Legality issue with vin tags

http://www.bipac.net/semaga/TagTitleToolbox_MO.pdf

this is for our state...

 

I have a few vin tags from a few vehicles that I have bought and scrapped. These tags I usually dont sell or get rid of but keep for the collector value. I have traded a few that I had the paper work on to friends when they have a car with either no vin or the vin tag is damaged. I know it is illigal but I have switched tags when my buddys 50 Ford 4 door got wacked and he got a new one from a wrecker.

 

As a former resident of the state of Alabama (on active military duty) I purchased a 1956 Ford F100 that sat long enough for a tree of 4" diameter to grow between the cab and bed for $200.00. The owner gave me a bill of sale on a piece of notebook paper( no notary). I took it to the tag office and recieved a tag. Note this was in 92 but last I herd they still have no titles on vehicles prior to 1976 and no insurance law to boot! To contrast I bought a 69 Camaro in Hawaii from the 2nd owner because registering it would have cost him over $1000.00. There if you dont turn the tags in when you take a vehicle off the road all taxes are collected for the prior years when re-registered.I was exempt as not a resident of that state.GOOD LUCK!!

 

Alabama is a no title state...1976 and older does not require a title...if you hand them one, they'll hand it back to you and tell you they do not title cars that old....you need a bill of sale witnessed by 2 people (notorized is always better) anf they'll issue you a tag...there pretty smart about you having a 40k car and bill of sale for $1500.....If the car is from out of state they inspect the serial number......If you sell one out of state they'll give you a notorized statement to give to the buyer to present to the other state DMV.

 

Ever watch Office Space?

This is why they have "Pound you in the ass prison".

 

Hey, explain for us what happens when you have something like a '50s-'60s Ford product that has the tag on the driver's door, and you have to replace the door.

Or you have a similar era GM or Mopar product that had the tag glued, or maybe badly spotwelded through the paint, and it falls off?

The bottom line is it's not legal to swap tags or use the wrong tags - but every state has different laws, different ways to do things, and not every person who looks at it may even have a clue what to check for - so you may be able to find creative ways to work around the rules and get away with it. But the key usually in that situation is to keep your mouth shut and every answer is "I don't know, I bought it this way" -

I know of at least one state that doesn't use titles, doesn't inspect the tag, and you could literally get a registration and only have a tag and no car - and not even have old paperwork for the car in question. Don't really want to muck up the ease of registering perfectly legitimately owned old cars where someone lost what basically amounts to a business card sized piece of paper 40 years ago.

 

My '51/'52 Ford pick-up had the VIN plate screwed to the inside of the glove box door.

Many old British cars had the VIN tag attached with phillips head sheet metal screws.

My '91 Miata project car has the VIN riveted to the removable plastic dash! The dealer sells the "official" rivets needed to attach the plate to a replacement dash!

Restorations often have the VIN plate removed. Sometimes a new replica plate is stamped and used.

It's not all that uncommon for a truck cab to be replaced. Legal or not, in the shops/dealers I have worked for the VIN tag gets transferred to the new piece.

I have heard people say it's illegal to remove a VIN tag. Maybe that is true some places, but it is done anyway. A legal transfer of the VIN plate is one thing. Using something that doesn't belong with the car is going to be a lot harder to explain in court.

 

When I purchased my '57 3100 the guy that I purchased it from was an auto recycler. All he gave me a Bill of Sale, so when I took it to the GADMV they gave me a form to have the local PD sign off on stating that the VIN plate was actually missing, and 30 days later I received my issued VIN plate. Easy....peasy!!!

 

Maybe so, but the frame is also stamped.

As long as you can find the VIN in Michigan it can be titled. Assuming it doesn't come back stolen, and I would have that checked before I bought it. It's a lot easier with the title, and that's the only way I would do it.

 

Why would you tell the dmv or anyone else what larcenous activities you have been engaged in,,,titles/registrations should be the business of the the owner and how you go about getting it is nobodies business...

