When it comes to buying a car brand new there are several benefits that buyers get, and having the peace of mind in knowing that the car doesn’t have a less-than-perfect past. Buying a used car, however, does have some drawbacks. One of those drawbacks can be a branded title, which can mean that the car has a salvaged title or a rebuilt title. In these cases, the car might have some sketchy history that you should look into, but some of the reasons a car might have a branded title aren’t as bad as others.

1.) The car was in a flood or was totaled from water damages

Flood damage runs along the lines of ‘worse case scenario’ when it comes to branded titles, because, as you’d probably expect, cars and water don’t go all that well together. A flooded car can have so many problems that it’s easy to turn away from this kind of branded title, and it’s for good reasons. When a car sits in water, most exposed metals will start to rust, resulting in lost integrity of the frame and undercarriage of the car.

If the water was high enough, it could ruin crucial electronic computers like wiring, the car’s computer, or anything else that receives power. Bad enough, the car’s mechanical components can also fill with water and rust or cause permanent damage, including the motor.

2.) The car was reported stolen

This can be more of the ‘best case scenario’ type of branded title, for several reasons. If the car is reported stolen, chances are the insurance company will brand the title even if there is no cosmetic or mechanical damage done to the car. While it isn’t always ideal to buy a car that has been stolen, at least you know that there was never anything sketchy that happen to the car itself, just that it ended up in the wrong hands.

3.) The most obvious, it was in an accident

An accident is the most common reason a car might have a branded title. When a car has a branded title from an accident, it means that a certain percentage of the car’s value would be needed to repair the car, essentially meaning that the repair costs are almost as much as the car itself is worth and the insurance agency doesn’t think the car is worth saving.

Depending on the type of damage sustained by the car, it might not be that bad. Cars that are more expensive to repair, the parts are more expensive or they are harder to the source are more likely to get totaled by your insurance. Insurance also factors in how expensive the labor costs of doing the repairs will be, so sometimes that needs too much attention to be deemed worthy of saving.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you are able to look into a car’s history and see what damage was done to the car. It is always beneficial to take a car to your mechanic for an overall inspection to make sure that the repairs were done properly.