Hello all, new to the forum here and looking for some guidance. I bought a 72 stingray which was bought with a clear title (so I thought). After trying to title it today it was discovered to have a salvaged title and a clear title was issued wrong to the previous owner. My title in hand is clear. The previous owner claims having no knowledge of it being salvaged as he got it the same way. At this point, is the car worthless or how much degrade is it? I had a great mechanic look it over and he could not find the repairs anywhere. The car looks and drives fantastic but I have no idea what was damaged. Should I dump it, take the loss and look start over? I don't know if I should dump money into it that I will never see again should I decide to sell it later on.

 

check the vin I know here in California at dmv website we can see the if title is clear and how much is owed on tags by using vin. Its up to you if car is good and you like hook it up and don't expect to make money on selling. On the other hand I aint no lawyer but there maybe something you could do as you bought a car under false pretense but that is a whole different ball game. I say if its runs straight and looks good go for it and if you bought it to modify it now you don't have to worry about it losing value because of mods.

 

I would start by trying to get the paper work straightened out. See what kind of history before the last owner is available.You'll probably have to get some third party help involved.Hemmings Motor magazine used to have people in the services section that could be helpful.You brought a car with a clean title you should be able to get it straightened out with some detective work. In the history of my car they had a wrong serial no# on the regi and that was straightened out,way before I owned it. Good luck.

 

Thanks all, I am trying to track down the previous owners to see if I can find out what happened to the car. I have to file an affidavit with my state stating what repairs have been done and by whom before they will even title it for me, so that sucks. As far as legal ramifications, I spoke to the prosecuting attorney's office and I would of course have to prove without a reasonable doubt that the previous owner knowingly sold the car with the incorrect title causing fraud. That is probably not going to happen. Taking them to court will cost more than what I got in the car.

The dilemma is I like how the car looks and drives. It has some modifications, not original motor, so that hurts the value I know. My plan was to finish restoring the car and giving it to my son when he is old enough to appreciate it. Sucks.

 

If you can legally register the car with a clear title/no exceptions, that would be ideal. If you are issued an "exception -rebuilt/salvaged/reconstructed title and find a company to insure it, a large hurdle will be overcome. Your son will eventually get the car.......that sounds like it's staying in the family and will "appreciate" in the eyes of your son more than you can realize.

Think it over.

 

It's got a salvaged title, no way around that. I think if I am going to invest a good bit of money restoring one would rather have one with a clean title.

 

I understand. That's why I tossed in the advice about "finding a company that will insure it"----they don't like salvage titles.

Keep us posted on what you buy next!

 

If the seller did not divulge that the car had a 'salvaged' title (whether he knew it or not), you can sue to make the deal null and void. It is the seller's responsibility to know the status of the title for a car he is selling.

P.S. He knew it....just didn't want YOU to know it.

The problem with a salvage title is that, no matter how good the condition of the car is, it will always have a salvage title...and the value of the car will NEVER be where you think it should be. Lastly, if you got the car for less than 70% of what you think it should be worth (disregarding the salvage title), it might be best to clear up the paperwork and keep it. Hopefully, the car wasn't in a saltwater flood....

 

Ok, after some digging I found the original owner and spoke to him at length this afternoon. I am the 4th owner (surprisingly all the previous owners live in OK). The original owners wife rear ended a truck in 1984. It damaged the front bumper, lights, hood and the one piece front. No frame damage. The insurance totaled it but he bought it back and had everything replaced. Nice old guy, didn't seem to have any reason to lie to me. Still don't know how I feel about keeping it though.

 

Since you own it why not just enjoy it

 

Some states don't even require titles on old cars. Keep your car. Chances are if someone wants to buy it in the future they won't care as much about the salvage title. It will be a bargaining tool for sure but really, we are talking about a collectors car. Would you care if that 69 SS camaro big block had an accident 35 years ago?

 

You said the car is not original and doesn't even have the original engine anymore, So I don't know why you care so much about the status of the title. Resto mod it and enjoy it.

 

All, thanks for the info. I guess I will just hang onto it for now.

 

cars are sold as is, except for the seller must guarantee the title. whether the seller knew or not, a bad title is grounds to cancel the transaction and you should be able to get that done pretty easily by most any court without a high cost litigation. It is not your problem, it is his.. the seller.

there are various levels of fraud that can be declared here. fraudulent misrepresentation is when the seller can be proved to know. innocent misrepresentation is when the seller does not know. either way, he must guarantee the title, or it is an invalid transaction. let him worry about tracking down what happened.. it is not your problem.

did you buy across states? sometimes one state may not talk to the other and there are ways via title washing to strip the title of it's branding. but upon trying to transfer the title to a state that does talk to other states or has a record of the branding then the branding will reappear.. looks like this happened to you.

I would return the car.. you will have registration issues, title issues, selling issues, and insurance issues that will haunt you thruout your ownership. unless there is a dollar amount you have in mind the the seller could pay you to relieve you of that haunting.

 

If the car was a daily driver type car 15 years or newer, a salvage title is a death sentence for it. Half value at best, although most try for a lot more, simply because of insurance problems and such.

If the previous owner had a clear title, then it should be clear. If the state makes a mistake, they have to live with it. Request a complete title history. It could have been cleared prior to the salvage titles staying forever, since you could get them certified safe once upon a time. Now they issue "Rebuilt" most places after that.

A Salvage title in many places means it isn't street legal or safe. It is salvage. It is scrap. If they have registered it and had a clear title, then it was certified serviceable again somewhere.

On old classics, a large number of them have been totaled somewhere in their lives. However, many of them have been torn down to every nut and bolt and rebuilt, so technically, they are remanufactured when fully restored.

 

I asked the seller to take the car back and he refused and he said take it to the court if I wanted to. He said he already spent the money and didn't have the money to return to me. A large portion of what I paid him went to the bank to get the lien released on it. (I didn't think a bank would loan money on a salvaged title). Would I have to hire a lawyer to get this done?

 

How long did the previous owner own it? Short time? Sounds like he knew it was wrong and was glad to get rid of it.

Yes, you will need a lawyer. I remember years ago reading about people having issues titling and registering Corvettes in Oklahoma. They would get upset over what we know are original VINs but "looked wrong" to them. Things like spot welds on '63 and '64, screws in '56 and '57, and so on.

You said you spoke to the original owner so if the state gave him a clean title, and everyone after, it is clean.

You need that title history and a lawyer. It may be some out of pocket up front, but I'm sure a lawyer can find someone in this mess to sue to recover it.

I always make photocopies of previous titles, so I have them if something comes up. They aren't official, but they will give some doubt.

 

Did you buy this vette through ebay by any chance?

 

No, wish I had.

 

Yeah that's 1 thing they offer buyer protection for, if advertised clear and it isn't. Sorry for your problem, hope you find a solution.