Michigan rebuilt title inspection: from Salvage to Rebuilt Salvage

In Michigan, a vehicle on a Salvage title gets back on the road through a salvage vehicle inspection by a specially trained officer. Once it passes, the Secretary of State issues a new title with the legend Rebuilt Salvage, and the brand stays on every future title.

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

Check the title first

Only a Salvage vehicle goes through this. A Scrap vehicle can never be titled again, and Michigan law says nobody may rebuild or repair one and keep its original VIN, so no inspection brings it back. Who may buy a Salvage vehicle also decides who gets to rebuild one. Unless the seller is a licensed recycler, used-parts dealer or foreign salvage dealer, Michigan law lets a salvage-titled vehicle go only to its former owner or to a licensed recycler, used-parts dealer, scrap processor or foreign salvage dealer. On DNF, every Michigan Salvage listing takes offers only from licensed businesses. When a dealer sells a salvage vehicle to a buyer who isn't a dealer without rebuilding and recertifying it first, the buyer gets a Salvage title in their own name and goes through the steps below. The Michigan salvage title rules guide explains each brand and who may buy it.

From Salvage to Rebuilt Salvage

1. Repair the vehicle, and keep proof of ownership for every part. At the inspection you show the assigned title or bills of sale for the parts used. When you apply for the new title, you'll also describe each salvaged part used in the repair and any identification number on it that state or federal law requires.
2. Complete Form TR-13A, Application for Salvage Vehicle Inspection, with a licensed mechanic. Michigan law has a properly licensed mechanic certify that the repairs were done in a workmanlike manner. That mechanic can't be the officer who does the inspection.
3. Book the inspection with a salvage vehicle inspector. The inspector is a specially trained officer approved by the Secretary of State: an employee of the Department of State, an on-duty or off-duty police officer, or a former police officer a local police agency has appointed to do salvage inspections. The police agency charges a fee for the inspection. Each local authority sets the amount for its police agency, within a limit set by state law, so ask the agency what it charges.
4. Get the vehicle there without driving it. A Salvage title lets you own and transport the vehicle, but not drive it on a highway, so it goes on a trailer or a tow truck.
5. Pass the inspection. The officer checks that the vehicle identification numbers and parts identification numbers are correct, that you can prove you own the repair parts, and that the vehicle meets the Michigan Vehicle Code's equipment requirements. The officer fills in Form TR-13B, Salvage Vehicle Recertification, and gives it to you signed once the vehicle passes.
6. Apply at a Secretary of State office. Bring the salvage title, the completed TR-13A and TR-13B, Michigan No-Fault insurance for the vehicle, your driver's license or state ID, and the title application fee plus any registration fees.

Keep copies of everything. The receipts and the two forms are the record the next buyer will ask for.

What the title says afterwards

The new title carries the legend REBUILT SALVAGE. The Secretary of State says it's there to alert future owners that an insurer once classified the vehicle as totaled under a previous owner, and that rebuilt brands, like flood brands, stay on all future titles. Rebuilt titles, like salvage titles, are printed in orange or gray-and-yellow, and the Secretary of State says they list the vehicle's color and the major parts that couldn't be salvaged.

What the inspection doesn't tell you

Michigan's inspection goes beyond the numbers and the parts paperwork: the officer checks the vehicle against the state's equipment requirements, and a licensed mechanic has signed off on the repairs. It's still a check made on one day. It isn't a warranty, and it can't tell you how the vehicle has been driven or looked after since.

Ask who signed the TR-13A and whether that mechanic also did the repairs. Buying a Rebuilt Salvage vehicle? Ask for copies of the TR-13A, the TR-13B and the parts receipts, and compare the parts list with the damage. Then get an independent inspection before you buy, which the FTC recommends for any used car.

Rebuilt listings on DNF show the brand as the seller reports it, and the Score says whether the seller attached the inspection paperwork. Browse rebuilt vehicles in Michigan, or read how to buy without a dealer license in Michigan.