Stripped car with title, parts found/recovered, parts yours?

  • Thread starter mgd1790
  • Start date
    • This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links like Ebay, Amazon, and others.
mgd1790

mgd1790

Veteran Member
Nov 25, 2003
1,197
Suburban Chicago
This might be kind of a weird question… What if you purchased a stripped car at auction that had no engine or transmission and later because they usually tag on newer cars, the VIN connected to the engine and transmission and all kinds of parts and you found those parts that are obviously stolen or whatever. Are those parts technically yours because you own the title of the car?

I know it’s not a cut and dry thing, but this is more of a legal consideration. I live in Illinois was going to reach out to the secretary of state to see if this is in fact the case, if you recover the parts from a former stripped car that was sold.

Not sure if this makes sense.
 
unrestored72Z

unrestored72Z

Veteran Member
Feb 17, 2000
1,626
Sacramento, CA
I would say what you bought at time of auction is yours, nothing more.
If later. items are discovered, they would be the property of the prior owner or the insurance company that paid the prior owner for their loss.
 
gramps

gramps

Veteran Member
Jul 5, 2009
2,606
mankato, mn
Hopefully somebody else has a better answer, but I believe if the insurance was paid out - said theft recovery then goes to auction- and is then yours. But I’m sure with everything there could and will be other circumstances that may change that.

If you bond the car for I think 3 years at least in Mn, and nobody files a claim against the car it is then your property. Makes it important to get that part of the process done asap, as if you don’t and you get the car all done up and painted etc THEN bond it and somebody claims it too bad so sad you lose out.
 
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links like Ebay, Amazon, and others.
mgd1790

mgd1790

Veteran Member
Nov 25, 2003
1,197
Suburban Chicago
Yeah that makes sense. There were some stolen old big dollar Porsche engines on a YouTube video and insurance paid out and years later they came up for sale mysteriously. I should watch that again.

Appreciate the thoughts!
 
J

Jimmac

Veteran Member
Dec 24, 2013
1,145
tucson az
I met a guy that built a tri five Chevy. He brought the car in from another state, built the car, bought a 454 core motor, had it rebuilt then after the car was all done, he took it to adot to get the title transfered into his name. When you bring a out of state car into az they do a inspection where they check to verify the vin on the body matches the frame and engine. Well the vin on the motor turned out it was from a suburban that was reported stolen.
He told me between adot, the suburban owner who was a gear head and understood people buy core motors and never look at the numbers. They came to an agreement. He paid the suburban owner 500 bucks as a core charge and he got him to sign a release on the engine. jim
 
Twisted_Metal

Twisted_Metal

Administrator
Staff member
Lifetime Gold Member
Feb 26, 2004
35,788
Bloomington, MN
unrestored72Z said:
I would say what you bought at time of auction is yours, nothing more.
If later. items are discovered, they would be the property of the prior owner or the insurance company that paid the prior owner for their loss.
Click to expand...
That would be my best guess.

Gramps has a good point about re-titling a stolen vehicle too.

Did you buy a car at auction under these circumstances or is this just a general "what if" question?
 
mgd1790

mgd1790

Veteran Member
Nov 25, 2003
1,197
Suburban Chicago
“What if” at the moment. Looked at some stripped 14/15 Z28s from Cali which were stripped and rather than trying to make it all work with finding an LS7, tranny, etc. I wanted to ask the question. Same deal on a couple Ferrari’s too.

Appreciate everyone insight for sure!
 
BLUE72CAMARO

BLUE72CAMARO

Veteran Member
Lifetime Gold Member
Mar 15, 2004
5,088
Bunker Hill, IL
Terms of most auctions of as-is where-is so what you bid on is what is yours in my opinion but I am as far from a lawyer as you can get.
 
mgd1790

mgd1790

Veteran Member
Nov 25, 2003
1,197
Suburban Chicago
My main thing is post-sale. As-is is what it is at auction…understood there. What I’m seeking is maybe a statute of limitations on stolen parts and can I recover them at some point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Top