- Franchised dealers are cautiously retailing branded-title cars.
- Rising repair costs push insurers to total fixable vehicles.
- Dealers weigh affordability against long-term reputational risk.
The affordable car is starting to feel like a myth for some buyers, and that’s pushed dealers to take drastic action to hold onto customers. As prices for good used vehicles stay stubbornly high, some are poking around a part of the market they used to avoid like out-of-date gas station sushi in an effort to source stock.
We’re talking about cars with branded titles. Salvage, rebuilt, lemon-law buyback, theft recovery cars. Vehicles that come with a backstory, and not always the kind you want to admit to. For years, most new car dealers would send those straight to auction and pretend they never happened.
The Vanishing Budget Car
Now the affordability squeeze is changing that. Shoppers who used to stretch to a $12,000, clean-title sedan are getting priced out, and dealers risk losing them to Facebook Marketplace, independent lots, or chains that specialize in repaired write-offs. Suddenly, yesterday’s taboo inventory looks like today’s opportunity.
Related: Only 7 Percent Of Cars Sold Last Month Cost Under $30,000
That leaves franchised dealers facing a stark choice: either expand into once-untouchable inventory or watch budget-conscious buyers disappear to competitors already comfortable with branded-title cars.
According to dealers interviewed by Auto News, the supply problem is very real. “Finding that $10,000 to $15,000 reliable used vehicle is extremely difficult, near impossible,” said Max Muncey of LaFontaine Automotive Group. That struggle is pushing some stores to, as he put it, “look outside the box.”
Too Many Safety Gadgets
Part of the issue is modern car tech. Bumpers and grilles are now stuffed with sensors, cameras, and radar. A minor fender bender can mean thousands in electronics and calibration. Add higher labor rates and pricey imported parts and insurers often decide it is cheaper to total the car than fix it.
So plenty of crashed cars that might once have been repaired are now written off, then rebuilt and sold with branded titles. Insurers totaled roughly 17 million vehicles in 2025, and industry estimates suggest about 2.5 million of those written off each year eventually return to the road with branded titles.
The question for dealers is not just “can we fix it?” but “can we stand behind it?”. Reputation is a fragile thing when you’re selling cars that customers rely on every day.
Testing The Waters
Some groups are dipping a cautious toe in, maybe taking in cars with unverified mileages, while others are happy to sell wrecked and totaled cars as long as they’ve been properly repaired and look as good as a clean-titled car. And they hope that the customer that less than saintly car helps them keep will one day come back for a grade-A new or used vehicle.
Reputation At Risk
For other dealers, though, a blemished title still means a hard no, because they’re worried about future headaches and safety questions. Large national retailers such as CarMax and Carvana, for example, do not offer branded-title vehicles for resale, citing consistency and risk concerns.
Either way, the fact this conversation is happening at franchised dealerships at all tells you how tight the affordable end of the market has become.
Also: Car Repair Costs Are Exploding And It’s Not Just About Tariffs
For buyers, it means more choice and lower prices, but also more homework. That cheap car might be a bargain. Or it might be a very shiny lesson in why history reports exist. Would you be happy to buy a car with a less than perfect past?
