Looking at a truck with a bonded title. Everything checks out on Carfax and Bumper so I'm not worried about the truck itself but it has Texas Bonded title. Title was issued in Aug 2021 so it will expire in August 2024. I've never dealt with this and there isn't much I can find on buying a vehicle with a bonded title other than a clear Texas title will be issued after 3 years if no one proves to be the owner before then. The bonded title was issued to a used car lot but the truck.is now owned by an individual, truck is not running so he hasn't regiatered it in his name. Anyone here dealt with this? Can I just get the truck inspected and registered in my name now and wait for the bond to expire and get a re-issued title in 2024?

Bonded or branded title? Never heard of a bonded title.

Bonded title is safe

Regardless the title situation….how many boogers did the previous owner(s) wipe throughout the truck? Thats the question I always ask about used vehicles.

I have gone through the Bonded Title process before. No big deal. Go for it!

If I remember correctly, if the title is currently "bonded", once you receive the new title in your name it will no longer have the bonded wording on it. I will look like a regular title at this point. I had to do a bonded title on a travel trailer once. The original owner had passed and original title lost. There was no paper trail on the trailer other than a bill of sale to me. The person I bought it from never bothered with the title. I guess the surety bond is placed ensuring that you are acting in good faith that no one will come forward with claims to the vehicle.

Guess that's where totaled trucks go after someone takes the time to rebuild them. Seems they get totaled out pretty easy these days, I would buy a wrecked truck before a flooded truck but you may never know what the loss was.

Title also says "rebuilt salvage" and "loss unknown". I personally steer away from salvage.

I believe in this case you'll end up with a Salvage title in your name after the bond expires. Not a big deal if you plan on keeping it a long time and driving the wheels off it. If you want to trade it in or sell it down the road I'd steer clear... you'll get roughly 40% less than blue book when you try to sell it with a salvage title, and most banks won't take a loan against one.

Bonded title is no big deal. Basically means that somewhere along the line they could not get in touch with previous owner to do proper title work. We sold a 5th wheel on a bonded title once for that same reason. However, this one also appears to be salvage. That, IMO, is an issue.

I missed that, I would run on a salvage title. Especially one that you don't know anything about.

My buddy had a bad experience with a salvage title truck. Here was his scenario:
1) He paid regular premium for full coverage
2) Four years later, he got into an accident and his insurance only paid him 35% less of the regular total loss value cuz his truck was totaled before
They told that they would pay the same if he hit another truck and it had a salvage title. They even told him do not buy salvage title car specially it's newer model.

Truck is a 93 and was slavaged in 97. Has had two owners since then. It appears to be a very straight truck and doesn't have any body filler. I looked at it yesterday but didn't get a chance to drive it. Going to drive it today.

Do flooded vehicles carry a different title than just salvaged?

I do not believe so.

Check with your county Tax office. They can tell you what is necessary.

No, that's a branded title...same as a salvage title.


No. A BRANDED (not merely bonded) title or SALVAGE title means the vehicle was declared a total loss (totalled) by insurance or the manufacturer. Does not matter why. The cost of repair exceeds a percentage of the vehicle value, which is a nebulous made up number by insurance and the tax office, and the vehicle gets totalled. The lightning strike 2021 Yukon Denali I have been working on since July finally got totalled by State Farm after losing 30% of it's inflated value when vehicle stock came back...all the while just sitting there taking up space. This is after State Farm paid over $20K in repairs...and we told them to total it 10 months ago.

I bought an older truck with a salvage title. Someone had run into it and bent up bed pretty bad, insurance company totaled it. Took off bed and put on a flat bed zero problems out of truck.

Bonded titles don't scare me, but there is a small chance that a lienholder or some other party may have a claim to the truck.

Salvage titles scare me. We are in the body shop business and for every story you hear about a truck being totaled by a bed repair, etc that was easily fixed, there are a dozen or more stories about two frames being welded together or more commonly the air bags not being installed correctly or at all.