Salvage & Rebuilt

Florida Salvage Title Rules, Rebuilt Titles, and What They Mean When You Sell

The definitions, the percentages, and the practical effect on what your car can be sold for and to whom.

Florida-specific · Updated 2026-09-08 · Written by the people who buy the cars

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The four words that matter: salvage, rebuilt, certificate of destruction, derelict

Florida's salvage law lives in Florida Statute 319.30, and most of the confusion sellers run into comes from four terms that sound alike and are not.

Salvage is simply "a motor vehicle or mobile home which is a total loss" as defined in section (3)(a) of the statute (FS 319.30(1)(t)). It is a status, not a judgment about whether the car can be fixed.
Salvage certificate of title is the title FLHSMV issues for a salvage vehicle. It comes in flavors: "rebuildable," "rebuildable flood," and, when the damage is too severe, it is not a title at all but a certificate of destruction.
Certificate of destruction is a document that "authorizes the dismantling or destruction of the motor vehicle." It can be reassigned at most two times before the vehicle has to be dismantled (FS 319.30(3)(c)). A car on a certificate of destruction is never legally driven again.
Rebuilt is the brand a salvage vehicle carries after it has been repaired, physically examined by FLHSMV and issued a new title under FS 319.14. That brand stays on the title for the life of the vehicle.
Derelict is a separate category for old cars worth only scrap: at least 10 model years old and valued under $1,000 (FS 319.30(1)(e)). It has its own no-title path, covered in our guide to junking a car without a title.

If your car was in a wreck in Fort Myers and the insurer wrote it off, it is "salvage." Whether it becomes a rebuildable title or a certificate of destruction depends on the percentages in the next section.

The 80% rule, and the 90% rule that catches newer cars

Under FS 319.30(3)(a), a vehicle is a total loss in two situations. The first has nothing to do with percentages: when an insurance company pays the owner to replace the wrecked or damaged vehicle with one of like kind and quality (or pays out on a theft). If your insurer wrote you a check for the car rather than for repairs, it is salvage, full stop.

The second is the 80% rule, and it applies to uninsured vehicles: a vehicle is a total loss when it is wrecked or damaged and "the cost, at the time of loss, of repairing or rebuilding the vehicle is 80 percent or more of the cost to the owner of replacing the wrecked or damaged motor vehicle" with one of like kind and quality. That is the language you will find on HSMV 82363, the Application for Salvage Title or Certificate of Destruction, where you write the retail value on line (a), multiply by 0.80 on line (b), and compare it to the repair estimate on line (c).

Then there is the 90% rule almost nobody mentions. For a late-model vehicle (the form says 7 years or newer) with a retail value of at least $7,500 before the damage, FS 319.30(3)(c) says that if the estimated repair cost equals 90 percent or more of current retail, the department "shall declare the vehicle unrebuildable and print a certificate of destruction." That is why a three-year-old truck wrecked hard enough is not a "rebuildable" project no matter who buys it; it is parts.

One more wrinkle: if you and your insurer agree to repair instead of replace, the car is not a total loss, but if the actual repair cost ends up over 100 percent of replacement cost, the owner has 72 hours to ask FLHSMV to brand the title "Total Loss Vehicle" (FS 319.30(3)(a)2).

How insurers handle a total loss in Florida

When a Florida insurer totals a car, the statute sets a timeline. Under FS 319.30(3)(b), the insurance company that pays for the total loss "shall obtain the certificate of title," make the required report to the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS), and forward the title to FLHSMV within 72 hours after receiving it. The insurer then gets either a salvage rebuildable title or a certificate of destruction in its name and sells the car through a salvage auction.

What that means for you as the owner: once you accept the settlement and sign the title to the insurer, the car is no longer yours to sell. If a cash buyer offers you money for a car the insurer already took title to, walk away; the title is not yours to sign. Where you do have choices is before the settlement closes, when the adjuster asks whether you want to keep the vehicle. That is owner-retained salvage.

Timing for the paperwork on your side is short. Pull the plate (it stays with you under FS 320.0609), cancel the registration, and file your own notice of sale on HSMV 82050 once the title is out of your hands. The step-by-step selling guide covers that sequence.

Owner-retained salvage: what you are actually keeping

An insurer will often let you keep a totaled car by deducting its salvage value from your settlement. It sounds like free money. Read what you are signing up for.

