Parts car with no papers: help....
 

Hello; I have just found a nice parts car out of my town, and for dirt cheap...

Another friend and myself are planning on taking a Roadtrip out to the car (8+ hours round trip) and strip it of its parts (engine, tranny, diffs, etc...) and bring them back home. I talked to the seller, and he has been very adamant of there being no papers for the vehicle; claiming the 'owner' (a friend of his) is in another province. Since I live out of town, I wouldnt have any place to strip the car of what i want, and i asked the seller if i could use his property for just a day while i strip it and i will deal with the shell myself. he quickly rejected this offer and suggested a towtruck friend he had who can tow it anywhere else for the stripping.

All this seems a bit fishy and i was just wondering what bases I should cover *just in case anything happens* and this turns out to be a stolen vehicle.

As I would be purchasing it based on a parts car only, and be ditching the shell later, are the metal scrapyards obligated to run vin numbers, and have owner present on cars being brought in? That would be the worst of the worst...

any help much appreciated! thanks
Jon-

From what you describe here, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

"Chop shop"...stolen & stripped car ...come to mind. If it smells like dog poo, don't taste it to make sure. If it turns out to be stolen you could be charged with PSP AND you are out your money too.

Only way to safely deal with this would be to go there, get the VIN number yourself (off both frame and body), and have them checked out, before doing ANYTHING else. Unfortunately the boys in blue bathrobes are right, it doesn't sound good, and that will probably end up being a wasted trip.

And before you ask, no, you don't want to ask the seller for the VIN info before you leave - even with pictures, it's too easy for them to lie outright.

there. edited your post so that you've answered your own question :thumbsup:

i'd poke it with a twenty foot pole that one. i don't even care if it were given to me for free... the last thing i want is the cops knocking on my door with a court order seizure notice and a set of handcuffs :(

haha- thanks thumper, turns out as everyone suspected it was some kind of scam; when i asked where the car was or for the VIN number, he quickly pulled the ad and told me its not for sale anymore. i feel a bit better now that i have the temptation of it gone....

thanks guys

Not a very clever scammer... the smart ones woulda provided you a "real" VIN number from a legit car of the same type... say, go out on the street and just write one down off another car ;)

this was on the news a few years back. scammers taking vin tags from titled wrecks and putting them onto stolen cars to be resold... some of them were "washed" through legit car dealerships who had no idea. these people who bought them had no idea until cops showed up at their door with a notice and a tow truck to take their cars away... possession of stolen property, so no compensation or recourse :(

it doesnt sound that fishy. I wouldnt want u tearing down a car in my front yard either, leaving parts and oil everywhere. U take the car with the tow truck and tear it down on your own time. If your worried about the car go ask if the vins are on the car. Is yes, ask for them and report it. If no you really dont have anything to worry about. its just a scrap piece of metal with parts that u need on it

^Simply asking for the VINs won't do you any good if it is stolen, because the person could feed you any BS. Only way to be safe is check them yourself (or have someone you trust check them), and make sure to get the one from the dash, AND from the chassis (since the dash VIN plate can be changed out fairly easily).

Not wanting the car torn down in one's front yard isn't fishy in itself... but the BS story about having no papers, owner out of town, etc. etc. just gets to be too much, and the seller pulling the ad as soon as the buyer asked for the VIN pretty much clinches it.