I mean, I'm not an expert on vehicle titles, and I already filed the insurance claim. As far as I know, the car's not going to be totaled where it would be a salvage title. I looked into this some more, and according to the Wisconsin Dept of Transportation's
title brands page,
State law requires the vehicle owner to disclose the following title brand information if it is not already on the current Wisconsin title:
Flood damaged - A vehicle that is not considered junk, and damaged by water to the extent that the estimated or actual repair costs, whichever is greater, is more than 70% of the fair market value. A vehicle that has been submerged in water will receive a flood damaged brand. If the vehicle is less than seven years old it will also receive a Wisconsin salvage vehicle brand s.340.01(18p).
In my case, even with a new BMW remanufactured long block, the repairs are well below 70% of fair market value. More like 35%.
The car wasn't submerged in water. All that happened was I drove through a big puddle that splashed a bunch of water over the hood. Because it caused engine problems that my mechanic said would be fairly expensive to fix, I filed an insurance claim. When I look at my insurance online, it says flood loss. Based on what the WI DOT website says and what I know about the insurance claim, it looks to me like there won't be any kind of title brand.
I could be wrong, but either way, I'm all about documenting any work that happens on my cars and disclosing that when it comes time to sell. I always scan all my receipts and keep them in a Google Drive folder that I can share with a buyer. So when it comes time to sell, I'm planning to be up front with people about this insurance claim and that the car got a fresh BMW remanufactured long block as a result.