Sacredgrooves

thats all i would need to give the car back to him. also, I would suspect, pretty strong circumstancial evidence if the courts ever need to be involved.
I would have to think he ran into the same problem and decided not to title it himself.
the car will never appreciate near the rate a clean titled car would. when my 79 z28 was hit(it was a beautiful car) i had to take less from insurance just so they wouldnt total it(only $500 less) fender,door and rear quarter were opened up like a zipper and thats quite a repair they didnt want to pay for. I love the car enough and recognize if i hold it long enough ill get my money back out of it so im restoring it now.worth the loss...if title went salvage,the car would of been parted out.
the vette will take money to restore/maintain anyway,might as well have one that you can get the money you put in back out later (at least a good chunk of it anyway heh)

LouAZ

Thanks. I agree. I think he knows he is in some hot water and is willing to take it back provided I pay the return freight. I would be out $3K on a $13K car. A lot of money for a lesson learned especially when someone is trying to take advantage of you.

If he does not come around to more rationale thinking I now know that his home state has laws against selling cars without a dealer’s license while skipping titles. At the very least he will get to deal with the MVD enforcement folks and possibly the state tax authorities. If they believe that there is enough circumstantial evidence (as we do!) with the intent to commit fraud, then he could see the criminal side of the house as well.

mandm1200

If it's going to cost $3k to get out of it, I wouldn't hesitate. I understand it's $3000 that could have been spent better. Better to lose it now than much more later.

Paul Borowski

Yeah, The Great State of Ohio is this way too, except when I brought my Silver '68 up from Georgia in April of '03 and had to get an Ohio title made for it, my "inspector" was an 18yr old girl that had only been employed there for 3 days

"This is a what year Corvette sir?" "A 1968 ma'am" "UH, can you show me where the VIN tag is???"

bobs77vet

3K to ship a car???????? where did you buy it from? you should be able to get a much better deal then that..

LouAZ

about $1350 each way (Passport)- he wants me to pay to ship it back plus absorb the intial cost to ship it out

bobs77vet

no ffffing way....not on a misrepresented deal...(intentional or not)

LouAZ

amen

68/70Vette

OK, so it looks like your car should have had a salvage title. Question, Does the car, after inspection, look like it is a salvaged car? Is there signs of repair work, signs that original parts were replaced with salvage or aftermarket replacement panels?

If the car truly looks like it is not a salvaged car; i.e. looks like it has never been repaired, then I'd think there's good reason to believe that somewhere in its past it was stolen and the VIN plate from a junked car was used to disguise the car's ancestry.

???????

LouAZ

Other than the NOM and 74 nose/rear (both of which I knew) the AZ inspector would not more specific. I had an expert look at it and it does not look like the frame was ever pulled. The car drives great. Its tough to say whether the mods were made by enthusist along the way (BB conversion not uncommon) or pieced together by a chop shop. As other member said it did not take much to total thses cars in the 80's since the values were lower.

I think I'm over the issue of the salvaged title..probably justified....I am trying to work out a settlement with the seller who is claiming ingnorance and therfore no responsiblity since he had a "clean" title from the seller before him..I don't know what I can prove but it just smells bad.

bobs77vet

good ! just cause she's not a virgin doesn't mean she can't be a lot of fun....just have to get the price right.

ruby76

that's why I don't buy cars or "expensive" things off of ebay unless it is a one of those large chains with a ebay auction site. I bet this happens all the time you just don't hear about it. Not to say there isn't honest things going on, but there are a LOT of screwy things going on on ebay.

LouAZ

Actually Ebay could be the saving grace on this while ordeal. I am waiting to hear back to see if I am covered under their protection program.

bamavettes

Don't hold your breath waiting on ebay.

I would be surprised if they were any help. More like shocked.

I have had over two hundred transactions on ebay. I bought a corvette clock last year. The seller received my money. I had my cancelled check. I sent the money the next day. He left me negative feedback.

The seller has now been kicked off ebay, and his account closed, but ebay says they can only remove negative feedback if I pay $20.00 and the seller has to agree to removing the feedback.

Good Luck........

DVG73

I may have missed something along the way but this car is a '70 with a 74 front and rearend? The salvage title is a bummer and I see no reason why AZ DMV did what they did. But with the mods that have been done to it, the value of this car as a 1970 Numbers match is going to suffer and most likely will never be the same value as one that has chrome bumpers, so the title becomes less of an issue on the value side of things, unless you go back with chrome bumpers.

I would say if you like the car and can get cash back from the seller then enjoy the H*** out of it and don't look back. If the time comes to sell it, you never know who is going to be enamored with it and pay you what you want.

chris75stingray

i've never heard of them scratching out the vin tag. i have a 71 skylark that was rear ended and given a salvaged title. we got the inspection after the repairs were done and now it still has the original vin number only a salvaged title. they said you can clear the title if you do a ground up restoration on it.

this was the phoenix DMV.

LouAZ

Got the Check today- ebay's Fraud Protection program works!

bobs77vet

good job...

Sacredgrooves

awesome! did you keep the car and get partial reimbursement or send it back?

Corvette ED

Here is one way to look at it. You paid $13,000 for it and are looking to get 50% back. So if you get $6,500 back you will have $6,500 in the car.

You could drive the car and enjoy it. When you want to get rid of it, the car is worth $6,500 or more in parts if you cut it up and part it out.

If you can get a full refund minus the shipping send it back, but only after he sends you the money. Have it wired to your bank so you know its there.