Salvage and recovery
How do we collect the title and release documents after a total loss, get the salvage to the buyer, and record the recovery against the claim?
Run salvage as a document chase with a title at the end. Callvu opens the salvage case when a vehicle or property is declared a total loss or a claim is paid with salvage retained, lists the documents the state's title rules require (the title or the lien release, the owner's signature and odometer statement, the power of attorney, the salvage certificate application), chases each from the owner, the lienholder or the storage yard through a link, checks them on arrival, hands the vehicle and documents to the salvage buyer or auction with the pickup confirmed, and writes the recovery amount and the title transfer to the claims system.
In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: chase and verify, write back
Last updated November 7, 2026.
The problem today
The car sat at the storage yard for forty days because the lienholder's release was in the adjuster's email.
After a total loss, the carrier owns a vehicle it cannot sell. The title is with the lienholder, the owner must sign it over, the state wants a salvage certificate, and the storage yard charges by the day. The adjuster handles this between claims: a request to the owner by phone, a letter to the lienholder, a fax from the yard. Each delay costs storage fees and salvage value, and the claim's recovery is whatever is left.
State title rules set what a carrier needs to retitle a total loss: the properly assigned title or the lienholder's release, an odometer disclosure, a power of attorney where the owner cannot sign the title directly, the salvage or non-repairable certificate application within the state's period after settlement, and the thresholds that make a vehicle salvage in the first place. Each is a document from a known party with a deadline.
The salvage value is set by the auction; the carrier's recovery is set by how fast the documents arrive.
How it runs
From the requestto the system of record.
A total loss settlement is approved with salvage to the carrier, or a claim pays with property to be recovered. Callvu opens the salvage case on the claim.
- Owner
- Signs the title assignment, odometer statement and power of attorney on their phone or with a notary where the state requires.
- Lienholder
- Provides the lien release or the title after payoff through a link.
- Storage yard and salvage buyer or auction
- Release and pick up the vehicle, confirm receipt, and remit the sale proceeds.
- Salvage coordinator
- Decides exceptions in the Decision Desk.
- Callvu
- Lists the documents, chases each party, checks, hands off, and writes the recovery back.
List the documents under the state's rules
The vehicle's state, the title status (clear, lien, out-of-state, lost) and the settlement type set the list: the assigned title or a duplicate title application, the lienholder's release or the title after payoff, the owner's odometer disclosure, the power of attorney, the salvage certificate application, and the storage yard's release.
Chase and verify each party
Each document is requested from its party through a link with the storage clock visible; the owner signs on their phone (or with a notary where the state requires a notarized title), the lienholder uploads the release, the yard confirms the daily charge and the release conditions; each document is read on arrival and checked against the vehicle identification number, the names on the title and the state's form.
Release and sell
With the documents complete, the vehicle is assigned to the salvage buyer or auction, the pickup is scheduled with the yard and confirmed, storage charges are settled to the pickup date, and the salvage certificate is applied for within the state's period; a lost title, a title in a deceased owner's name or an out-of-state lien goes to the salvage coordinator in the Decision Desk.
Write back the recovery
The sale proceeds, the storage and towing costs, the net recovery and the title transfer are written to the claims system against the claim, and the subrogation and deductible recovery processes read the net figure.
Where it ends: The documents came from the right parties on the storage clock, the vehicle moved as soon as they were complete, and the claim shows the net recovery with the title transfer. The Decision Trace shows the document list and any exception; the Audit Trace shows each request, signature, pickup and the write. The Callvu moves in this process are chase and verify and write back.
Runtime enforcement
What is enforcedwhile the work runs.
The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.
The handoff
Between the front doorand the back office.
The front door
The owner and the lienholder each through their own link; the yard and the buyer through theirs.
The back office
The salvage coordinator sees only exceptions; the adjuster sees the net recovery on the claim.
The Decision Desk
- A lost title, a deceased owner, an out-of-state or unresponsive lienholder goes to the salvage coordinator in the Decision Desk with the document status and only the allowed outcomes: apply for a bonded or duplicate title, pay off and reclaim the title, or hold with a reason.
Proof
In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.
The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.
Phoenix put more than 100 processes live in under 3 months.
Across Callvu customers
More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.
Across Callvu customers
Questions
What buyers ask next,answered plainly.
What documents does salvage need?
The assigned title or the lienholder's release, the owner's odometer disclosure and power of attorney, the salvage certificate application and the yard's release, as the vehicle's state requires.
Can the owner sign on their phone?
Where the state's title system accepts electronic signatures, yes; otherwise the process schedules a notarized signature and tracks it.
How is the recovery recorded?
The sale proceeds less storage and towing are written to the claims system against the claim, and subrogation and deductible recovery read the net figure.
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