2015 Maserati Ghibli S Q4

Structural damage affects the parts of a car built to keep you safe — the frame, unibody, or safety cage that absorbs and distributes force in a crash. Unlike a dented panel, structural damage can't always be returned to factory spec, and poor repairs can leave the car compromised in a way a test drive won't reveal. It's also one of the most common reasons a car ends up with a salvage title. Our sample report shows how structural damage appears in a vehicle's record — so when you check a car you're considering, you'll know whether its history includes the kind of damage that should give a buyer pause.

Title washing is when a car's branded title — salvage, rebuilt, flood, or similar — is scrubbed clean by moving the car between states with different title rules, so a buyer sees a "clean" title that hides the car's real past. The defense is checking the full history by VIN rather than trusting the paper title in front of you, because the underlying record follows the car even when the title doesn't. Title-washing rules and protections vary by state — see our used-car buyer protection guide at /used-car-buyer-protection and click your state for how it's handled where you are. Our sample report shows how a car's true brand history reads, even on a vehicle being presented as clean.

Sometimes — it depends on what happened while the car was gone and whether it was properly inspected afterward. A recovered theft can be perfectly fine, or it can hide damage, missing parts, or hurried repairs from the recovery process, and in some cases the theft leads to a salvage or total-loss brand. The key is knowing the car's full story before you buy. Our sample report shows how a theft-and-recovery event appears in a vehicle's history alongside any damage or title changes that followed — so you can judge whether a specific recovered car was made whole or just made to look that way.

Start with the VIN and pull the full history — accident and damage records, salvage and total-loss declarations, theft events, and title brands reported by insurers, auctions, and DMVs. Then compare what you find against the listing and the car in front of you. In our sample report, the verified history showed structural damage, theft recovery, and a salvage title on a car that had been advertised as having no accident damage — exactly the kind of gap you catch when you check the record yourself instead of taking the seller's word for it. The report gives you the facts; the comparison is yours to make.

A salvage or structurally-damaged car is typically worth far less than the same car with a clean title and no major damage — often 40% or more below clean-title value — but the real number depends on the damage, the repair quality, and the car. A generic percentage won't tell you what to offer. Our sample report calculates the adjusted value for that specific vehicle — its clean-title market value, then the value after the brand and damage — so you're measuring the asking price against reality. You'll know whether the discount reflects the car's history or whether you're overpaying for it.

If you just need the fast answer — is the title clear, and is the car reported stolen — you can run a free VIN check at /free-vin-check right now, with a $5 instant title-and-theft check there as well when you want it confirmed cleanly in seconds. If you're seriously weighing the car, the full report at /pricing goes further: the complete history, the adjusted value, the AI-driven read on what to watch with this specific vehicle, and the exact questions to put to the seller so their answers either close the deal or send you walking. Shopping several cars? A 5-report bundle runs under $100 — about $18 a car — with no time limit, so you can screen every candidate before you commit. And if you already own a branded-title car or got handed one you didn't expect, see our used-car buyer protection guide at /used-car-buyer-protection and click your state for the rules that protect you.