exotik4doorcivic

ran a carfax on a 4door civic w/ a gsr and the carfax doesnt say anything about being stolen but it has a rebuilt title??


anyone have any input

BlueIntegraBoy

iTrader: (5)

Accident...

An insurance company was going to salvage my friend's hatch because of a bent rad support. But he had a body shop sign off (I guess a guarantee), so it's a clean title.

exotik4doorcivic

well i wanted to see if the engine was stolen but it doesnt say stolen on the carfax, it just says junk/rebuilt title issued but no reason why??

is there any way i can run the serial # on the block and find out

De_tour

Take it to the state patrol, they should be able to inspect the car for things like that.

exotik4doorcivic

if it comes up stolen, then they can take the engine, and they are 3 months out

De_tour

are you buying this car from someone?

exotik4doorcivic

got the car from someone and i wanted to run the engine to see if its legit

MJ0LNIR

In Wisconsin, the title would be branded based on a collision that the vehicle bearing that VIN was involved in. What you're talking about is probably something similar, the car that that engine was originally in was totaled or salvaged, and the engine found its way out.

You can't guarantee anything is ever not stolen without asking the cops, but you can be pretty sure the engine was not stolen at the time that they issued the branded title, which would be about the time of the carfax report.

to you for being concerned about buying stolen parts.

EFsSuck

what about running the VIN that is on the motor? OBD2 motors have a green VIN tag just like the one on the dash. what if you ran that VIN? would it say that the motor/tranny is missing?!?! i would think that it wouldnt. it would say that it was a theft recovery, but nothing else?

MJ0LNIR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EFsSuck &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what about running the VIN that is on the motor? OBD2 motors have a green VIN tag just like the one on the dash. what if you ran that VIN? would it say that the motor/tranny is missing?!?! i would think that it wouldnt. it would say that it was a theft recovery, but nothing else?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, again in Wisconsin, everything is tracked by the VIN. So if you ran the VIN on the motor, you'd get the record for whatever car had that VIN.

It is possible, then, that if the donor car were rebuilt by someone else, and was out rolling around and got totaled, that you could find yourself with an engine that would get a "salvage" or some other brand even AFTER you bought it. The thought on that is as follows:

1. The title branding laws only apply to cars 7 model years old or less. So if you pull a GSR out of some Teg somewhere, the title on the donor car won't change; it's too old.

2. The idea is that when a car is in a serious accident, there is a more significant effect on the chassis than the mechanical parts. (Bent frames, etc).

There is a way to report a vehicle as rebuilt after being salvaged, and then operate it on the roads, but it requires the vehicle to be inspected by the State Patrol. I suppose that anyone with an engine with a branded title also has that layer of protection going for them.

So to answer your questions, there is no brand on the title for whether or not the engine/trans is missing, because we're more concerned about the chassis here. Also, I'd have to look at work, and someone can correct me if they KNOW differently, but I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as just a "theft" brand in Wisconsin. I think it's "theft/fire/flood." Again not sure on that.

EFsSuck

so what your saying is that by running the VIN there no way to tell if a motor/tranny is legit or not?

MJ0LNIR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EFsSuck &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so what your saying is that by running the VIN there no way to tell if a motor/tranny is legit or not?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the OP's question. Once again, I can only speak for Wisconsin.

Running the VIN can tell you if the engine or vehicle is *currently* stolen. But looking at the title for the car, which is connected to the VIN, may or may not get you that "rebuilt" brand. Also, I doubt carfax has updated info on engines/cars that are currently missing/stolen.

To answer that question: call the cops with the vin, they can tell you if the engine is stolen. Probably no other way to find that out.

I thought the OP ran the report and got a "rebuilt" flag on the carfax report. I was explaining that this does not necessarily mean that the car/engine/compenents was/is/are stolen. This might just mean that the car was totaled at some point and rebuilt by an auto salvager.

My apologies for being confusing.

civhatch90

well run the vin thats on the chassy and also run the vin thats on the motor and see what come up. there should be two different vin numbers

exotik4doorcivic

the car is a 4dr eg civic and the engine is a gsr so they are different.

i ran the engine and it says "rebuilt title issued" but nothing about theft
or accidents so i dont know why a rebuilt would be issued on that motor unless it was wrecked or stolen

MJ0LNIR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by exotik4doorcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the car is a 4dr eg civic and the engine is a gsr so they are different.

i ran the engine and it says "rebuilt title issued" but nothing about theft
or accidents so i dont know why a rebuilt would be issued on that motor unless it was wrecked or stolen</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's what I was gettin' at. The car was probably either wrecked or stolen, and that's why you're getting that entry when you run the engine. But the existence of that entry isn't evidence that the motor is currently stolen, at least not any more than anyone else's engine. Ask the cops if you're really concerned.

joedaddyjdm

i have the same issue.. i need to run the serial number which is under the stamped b18c letters because the vin is not there. i was told its not stolen???? any help???

mckrank313

rebuilt/junk means the motor came from a salvaged car....

meaning the person totalled there car, and then took the motor out... when you run the vin for the motor it isn't really for the motor... its for the car it originally belonged to.

meaning that if the original car was salvaged/junk/rubuilt (big wreck insurance said f. you we are just gonna call it totalled) then the motor vin number will say that...

if the original car (vin number off motor) was stolen then the vin number you run will come up as stolen...

the vin on your dash isn't going to come up stolen because well you own it... but the motor vin would come up stolen if indeed the car it originally belonged to was stolen...

if it says junk/rubuild or w/e the motor is not stolen simply taken out of a wrecked car...

hope that helps... or you may get confused by the way i put it...