Michigan Rebuilt Title Colors: Gray, Yellow, Orange, and Green

Michigan rebuilt title colors changed in April 2025: rebuilt salvage titles, along with salvage, scrap, and flood-branded titles, are now printed on gray-and-yellow stock. Before that, those same branded titles were orange, and plenty of orange copies are still in circulation. Clean titles are green. Red is not a Michigan title color.¹

The Current Color: Gray and Yellow

As of April 2025, Michigan replaced the long-standing orange title stock with gray-and-yellow paper for every branded title category: salvage, rebuilt salvage, scrap, and flood.¹ If you are looking at a Michigan title issued after that date and it is gray and yellow, the vehicle has a damage history of some kind. State law requires branded titles to be a different color from standard titles so a buyer can spot the difference immediately.²

Orange Titles Are Still Out There

Michigan used orange stock for salvage and rebuilt titles for years. The state did not recall those documents when the color changed, so an orange Michigan title on a used vehicle today carries the same meaning it always did: the vehicle was branded. Depending on when the title was last issued, you may see either an orange title or a gray-and-yellow one on a vehicle with the same history.¹

Green Means Clean

Standard Michigan titles, issued for vehicles with no salvage, scrap, rebuilt, or flood history, are printed on green stock. If the title you are handed is green, no branded event has been recorded against the vehicle in Michigan. A vehicle history report is still worth pulling, because a vehicle can carry a brand from another state that a Michigan reissue would have to note on the face of the title.²

Read the Brand, Not Just the Color

Color tells you a title is branded. The words printed on the title tell you what the brand is, and the difference between them is the difference between a vehicle you can drive and one you cannot.

A rebuilt salvage title must permanently display the “rebuilt salvage” legend, and it must also note whether the vehicle was previously issued a rebuilt or salvage title in any other state. That brand travels with the vehicle for life; there is no way to wash it into a clean title.²

The specific brand you may see on a gray-and-yellow (or older orange) title is one of the following:

Salvage: the vehicle was declared repairable but has not yet been rebuilt, inspected, and retitled. It cannot legally be driven on public roads.
Rebuilt salvage: a previously salvaged vehicle that has passed the required inspection and is legally roadworthy again.
Scrap: the vehicle can never be rebuilt, retitled, or driven. Its VIN has been canceled.
Flood: the vehicle sustained flood damage.

How the Brand Is Assigned

The color and brand come from a damage ratio calculated against the vehicle’s pre-damage actual cash value. When repair costs (parts and labor) equal or exceed 75% but stay below 91% of that pre-damage value, the vehicle receives a salvage certificate of title. It is repairable, and after inspection it can become a rebuilt salvage vehicle.³

When repair costs hit 91% or more of pre-damage value, the vehicle receives a scrap certificate of title instead. That designation is permanent and irreversible: the vehicle can only be dismantled for parts or sold to a scrap metal processor.¹ So a gray-and-yellow title marked “scrap” means one thing, and a gray-and-yellow title marked “rebuilt salvage” means something very different. Anyone buying a damaged vehicle intending to rebuild it should confirm the brand is salvage, not scrap, before spending money on repairs.

What a Branded Color Means for You as a Buyer

Once you see gray and yellow (or orange) with a “rebuilt salvage” brand, expect the vehicle to behave differently from a clean-title car in three ways.

Insurance

Most insurers will write liability-only coverage on a rebuilt salvage vehicle without much resistance. Comprehensive and collision coverage is where problems appear. Many major insurers either refuse full coverage on rebuilt titles or offer it with significant restrictions, because pre-damage condition is hard to establish and claim valuation becomes unreliable. When full coverage is available, premiums typically run 20% to 40% higher than on a comparable clean-title vehicle, and some insurers require their own inspection or additional rebuild documentation before binding a policy.

Financing

Many mainstream banks and credit unions will not lend against a rebuilt title vehicle at all. The lenders that do tend to be specialized or subprime, and they charge higher rates to offset the risk of lending against a vehicle with diminished and uncertain value. Expect requests for a vehicle history report, all repair receipts, the state inspection certification, and sometimes a separate mechanical inspection at a shop of the lender’s choosing. Larger down payments and shorter terms are common. Because lenders almost always require full insurance coverage, insurance limits can quietly kill a loan approval you thought was locked.

Resale Value

A rebuilt salvage brand permanently reduces market value. As a general rule, rebuilt title vehicles sell for 20% to 40% less than comparable clean-title vehicles, with the exact discount driven by make, model, severity of the original damage, and quality of the repair. That gap is the upside if you are buying: you can get a newer or higher-trim vehicle for substantially less. It is the downside if you are selling.

Before You Sign

If the title in front of you is gray and yellow, or orange, read the printed brand carefully and note any out-of-state brand history recorded on the face of the document. Pull a vehicle history report so you know whether the car has been branded in another state as well. Line up insurance and financing before you commit to a rebuilt salvage purchase, and get an independent pre-purchase inspection from a mechanic who does not work for the seller. The color on the paper is the first signal. What you do with it after that is what protects you.

1
State of Michigan. Dealer Manual Chapter 5 – Distressed Vehicles
2
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 257-222 – Registration Certificate
3
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 257-217c