Salvage auction
An auction where insurers and others sell damaged, totaled and recovered-theft vehicles to licensed buyers.
A salvage auction sells damaged, totaled, stolen-recovered and donated vehicles, mostly on behalf of insurers. Buyers include dismantlers, rebuilders, exporters and dealers. Many auctions require a business license to bid on some vehicles.
For owners, a salvage auction is where a totaled car usually goes after the insurer pays out. If you keep a totaled car instead, the insurer usually deducts an estimated salvage value from your payout.
The Department of Justice defines a salvage pool as an entity that acquires junk and salvage vehicles from various parties and consolidates them for resale at a common point of sale. It warns that VINs and titles from salvage pool vehicles have been used to create cloned vehicles, so salvage auctions must report to NMVTIS.1
References
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U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, “For Auto Recyclers, Salvage Yards, and Junk Yards” (NMVTIS), https://vehiclehistory.bja.ojp.gov/nmvtis_auto ↩