Photo: David Tracy If a car has a salvage title or rebuilt title, it means it has been damaged to the point where an insurance company deemed it a total loss. And while that sounds scary, it could be a great way to get a sweet, sweet deal on the car you want. Here are the steps needed to make that happen. Advertisement In September of 2019, I purchased my dream Jeep, a 1991 Jeep Cherokee Laredo with a manual transmission, despite it having a salvage title. That got some readers talking about whether buying a salvage or rebuilt car is a good idea. Between that and a discussion with our resident car buying expert Tom McParland about one of his clients contemplating buying a rebuilt-title Mazda CX-5, I decided it was time to write my take on all this.