Re: bmw-digest V9 #875

[John Fountaine <jfount@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael,

A salvaged title can be scary.

There are usually two reasons a vehicle may be salvaged.

1) the vehicle was involved in an accident wherein it was damaged more than
70% of it's fair market value.   For this car that would mean it had  more
than 25k worth of needed repairs to it.  That is far more significant than
a "quarter panel".

2) the vehicle may have been a theft recovery, wherein the items and damage
total 70% of the car's fair market value.  This the more likely of these
scenarios as it relates to the car of which you speak.

Of course, there is the shady third scenario.  The original car was
totalled.  The body shop owner bought it, and "obtained" a second vehicle
identical to the first vehicle.  Then, the vin plate from the totaled
vehicle is tranferred to the "obtained" vehicle, thereby making the
"obtained" vehicle clear with a salvaged title.  This process is repeated
with vin stickers located on various parts of the veh.

Now is this a pain? Yes.  But when a business (like a body shop) can knock
out two or three of these deals per month, the PITA becomes financially
rewarding.

Now I'm no expert, and I hold no degree in car stealology, so I can only
speak from the limited training I got from the Santa Clara County Regional
Auto Theft Task Force.  BTW you should see what happens when the "bait" car
gets boosted!!   HA HAHA!

Oh yeah one other thing...it is usually pretty unlikely that you fill find
financing for such an animal.  A similar story would come from the
insurance company.

Hope that sheds a little light...

John Fountaine

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End of bmw-digest V9 #877
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