The two that catch people out
- A certified copy kills the originalTexas does not issue a duplicate alongside the old title. A certified copy lawfully obtained “supersedes and invalidates any previously issued title or certified copy” (Tex. Transp. Code § 501.134). How to get a duplicate title in Texas →
- The bond route is closed to a salvage truck“A person may not obtain a title under this section for a salvage motor vehicle or a nonrepairable motor vehicle” (Tex. Transp. Code § 501.053(f)). Georgia’s exclusions are entirely different ones. How to get a title bond in Texas →
What this site does not claim about Texas
Texas salvage and total-loss branding has not been researched to a primary source for this site, so no Texas salvage threshold is stated anywhere here. An absence of a figure on this page is not a finding that Texas has no threshold — it means the statute has not been read, and printing a number from a secondary summary is exactly how wrong figures spread.
Where a fact has not been established, this site says so rather than filling the gap with something that reads well.
For total-loss and salvage questions in Texas, TxDMV is the source: TxDMV — Motorists →
Which route Texas puts you on, and what decides it
Texas splits the two situations cleanly, and the deciding fact is what the department’s record already says about the vehicle rather than what you can show about it.
| The record names you, the paper is gone | A certified copy under § 501.134 — unless a lien is disclosed, in which case only the first lienholder or a verified agent may apply until you produce an original release. |
| The record does not name you | A bond under § 501.053, but only where there is no lien, or the lien is ten or more years old, or you supply a release of all liens with the bond. |
| The vehicle is salvage or nonrepairable | Neither. § 501.053(f) closes the bond route, and the salvage and nonrepairable regime under § 501.091 applies instead. |
Those three eligibility limbs are the administrative rule as well as the statute — 43 Tex. Admin. Code § 217.9 states them in the same terms, including the ten-year lien line.
Tex. Transp. Code §§ 501.053, 501.134; 43 Tex. Admin. Code § 217.9.
Where the current forms and fees are
TxDMV — Buying or Selling a Vehicle →
We buy trucks throughout Texas: Where we buy in Texas →
Current as of 14 September 2026. This page describes rules, not your situation, and it is information rather than legal advice. Rules change; the linked official source is always the current one.