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I remember a used car dealer in Florida who had a 61 Corvette stolen from his lot in the mid 1970S. 23 years later it went up for auction and the high bid was $53,000. perfectly restored.
The car was worth about $3k when stolen.
The dealer being the last legitimate owner of the car, apparently uninsured, got his car back, and the people who restored it, or the owner who had it restored got nothing.
Insurance companies contract with salvage disposal companies to sell salvage vehicles. If they even think about an scam, and the buyer calls them on it, the paper trail of funds and the VIN number bring the Feds in on felony Interstate fraud. Big time fines and jail sentences.
The first vehicle I rebuilt, was a 1966 Chevy G10 Van. I paid the salvage yard $400 for the Van. After 13 weekends of working on it it was finished and the junkyard still had not produced the title. I got the owners information out of the glove box and called him. Found out the Insurance Companies name and called them. They had the title and offered to sell me the Van for $200, so I bought it.
Called the State Police and rode to the salvage yard in the cruiser with the Trooper. Walked in the junkyard with the Trooper, showed the junk yard owner the title in my name transferred from the insurance Company. He never owned the Van. His limp arse excuse was he was waiting for them to send the title before he paid for the Van.
The Trooper talked with him for a while and let him know he was risking his license and a Felony charge, and strongly suggested he sell no more cars unless he had clear title.
I have never seen a licensed salvage disposal operation defraud a purchaser. Way too much to risk and they make real good money anyway. Insurance Companies as a general rule don't want to store and sell wrecks. They also don't want to repair them. Apparently they consider the potential liability issues to be prohibitive, since they have deep pockets and are most Lawyers favorite targets.
The vehicles that are rebuilt in Virginia have to be inspected by the State Police before you can even get a title. They check for stolen parts, and if they find them, you go directly to jail. remember when they bombed the World Trade Center wit ha rented Ford Van. They found the VIN on the rear axle housing, traced it back to the rental agency, and the people who rented the Van are still in jail.
On the downside I thin Va has recently enacted legislation making it illegal to bring a wrecked car from another state into VA to be repaired (not positive) so that Leaf would be a parts proposition only.
Understand one reason for it to go cheap. That is the fact that their is practically no demand for any of the parts and may not be for several years. For a person with the resources to accumulate all of the salvage examples of any specific model in a certain area.
He has a virtual monopoly on used parts. The only other source is new parts. Junkyards all know what new parts cost and generally charge 50% of the new part price for used parts.
I may buy a Leaf wrecked depending on how my prototype comes along and how well it does for economy, but the thought of using modules out of a Leaf battery pack and making it electric drive is awfully tempting.
regards
Mech
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