</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Me: There's a story here, of course, but I'll only bother telling it if anyone cares. </td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from yenpit on 11:37 am on Jan. 29, 2002
we DO care Jeff.....whats ur story??? :cheesy:
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Okay, I'll skip past the accident itself part, but I wound up totalling a black '90 Integra GS (I know I said '91 earlier, but now I think I mis-remembered that) a few years ago. I sold it to a body shop for $800 so they could use it for parts and stuff.
Several months went by before I received a letter from the "Passiac County Auto Theft Task Force". It read something like, "Mr. Jamieson, we have recovered your stolen Acura. If you would like it back, please call us."
Quite interested, that's exactly what I did. "You have my Acura?", I asked, "What kind of shape is it in?". The officer wanted to know why I was asking. I said, "Well, I mean, aren't stolen cars frequently damaged?". "Oh," he said, "yeah, they are, but this one is fine." "Fine?!" "Yeah, completely. Listen, you want it back or not?" "Uhm. Okay. What do I have to do?" "Bring down the title and some ID." "I don't have the title. It was, uhh, in the car when I lost it" (actually, I had given the title to the body shop, signed, when I sold it) (but they didn't appear to know this). The officer or detective or whoever said, "That's okay. Go to DMV with ID and the VIN. They'll issue you a new title."
So, I dug up an old insurance bill and went to DMV. I asked for title for this car, and gave them the VIN. The woman entered the VIN in to her computer, looked up at me, and asked, "Are you Mr. Jamieson?" "Yup." "Can I see some ID?" "Here ya go." "And, here you go.". She gave me a title. I asked about the original, and she said the act of issuing a replacement automatically voids the original. Should anyone with the original try to do anything, the computer would indicate that a duplicate exists, and the original was now worthless.
So, back to retrieving "my" Acura I was. Several phone calls later, now, I started learning all the details. This required calling both the "Auto Theft Task Force" and my body shop to piece together the puzzle. Here's what happened.
The body shop, per se, didn't buy the car. An employee did. I didn't know that. But, then, that employee was in 'some shady stuff', so the owner fired him. He left, and took my/his Acura with him. He was given my signed title as well. But, without a job at a body shop anymore, I guess it was harder to fix the car legitmately, so he stole body panels off another black Integra on the street. He may have gotten away with this had he bothered re-titling and re-registering the car. See, he also stole license plates for the car.
A cop ran the plates, and discovered they were not his. They pulled him over, and checked the VIN. According to DMV, that VIN came back registered to me. So, they arrested him for auto theft and impounded the car. Guess he should've just bought new body parts, eh?
Anyway, since it was my car, I was legally entitled to take it back. However, since the hood, left fender, and entire front end were not mine, I couldn't have those. Also, I had to pay for towing and storage in the impound lot, which is apparently standard practice even if your car was stolen.
I decided it wasn't worth the trouble or the money, especially since I had serious doubts about the quality of repairs under the hood, so I told 'em to just keep it.
That all had to be about two years ago now. Just last summer, I ran a CarFax on the VIN because I was curious. I still have my title (someplace), but the vehicle has transfered ownership anyway - at a police auction, presumably.
So, there's my story. You don't need a title to buy or sell a car, I guess.
However, if I ever found my title and the car, could I still claim ownership and take it back? I mean, I doubt it, but I still don't really know. A new title was probably issued as a "salvage" or whatever, and I bet I can't over-ride that one. Who knows?
(Edited by JeffNJ at 12:43 pm on Jan. 30, 2002)