Ok so here is the situation. I'm buying a car that has a swap in it from a totalled car that rolled. My plan was as follows..

1. Take pics of the swap in the car I'm buying (both VINs) and take pics of the rolled car (buyer is going to show me this car) and the VIN in the dash.
2. Draft up a legal doc that says buyer acknowledges he is selling me a legit motor with the car (VIN listed) that he lawfully obtained from someone else.
3. Draft a bill of sale that states the car is "year/model/etc" with a "year/model/etc swap"

Any other suggestions? I've never dealt with a swapped car or seen a swapped car with papers before.

 

Sounds like you got most of it covered

 

Well, if the motor's stolen, it won't matter what papers you draw up. If it's found to be stolen, it's going to be conviscated. Even the seller might not know if it's stolen or not. On the other hand, buying a totalled car is really like buying a bunch of parts all at once so, from a legal standpoint, I'm not sure you need any kind of papers.

I assume you're just going to strip the carcass down for parts?

You could always take both VIN's to the police and see if either were reported stolen.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MasterKwan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
You could always take both VIN's to the police and see if either were reported stolen. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Don't sweat it too much though

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MasterKwan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I assume you're just going to strip the carcass down for parts?

You could always take both VIN's to the police and see if either were reported stolen. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not stripping anything. We'll use buyer/seller and car A and B for simplicities sake.

Seller owns Car B and has access to totalled Car A (dont' have all the details aka whether its in his possession or at a junkyard, etc). Car B has Car A's motor in it. Seller is selling me Car B with swap, and that is all I am taking. Car A is sitting somewhere dead. The car is not stolen and I will not buy it if I can't see Car A personally.

 

never turn it into insurance if you wreck it

 

Why not? Can I not present the necessary information to them beforehand?

 

they will jew you out of the actual money the swap is worth, its better to turn it in as stock and keep your motor and leave them a crappy single cam thats blown up.

 

I've been looking for a parts car myself. If someone offered to sell me a totalled car. I'd look it over. If the price was right, I'd pay the money and have it towed to my house.

I'd then strip the parts off I wanted and either have the carcass hauled off or chop it up with my "saws-all" and take it to the dump a piece at a time.

That's about the level of thought I'd put into it. You MAY be making this too complicated. I'd get the seller to sign a bill of sale saying he's selling me the carcass as is/where is and that's about it.

Do you really care about Car A?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MasterKwan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
That's about the level of thought I'd put into it. You MAY be making this too complicated. I'd get the seller to sign a bill of sale saying he's selling me the carcass as is/where is and that's about it.

Do you really care about Car A?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I only care about Car A for the simple fact that the motor is from that car. I don't want to get into any situations where a cop/inspection station asks me where the motor is from and I don't have proof.

I'm not buying a carcass, I'm buying a normal car with a swap. The totalled car is just to prove the engine came from there, I'm not taking the shell.

 

I've always wondered this myself, as I don't really have papers to go with the swap in my car. How can I sell it easily?

 

in NY no papers=no car
why deal with the bullshit
just do it right and buy it legit

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MugenHonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">in NY no papers=no car
why deal with the bullshit
just do it right and buy it legit
</TD></TR></TABLE>

How do I buy the car legit? I pay for it, get the title and then what? You're telling me there is no way to register a car that is on a second motor?