That is what the national title database was built to make happen, and mostly it does. But states recognize different brand types and describe them in different words, so a brand arriving from out of state sometimes has no equivalent to go into and is not printed on the new title. The report lists every brand ever reported for the VIN with the state that applied it, which is how you see the ones the current document has dropped.
Is a title check the same as a VIN check?
A title check is one part of a VIN check. It covers title issuances, brands and the states involved; a full report puts the odometer trail, accident and damage records, theft and lien records, recalls and the ownership timeline next to it. The title section is where the legally recorded status of the car lives, which is why it is usually the first thing to read.
Can a car have a loan on it and a clean title?
Yes - an active lien is a separate record from a brand. Run the lien check as well: buying a car with an unreleased lien can leave you owing someone else's debt.