The car is still salvage. FS 319.30(3)(b) says the owner of a vehicle "considered to be salvage shall, within 72 hours after the motor vehicle or mobile home becomes salvage, forward the title" to the department for processing. You file HSMV 82363, checking "Salvage by Owner Retained (Insurance Paid Settlement)," and FLHSMV issues a salvage rebuildable title, a rebuildable flood title, or a certificate of destruction in your name depending on the percentages above.
You cannot register or drive it on the salvage title. To put it back on the road you have to repair it and pass the rebuilt examination in the next section.
If the 90% rule applied, you kept a certificate of destruction, and the only legal outcome is dismantling.

Owner-retained makes sense when you or someone you trust can do the repair for well under the salvage deduction and you plan to keep the car for years. It rarely makes sense on an older car in the Cape Coral or Lehigh Acres driveway market, where the retained car tends to sit for a year and then get sold for scrap anyway. If that is where yours is headed, the salvage title in your name is exactly what a cash buyer needs; see the "selling to a cash buyer" section.

Getting a rebuilt title: the physical examination

A salvage rebuildable vehicle becomes a rebuilt vehicle only after FLHSMV inspects it. FS 319.14(1)(b) says a person may not sell or offer to sell a rebuilt vehicle until the department has stamped the title "rebuilt" (or assembled from parts, flood vehicle, and so on), and that happens only after the department "has conducted the physical examination of the vehicle to assure the identity of the vehicle and all major component parts" that were repaired or replaced. After the examination FLHSMV affixes a rebuilt decal to the vehicle. Removing that decal to hide the rebuilt status is a third-degree felony under FS 319.14(7).

What the examination is looking for

That the VIN on the car matches the salvage title.
Receipts or bills of sale for every major component part used in the repair, so the state can confirm the parts were not stolen.
Before-and-after photos and the repair invoice, in most cases.

Inspections are done at FLHSMV regional offices, and there is a fee; check the current amount on flhsmv.gov before you book. Be honest with yourself about the economics: for a late-model vehicle the rebuilt title can be worth the effort. For a fifteen-year-old sedan, the cost of parts, the inspection and the permanent brand usually add up to more than the car will ever bring.

What a salvage or rebuilt brand does to resale

Once a Florida title is branded, the brand follows the car. FS 319.14(4) requires that a brand "be carried forward on all subsequent certificates of title and registration certificates issued for the life of the vehicle," and FS 319.14(2) requires a seller to disclose in writing to the buyer that the vehicle is rebuilt or a flood vehicle. Florida also reports its brands to NMVTIS, so a Florida salvage history shows up on a title search in Georgia or Ohio too.

The practical effects, without pretending to give you a number:

Retail buyers pay materially less for a rebuilt title than a clean one on the same car, and many will not consider it at all.
Lenders and some insurers will not finance or fully cover a rebuilt vehicle, which shrinks the pool of buyers further.
A salvage title (not yet rebuilt) cannot be registered, so the only buyers are rebuilders, exporters, and salvage or parts buyers.
A certificate of destruction has exactly one legal destination: dismantling.

That is why the usual exit for a branded car in Southwest Florida is a cash buyer rather than a classified ad. It is not that the car is worthless; it is that the paperwork has narrowed who can legally and sensibly buy it.

Selling a salvage-title car to a cash buyer

Selling a salvage car to a buyer that dismantles or recycles it is the simplest transaction in this whole guide, provided the paper is in your name.

What you need

The salvage certificate of title, or the certificate of destruction, issued in your name. If the insurer took the title, you have nothing to sell.
Your photo ID matching the title.
The plate removed.

What to expect

The buyer will look at the brand. A "rebuildable" title on a car with a good drivetrain has a parts value beyond scrap; a "rebuildable flood" title on a saltwater car usually does not, because the electrical system and interior are what flood destroys (see selling a flood-damaged car in Florida). A certificate of destruction means the buyer is paying for weight, the catalytic converter and whatever parts survive, and it must be dismantled after at most two reassignments. If you have a clean title on an uninsured car that was wrecked past 80%, FLHSMV's procedure says you are supposed to obtain the salvage title or certificate of destruction in your name before disposing of it for parts or scrap (TL-35), so ask the buyer what they want to see: a properly assigned clean title they will surrender as junked, or 82363 processed first. Ask before you spend a title fee you did not need to.

What a salvage brand does not change: you still sign the title at pickup, you still get paid at pickup, and you still file the notice of sale. Our pages on totaled cars and wrecked cars cover what we look at.

