Salvage Title in South Carolina
I was sideswiped a few weeks ago and the other person's insurance totaled my car (total loss) based on cost to fix vs pre-wreck value. **The car is fine.** Some paint scratches a dent in the door, and a dent in the rear wheel well. I had to drive it 200 miles to get home after the accident, with no issues at all. Not even minor vibration or alignment problems.
I decided to keep the car (retain salvage). I just received my new Title with the Salvage stipulation.
The SCDMV website isn't super clear on what I'm required to do if anything, so I called the DMV and was told the following:
It is **legal** to drive on a Salvage title, in South Carolina, as long as the damage is cosmetic and the car is safe to drive. If the car would have been marked **Salvage-Junk** then I can't drive it.
No inspection is required to prove the car is safe to drive. I guess they used to do this but no longer do. This is the one that I was struggling to believe but I asked twice to make sure I heard correctly.
I can go through the repair process -- take before / after pictures, keep detailed receipts, and fill out paperwork to apply for a **Salvage Fixed** title...**if I want to**...to help with resell value.
This is all great news for me, since I don't have to do anything if I don't want to, but none of the above is documented anywhere that I can find on the SCDMV website.
Still a little nervous I'm going to get pulled over for driving on a Salvage license.
Probably going to call again and see if I get a different answer :)
**Anyone from South Carolina been through this situation?**