Illinois rebuilt title: how a Salvage Certificate vehicle gets a title marked Rebuilt

In Illinois, a vehicle on a Salvage Certificate comes back to the road only through a licensed rebuilder. The governing application rule is 625 ILCS 5/3-301. The rebuilder, or the owner who contracted with one, applies to the Secretary of State with the parts records, a Certificate of Safety from a Department of Transportation safety test and a signed affirmation, and a newer vehicle has to pass the Secretary of State's inspection. The new title carries the notation Rebuilt.

These notes sum up the Illinois Secretary of State's published rules as of October 2026. They aren't legal advice, so check with the Illinois Secretary of State before you buy, repair or register a vehicle.

Check the certificate first

A vehicle on a Salvage Certificate, or one titled as salvage in another state, can go through this. A Junking Certificate can't: Illinois will never title that vehicle again. Illinois law lets only licensed rebuilders, automotive parts recyclers and scrap processors, or salvage buyers licensed in another state, take a vehicle on an Illinois Salvage Certificate. The Illinois salvage title rules guide explains who and why.

From Salvage Certificate to Rebuilt

1. Use a licensed rebuilder. Illinois law says no one may rebuild a salvage vehicle without a rebuilder's license from the Secretary of State. If the vehicle's owner isn't a licensed rebuilder, the Secretary of State says the owner has to contract with one, and the rebuilder signs a statement, on the Secretary of State's form, that the supporting documents and the application are complete, true and correct.
2. Keep the papers for every essential part. The application needs bills of sale and other documents showing how each essential part used in the rebuild was acquired, and a list of every replaced essential part with the identification number of the vehicle it came from.
3. Get the safety test. Illinois law has the owner of a salvage vehicle put it through a safety test and get a Certificate of Safety furnished by the Illinois Department of Transportation before the Secretary of State's inspection, and every rebuilt-title application has to include one. The tests are done at official testing stations. The Secretary of State's fact sheet asks for the IDOT Vehicle Inspection Report, no more than 6 months old, and exempts off-road vehicles.
4. Prepare the application. It goes on the Secretary of State's form and gives the owner's name and addresses, the vehicle's description and identifying number, the purchase date, who it was bought from, any lienholders, and the odometer reading with whether it's actual mileage. Attach the Salvage Certificate or out-of-state title, the parts documents and list, the Certificate of Safety, photographs if the Secretary of State's rules ask for them, and a copy of the rebuild contract if you used one. The Secretary of State's rebuilt-title fact sheet names the forms: the application (VSD 190), a Salvage Contract (SOS DOP 246) when the applicant isn't a rebuilder, and the Affirmation Supporting Salvage Certificate (RT 11), signed by the rebuilder.
5. Sign the affirmation. You state that you're licensed and rebuilt the vehicle or supervised its rebuilding yourself, or that you contracted with a licensed rebuilder; that you looked over the finished vehicle and it meets the Vehicle Code's safety requirements; that the identification numbers of the vehicle and its parts haven't been removed or altered; that the salvage paperwork is genuine; and that the application is true and correct.
6. Pass the inspection, if it applies. The Secretary of State inspects vehicles 8 model years old or newer and vehicles brought in from another state or country that are or may have been salvage, and flood vehicles damaged by more than 50% of their fair market value must pass it too. Otherwise, vehicles more than 8 model years old skip it. The Secretary of State's fact sheet says Secretary of State Police carry it out. A salvage vehicle can be driven on Illinois roads only to and from this inspection with valid special plates, or under a short-term permit.
7. Receive the Rebuilt title. After a successful inspection, or without one for a vehicle that doesn't need it, the Secretary of State issues a new certificate of title.

What the title says afterwards

A new Illinois title for a vehicle that had a Salvage Certificate carries the notation REBUILT. The one exception is a theft total loss recovered without structural damage: an insurer, or a business with both a used vehicle dealer license and a recycler, scrap processor, repairer or rebuilder license, can exchange that Salvage Certificate for a title without the notation. A flood vehicle also keeps the word flood on this title and every later one. When the vehicle is sold, a signed Disclosure of Rebuilt Vehicle Status form should go to the buyer: Illinois makes it a crime to knowingly sell a rebuilt-title vehicle without one, with intent to defraud or deceive. And a licensed dealer or rebuilder can't sell a vehicle with another state's rebuilt title until it has an Illinois title marked REBUILT.

What the inspection doesn't tell a buyer

The Secretary of State's inspection checks three things: that the vehicle's and its parts' identification numbers haven't been removed, falsified or tampered with, that the application is true and correct, and that nothing suggests the vehicle or any part was stolen. Those are identity and theft checks, and the Secretary of State says its inspection isn't meant to certify the vehicle's safety or roadworthiness, or the quality of the work. The safety side rests on the Department of Transportation's safety test and the applicant's own signed affirmation. And a vehicle more than 8 model years old can get its Rebuilt title without the Secretary of State's inspection at all.

Buying an Illinois Rebuilt vehicle? Ask for the Disclosure of Rebuilt Vehicle Status form, the list of replaced parts and their receipts, run an NMVTIS history report, and pay an independent mechanic or body shop to look it over. Rebuilt listings on DNF show the brand as the seller reports it, with the damage, the condition and a Score. The Illinois guide to buying without a dealer license covers the rebuilder's and dealer's licenses.

Browse rebuilt vehicles for sale in Illinois.