Flood branding and VIN checks (NMVTIS)

Florida treats flood damage as its own brand. Under FS 319.14(1)(c)8, a "flood vehicle" is one declared a total loss under FS 319.30(3)(a) "resulting from damage caused by water," and the department stamps that on the title. After Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Milton, thousands of Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota County vehicles picked up that brand. FLHSMV's flooded-vehicle advisory notes the catch: not every state brands flood cars, so a flood car from elsewhere can arrive in Florida with a clean title.

Two free-to-cheap checks exist. FLHSMV's Motor Vehicle Information Check lets you look up a Florida-titled vehicle's description and brands by VIN or title number. The federal NMVTIS system pulls title, brand history, most recent odometer and total-loss data from every participating state, and insurers and recyclers are required to report into it. If you are selling, run your own VIN first so you know what the buyer will see. If a buyer's offer changes at pickup "because of the history," you will know whether that is true.

How this works with us

Florida Cash for Junk Cars & Trucks is a locally owned buyer based in Cape Coral, and we buy salvage-title, rebuilt, totaled and certificate-of-destruction vehicles along with ordinary junk, wrecked, flood-damaged and non-running cars and trucks from Naples to Sarasota. Pickup is free when we buy the vehicle. At pickup you sign the title in front of our driver, we check it against your photo ID, and you are paid in cash. Tell us what the title says when you call (239) 321-6781 or send the form and we will give you a number that accounts for the brand up front, not at the curb. Older running cars with clean titles are welcome as well and are priced on age, mileage and condition.

Keep Reading

Selling a Flood-Damaged Car in Florida Do You Need a Title to Junk a Car in Florida?Totaled cars we buy Wrecked cars we buy Damaged cars we buy

Sources

Last reviewed 2026-09-08. Florida rules and fees change; confirm the current figure on flhsmv.gov or with your county tax collector before you act on it.

FAQ

Florida Salvage Title Rules, Rebuilt Titles, and What They Mean When You Sell FAQ

Straight answers. See the full FAQ →

What is Florida's 80% total-loss rule?

Under FS 319.30(3)(a), an uninsured vehicle is a total loss when the cost to repair it is 80 percent or more of the cost of replacing it with one of like kind and quality. An insured vehicle is a total loss whenever the insurer pays to replace it, regardless of percentage. A separate 90% rule sends late-model vehicles worth $7,500 or more straight to a certificate of destruction.

What is the difference between a salvage title and a rebuilt title in Florida?

A salvage title means the vehicle was declared a total loss and cannot be registered or driven. A rebuilt title is issued after a salvage vehicle is repaired, passes FLHSMV's physical examination of the vehicle and its major component parts, and receives a rebuilt decal. The rebuilt brand stays on the title for the life of the vehicle and must be disclosed in writing to any buyer.

Can I drive a car with a salvage title in Florida?

No. A salvage certificate of title is not a registration document, and Florida will not register a vehicle on a salvage title. To drive it again you must repair it and pass the rebuilt examination under FS 319.14, after which a rebuilt title and decal are issued. A vehicle on a certificate of destruction can never be returned to the road.

What is a Florida certificate of destruction?

It is the document FLHSMV issues instead of a title when a total-loss vehicle is unrebuildable, for example when a late-model vehicle's repair cost hits 90 percent of its value. It authorizes dismantling or destruction, may be reassigned at most two times, and cannot be converted back into a title. A cash buyer can purchase a car on a certificate of destruction, but only to dismantle or recycle it.

If I keep my totaled car from the insurance company, what happens to the title?

You must forward the title to FLHSMV within 72 hours of the vehicle becoming salvage, using HSMV 82363 with the owner-retained box checked. FLHSMV then issues a salvage rebuildable, rebuildable flood, or certificate of destruction in your name. You cannot drive the car until it passes the rebuilt examination, but you can sell it to a salvage or cash buyer on that paperwork at any time.

How do I check whether a Florida title has a salvage or flood brand?

Use FLHSMV's Motor Vehicle Information Check with the VIN or title number to see the vehicle's description and brands, and run the VIN through the federal NMVTIS system for multistate title, brand, odometer and total-loss history. Insurers and recyclers are required to report into NMVTIS. Checking your own VIN before you sell tells you exactly what a buyer will see.

Will a cash buyer pay less for a car with a salvage or rebuilt title?

Usually the brand matters less to a buyer that dismantles or recycles the car than to a retail buyer, because the value is in the weight, catalytic converter and reusable parts rather than the paperwork. A certificate of destruction or a flood brand does limit what can be reused, so tell the buyer exactly what the title says and get a number that reflects it before pickup.

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