Docs/The math

Title types

TL;DR: Every title brand AuctionMate recognizes, what it implies for resale, and how the discount applied to the car’s clean market value scales — adjusted by vehicle bucket.

What a title brand actually is

When a car’s title gets “branded,” the state DMV stamps a permanent record on the title document explaining why. Brands carry forward — once a car has been a salvage, every state DMV that re-titles it must keep that brand visible.

For buyers at auction, the title brand is the single most important non-numeric factor. A Clean BMW X5 and a Salvage BMW X5 with identical photos can have a $20,000 spread in resale price — because the buyer market for clean and salvage cars are essentially different.

The brands AuctionMate recognizes

Clean

The default state. No insurance write-off, no rebuild, no flood, no prior-loss disclosure. Resale is at clean retail; AuctionMate applies no discount.

Salvage

The vehicle was declared a total loss by an insurance carrier — usually because the cost to repair exceeded a state-defined threshold (often 75-80% of pre-loss value). The car is sold at auction with the salvage brand permanently attached.

Salvage is the most common branded title at Copart and IAAI. AuctionMate applies a meaningful discount to salvage cars, scaled by vehicle bucket — A-bucket trucks lose less, C-bucket luxury loses more.

Rebuilt

A car that was Salvage, then went through reconditioning, then was re-titled by the state with a Rebuilt or Reconstructed brand. Rebuilt cars sell for somewhat more than Salvage (the buyer doesn’t have to do the rebuild themselves) but well below Clean.

Lemon / Manufacturer Buyback

The car was repurchased by the manufacturer under state lemon laws — chronic unfixed defects. Often relatively cosmetic-clean cars but the resale market is permanently spooked.

Flood

The car was submerged or saturated in water. Two sub-categories:

  • Fresh-water flood — significant damage but not as catastrophic for long-term reliability as saltwater
  • Saltwater flood — corrosion that progresses for years; AuctionMate applies the heaviest discount of the standard brands

Theft Recovery

The car was reported stolen and later recovered. Often comes back with minimal physical damage — sometimes none. AuctionMate applies a much smaller discount than Salvage because most theft-recovery cars don’t need rebuilding.

Bill of Sale (no title)

The car is being sold without a title — buyer must obtain a bonded title or run the title process from scratch. Two sub-cases:

  • Bonded — the buyer can post a surety bond and get a clean-equivalent title
  • No bond available — the title is permanently un-cleanable in some states; resale is much harder

Parts Only / Non-Repairable

The state has determined the car cannot legally return to the road. It’s sold for parts only. Resale ceiling is the parts value — usually 15-25% of clean retail.

How the discount works

For each brand, AuctionMate applies a multiplier to the clean market value to compute the adjusted retail. The multiplier is bucket-adjusted — the same brand applies a different discount to a Lexus than to a Civic, because their parts ecosystems and resale demographics differ.

You can see the active multiplier next to the title-type control on the lot page. If you disagree with our default for a specific lot — say, your title check shows a different brand than the auction listing claims — change the dropdown and the math recalculates instantly.

Overrides

The title type comes from the auction listing (Copart or IAAI). Sometimes that’s wrong — particularly:

  • Title arrived after the listing was created (status starts as “Title Pending,” updates later)
  • Auction listing rounds up (a Rebuilt is sometimes listed as Salvage)
  • Your DMV check shows a different brand than the listing

If you have better information, override the title type on the lot page. The verdict recalculates immediately. Anything you override is visually marked so you don’t confuse your override with the auto-pulled value.

Verifying titles

For a serious bid, run an actual title check:

  • Your state DMV can issue an authoritative title check for any VIN (often paid, but it’s the most reliable source)
  • The free Carfax and NICB title-check links on every lot — the brand history that tanks resale, at no cost
  • The car’s own auction history in the product — past runs of the same VIN, with sold/relisted patterns flagged

We disclose this in the product and in the footer of every page: AuctionMate is a research tool, not an inspection or a guaranteed title certification.

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