There is such a title as “unsalvagable” it is not reversible under any circumstances.
Is that the status they place on a vehicle that is seized for having stolen parts on it?
No, it occurs when the vehicle has been involved in an accident, and the insurance company determines that is unrepairable and totals it. At that point is is titled as unsalvagable and is not to be removed from the salvage yard or sold as a complete car. Parts can be sold, but the frame must be destroyed along with the vin.
Then what is the determining factor between salvage and unsalvageable?
Some of the time whoever makes that call must have no idea what's repairable and what isn't. I've seen Corvettes burned to the ground with salvage titles (salvage titles are for vehicles that can be rebuilt and titled as rebuilt) and have seen Ford trucks that went offroad and through a fence with scratches all over, but were still driveable with no broken glass or airbags deployed, that had destruction only titles (not allowed to be repaired or retitled). Maybe they have a wheel in the office that they use to determine which one gets what treatment. I've also seen cars that were in so called flood areas where the water was only up to the bottom of the hub caps, with NO water in the interior or wiring, where titles have been stamped as salvage. H*ll, there shouldn't even have been any insurance claim on them. I don't know how some of these insurance companies doing this stay in business.
Don't even want to get into where insurance adjusters are buying the same cars that they have been involved with, but in my book, it's next to criminal what they are doing.