 

if you have the title and the car.you own it..if its out of the dmv system,they will ask you to bring the car in for a vin verification(in cali)

 

gangsta

 

And the more people post about and discuss this subject on the internet, the better the chance that some overzealous public servants will feel that it is their duty to do something about it.

 

true...ive bought and sold parts from guys from the hamb and jockey journal that were cops..cool dudes..

 

if you have to ask then do not do it

 

I remember seeing the guys with cars on the roll off that were a complete wreck and totaled and when they told me they had just purchased the car from some junk yard I knew the reason they purchased it.

They needed the numbers for another car.

Is it against the law?

Let's just say when they got caught they went away for 8 years and then they were making license plates for a hobby while in prison.

It's kind of like turning back the mileage on a car.

Can you do it sure until you get caught!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jimbo

 

If Cooter doesn't mind, let me add Punishable Felony.
Stiff complications, and I'd be afraid to even raise this topic on a public internet forum.
Tom S. in Tn.

 

Life's too short to be spending any time in the crossbar hotel with a butthole bandit as a roomate. Well, unless your in to that kind of thing.

 

They don't actually drop out of the system in good old Missouri. I sold my scooter 32 years ago, the fella never registered it or changed the title. The engine currently resides in the trunk of an old Pontiac in Springfield. The state still considers me to be the owner of the motor cycle and the county still has me fill out an affidavit every year that I am no longer in possession of the bike or any part of it so that I do not have to pay personal property tax on it.

 

tampering with the vin is a felony. a title can be used on a build, if you use the frame from the car. for example, i have a frame from a henry j i just cut up. The firewall with the vin tag is still attached. This, with a paper trail of your build(body source, receipts, etc) and an inspection(CHP here) can get you an assigned title as a 1951 vehicle(in this case)

I had a guy after my title when he heard i was parting the car. Was about to sell it, until I read up on it. Not worth it to make a couple hundred bucks.

 

Next thing they'll be coming after us guys that cut those tags off pillows and bedsheets that say.."DO NOT REMOVE UNDER PENALTY OF LAW".....then it'll be women with "FAKE BREAST" and people with Fiberglass Reproduction Cars....where does it end....we're all destined for jail.......then who will pay taxes and keep America running...noone, cause everyone else is on wellfare and wont work....you see it just snowballs...............ahhhhhhh...I think I'll take a nap...this makes me tired........

 

wrong , I did it with the dodge after it was built and got a tittle ,maybe its different in california.

 

i've got the similar problem, my 30' A had no frame and the one i found for it had the numbers so rusted and pitted away that there is no vin to go from

 

The big thing is if you're going to play games with the tags and numbers for your own use, that's one thing, but what it means is you can never sell that car. That's when any whacky hi-jinks to get it on the road will come to light and bite you on the ass.

 

I had a 56 Chevy Bel Air 2 door hardtop from the junkyard the VIN tag was gone
I called the state they said they would check the frame number on the original attached body
he told me it was under the drivers seat area on the top of the frame
my luck the number wasn't legible he said use the car for parts
that was the end of that deal

it's a real pain screwing around with cars without VIN's

here's some interesting reading below
you can make an informed decision on swapping VIN numbers etc.

http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01364.htm

http://law.onecle.com/uscode/18/511.html

http://www.motortopia.com/groups/news_view/id/194/item/601/i/vin_fraud

 

what if i have the original frame and frame number/vin but no title just bill of sale. i built a brand new frame for it that i would be using to put my model a cab over. should i just register my original frame and hang it up on my wall as a garage ornament?

 

They have already gone after the glass reproduction crowd. If Coddington was around you could ask him about that.

I actually got caught with my collection of pillow and mattress tags once. I promised the cop that I was just weird and that they really didn't come from motel pillows and mattresses. I think he believed the weird part.

My take on it all is something that a fella named Sonny said to me one time,"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."