About Hilltop Auto Mart
We are a small family owned car lot that sells late model rebuilt and rebuild-able vehicles. We have them repaired professionally so they will be safe & reliable vehicles that we can put our family and friends in.
It all began over 25 years ago when we needed to upgrade our vehicles but didn't want to pay retail from the big car lots. It just didn't make since to drive off a lot and the car was instantly worth several thousand less. So we started repairing low mileage salvaged cars that we bought from insurance company's. We sale like new, low mileage, safe & dependable vehicles at a fraction of the price you pay at the retail lots.
We now have sold cars all over the US & other countries. Our rebuilt vehicles have had a 21 point inspection, and a computerized wheel alignment by a ASE Certified technician to make sure they are safe and give years of trouble free service. We have warranty contracts available for most all vehicles we sell.
Thanks for looking around our website, now come and see what's on our lot! You can also reach us at (270)384-1562 or email us at hilltop@hilltopautomart.net
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a salvage title car? Salvage titles are deemed such by an insurance company, not a government agency. A salvage title car is a car that an insurance company had paid off, at a point, its value to the original owner.
- How does a car become salvage? There are many reasons for this. The most common is collision. A lot of these salvage cars, however, are simply recovered theft cars. Recovered theft cars get a salvage title if they are recovered after the original owner has been paid off. Usually this happens after 30 days.
- I thought salvage title cars are "totaled"? “Totaled” means an economic total loss. This doesn’t usually have much to do with the extent of the damage. Regardless of mileage, the older the car is the easier it would be for an insurance company to write them off. The less expensive the car is the is the lighter the damage would have to be for an insurance company to write it off rather then repair it. The salvage industry in huge in this country. We have access to at least 80,000 cars a week through salvage auctions. The majority of those cars are, indeed, not worth repairing. But a lot of these cars have minor damage or none at all. We pick and choose cars that have light damage. We never buy anything with severe damage. If nothing else, it would not be economical for us. For most every car we sell, we have pictures before or during the repairs being made. So you can see for yourself that most of the cars we sell have not had serious damage.
- How common is this? The fact is that nearly all retail dealers have body shops on site. The vast majority of used cars get bodywork. The difference is that we disclose all of our repairs. Most dealers do not. This is because we believe that there is nothing wrong with buying a car that has had body work done, but you should be able to buy it for less.
- Is this a salvage title car? It is not. At least not anymore. This car has an Original Ky. title that has a “rebuilt” brand. The brand is there simply to indicate the vehicle’s history.
- Has this car been inspected? Yes. This car has been inspected by our Sheriff department. It has passed that inspection and is deemed roadworthy. No different than any other car. Ironically, only our cars get inspected. Under Ky law, no road worthiness test is necessary other than salvage inspections. This means that only our cars are inspected. Clean title cars have not been inspected. We inspect road worthy.
- What about title transfer and registration? This will be no different than any other car. We will transfer the car when you buy it unless your from out of state. If your from another state we will issue you a temp tag free of charge. Title transfer will also be the same. We don't charge any documentation fee like the bigger lots do.
- I have concerns about air bags not deploying and frame damage on salvage cars? All cars with air bags have a light on the dash that will come on when the car is started. All vehicles have a self test which is automatically preformed EVERYTIME time you start the car. If ANY part of the air bag system fails the test the air bag light will stay on to let you know there is a problem! Frame damaged vehicles are harder for most people to tell if they have been repaired correctly. Be sure you trust who you are buying from if it has had frame damage. Also ask for an alignment print out and explanation if you don't understand it. All of our vehicles will have properly functioning air bags, most were not damaged enough to deploy. We also buy very few that had frame damage to need repairing. Our alignments are done in in house to insure they are done right.
- What is a salvage title car? Salvage titles are deemed such by an insurance company, not a government agency. A salvage title car is a car that an insurance company had paid off, at a point, its value to the original owner.
- How does a car become salvage? There are many reasons for this. The most common is collision. A lot of these salvage cars, however, are simply recovered theft cars. Recovered theft cars get a salvage title if they are recovered after the original owner has been paid off. Usually this happens after 30 days.
- I thought salvage title cars are "totaled"? “Totaled” means an economic total loss. This doesn’t usually have much to do with the extent of the damage. Regardless of mileage, the older the car is the easier it would be for an insurance company to write them off. The less expensive the car is the is the lighter the damage would have to be for an insurance company to write it off rather then repair it. The salvage industry in huge in this country. We have access to at least 80,000 cars a week through salvage auctions. The majority of those cars are, indeed, not worth repairing. But a lot of these cars have minor damage or none at all. We pick and choose cars that have light damage. We never buy anything with severe damage. If nothing else, it would not be economical for us. For most every car we sell, we have pictures before or during the repairs being made. So you can see for yourself that most of the cars we sell have not had serious damage.
- How common is this? The fact is that nearly all retail dealers have body shops on site. The vast majority of used cars get bodywork. The difference is that we disclose all of our repairs. Most dealers do not. This is because we believe that there is nothing wrong with buying a car that has had body work done, but you should be able to buy it for less.
- Is this a salvage title car? It is not. At least not anymore. This car has an Original Ky. title that has a “rebuilt” brand. The brand is there simply to indicate the vehicle’s history.
- Has this car been inspected? Yes. This car has been inspected by our Sheriff department. It has passed that inspection and is deemed roadworthy. No different than any other car. Ironically, only our cars get inspected. Under Ky law, no road worthiness test is necessary other than salvage inspections. This means that only our cars are inspected. Clean title cars have not been inspected. We inspect road worthy.
- What about title transfer and registration? This will be no different than any other car. We will transfer the car when you buy it unless your from out of state. If your from another state we will issue you a temp tag free of charge. Title transfer will also be the same. We don't charge any documentation fee like the bigger lots do.
- I have concerns about air bags not deploying and frame damage on salvage cars? All cars with air bags have a light on the dash that will come on when the car is started. All vehicles have a self test which is automatically preformed EVERYTIME time you start the car. If ANY part of the air bag system fails the test the air bag light will stay on to let you know there is a problem! Frame damaged vehicles are harder for most people to tell if they have been repaired correctly. Be sure you trust who you are buying from if it has had frame damage. Also ask for an alignment print out and explanation if you don't understand it. All of our vehicles will have properly functioning air bags, most were not damaged enough to deploy. We also buy very few that had frame damage to need repairing. Our alignments are done in in house to insure they are done right.