idreamofvette

As some of you may know, I recently bought the 97 Nassau blue Vette from this link....http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...1794101&page=3
First off I live in Arizona while I purchased the car from Louisanna. I had it shipped over here and all was good. I bought the car with a "CLEAN" Louisanna title. I go to register it in AZ and BAM! hidden salvage title from Ohio comes up. Somehow the Louisanna DOT gave the previous owner a clean title when they should have issued him a salvage. He told me he didn't think nothing of it....sooo the repercusions of all this is;

1. I cannot purchase collision or comprehensive on my Corvette because of the title descrepency being a salvage.

2. I am being charged 15% interest on a personal loan through my financer instead of a used auto loan at approx. 6%.

3. If I were to ever sell the Corvette to a non-Corvette/performance enthusiast, I would have to sell under a rebuilt-salvage title and wouldn't get peanuts for it.

So basically I'm getting BENT OVER! All this trouble would have been saved it LA DOT would have done their job correctly. I really don't want to go the legal course against the previous owner, but I need some compensation for this hassle. Thanks for any help/advice you guys give me.

Ohh and one more tidbit, the previous owner just received in the mail a letter from the Louisanna DOT saying that they screwed up and issued him a clean title when it should have been a salvage....2 weeks after he sold it to me.

P.S. Mods, if this thread is missplaced in the wrong forum please move it accordingly. I thought it was fitting dealing with a previous thread in the column.

jak112460

Honestly, after seeing that burnout video I would not have bought the car. That being said, the owner told you it was not salvage and it is salvage. You need to figure out the value difference between that car as a non salvage and salvage and then figure the difference in dollars over the life of you loan. That is what I would ask for in return. The seller had to have known it was salvage title when he bought the car and then just got lucky or used a trick to get a non salvage title. It would be very helpful to you if you have something in writing stating that the seller claimed the title was clean. This is the problem with "good deals". Buy a nice car at a fair price instead of a cheap deal!!

marauderoz

Seller had to have known!!

I would contact an attorney and focus on the seller!

Go get him!

Z0Sick6

get him, get him good. He knew it was salvage since HE bought it with one originally!

Bobhead99

bizaro

... I'd want a full refund plus all monies + interest you've paid on the loan. Get an attorney immediately.

whiteC5TN

why didnt you run a carfax on the car? that would have turned up any salvage title history. I know in TN if you transfer a car with a salvage title to TN they issue a CLEAR Title. Which DOES NOT MEAN it doesnt have any salvage title history.

MegaAir

He must have known

jhelms

I agree, if you run a Carfax report now what does it show?

jcorl

The prior salvage history titled car will have a devaluation of from 25% to 40% of Actual Cash Value(ACV) depending upon the quality and extent of repair work performed. Get a local insurance adjuster to perform a vehicle evaluation with ACV workup. That should cost you between $100 and $150. That is what I charge here in Missouri. Apply the percentage of devaluation and you know what loss you would be seeking to recoup from the seller. Your legal counsel will want to know this figure, so you might as well get it done. Any public adjuster should be able to perform the evaluation, also.

g1k05

i am really sorry to hear about this for you. with that said, i do not think i would be purchasing anything with a title(boat, car, etc) from louisiana for the next 5-10 years... i mean they did get slammed with a hurricane, and a lot of vehicles got destroyed.

idreamofvette

It shows a salvage in Kentucky and another one in Ohio...then it comes out clean in Louisanna.

Wicked C5

I would ask for about 5k back from the seller and either deal with the salvage title and high interest rate or sell the car or ask for a refund in full for the car from the seller.

MegaAir

i hope you paid a salvage price for the car

once a salvage always a salvage, can never put it back to clean... legally that is

lakecat

Sorry to hear. I see he had buds doing some carnival barking for the car too. Some did ask if it had an accident history and he PM'd them instead of making it public. I would PM them and see what he told them.

I would get some legal advice. Don't ever buy a car being pushed so aggressively. They played on your emotions and they won. Chalk it up but I am sorry to see ya possibly conned.

tlaselva

Well, sounds like you've been hosed.

You have three options.

1. Contact the seller and try to work something out.
2. Chalk this one up as a hard and expensive lesson.
3. Go get yourself some legal council.

Personally your going to likely have to work with option 3.

If something sounds too good to be true . . . . . .

repo

If the seller was/is a standup guy, he will work with you as painful as it might be. Good luck.

jhelms

That sucks.

Most likely the title washing was done on purpose to sell the car as 'clean' for close to 'clean' value.

I'm guessing you will not get anything from the seller, and if you retain an attorney you will spend more money just to track that down and find that out.

You might be able to go after the seller for some money but I doubt you would ever get any substantial real dollars from them.

This exact situation hasn't happened to me (but similar situations have) and for this car, I'd chalk it up and make it a track car - gut it, drive the heck out of it, enjoy it, etc.

wuznme

Did you run a Carfax before you bought it?

There is really nothing you can do that would cost less then the difference on a "clean" vs "salvage" car though.

Good Luck!!

str8rcn

Heck i used to live in Covington,LA I still know some people there let me know and i can make some phone calls and get someone to "pay him a visit"

All kidding aside I do know alot of people in Covington in the automotive field PM me if I can help.