Technical Is asking for the VIN/Data plate considered sketchy?

32 Ford Vin numbers were stamped on the engine, then when the engine was installed the number was also stamped on the frame just behind the cowl.........making it impossible to see without raising the body off the frame. New VIN tags are readily available and can even be stamped or engraved with whatever numbers someone wants. Certain places also sell "Titles" which are "not supposed to be used for licensing" but only for other purposes.......whatever that means.
Then hot rodders came along and installed replacement frames under reproduction bodies with later model engines and used original****les to license them.

Wasn't there a thread or something a year or so ago about a guy who bought a ? (think it was a Vette) and the state took the car because there was some issue over the****le/vin on it?

As for the OPs original question.........I would not give any VIN number without the guy coming to see the vehicle and we could go to the license bureau and get it checked. Better safe than sorry.

 

WTF is this? "HAMBnet"? Where's officers Friday and Gannon? Hey, I posted my VIN in the open, so does that mean the 1 fkn arch criminal with stolen watermark security paper that matches the microprint edging for****le printing is going to be able to duplicate and charge me with stealing my car from me...or him...or me and...or,***** who knows. Here's an idea, some*****in mook loser bowl of pig smegma that gets the idea to scam a car, ESPECIALLY A FKN COLLECTOR CAR, doesn't have the resources let alone the skill to incorporate law enforcement into their illicit property theft plan. VIN ID is for SECURITY PURPOSES. Some on this topic seem think your****le is a worthless document, "....and just because you have..." but guess what slapsticks? THE STATE YOU'RE IN AND IN FACT A NATL DATABASE KNOWS YOU OWN THAT CAR! Yes, I said loud for those in the back leaving a note to themselves to get some tape on the way home to cover their VIN tag. Jeezuz H Christopher on a glass fkn crutch. Sit down, have a smoke, a sip of coffee or beer (it's morning for me), chill out kiddies. Do we need to review or did y'all get the point? Hey, someone can start another "panic" company. I can hear Bill O'rielly now, "...and with Auto-Title-Lock you never have to worry about someone stealing your car, and as and added bonus it may even lower your insurance by up to $3.00 a month! That's almost a gallon of gas these days and every penny counts. Call 1-800-TAKE-ME2 and get a special 1 time rate of just $7/month. Call today, and drive safe from those deaded VIN pirates. You'll be glad you did. Thank you.

 

Hahaha!! From one extreme to the other! I love this place!!

Larry

 

Dang! I was hoping someone would haul it off for me!!

 

Knock on wood I never had a problem showing someone my****le, vin or data plates, I just took it as they want to make sure it matches the car. but I never thought they could steal brand new ford trucks off of overstock lots in Michigan, drive them to Arizona and get resold with new clear****les from Georgia either until it happened recently.

 

Everyone should subscribe to Life Lock. Stops thieves from stealing your identity, home and vehicles. I wouldn’t put anything past the right thief. Problem is, we don’t think like they do so we can’t understand how such a thing can happen. Just my opinion. Can’t be too careful.

 

If I was even slightly concerned about sending VIN/Serial number info to a potential online buyer, I might consider going abut it like this.

Take a picture of the tag. Open it in MS Paint or some other photo editing software, and block-out everything except maybe four random characters in the middle of the I.D. stamping. Or just block them out with tape when you take the photo.


Take a scan or photo of your****le and do the same to block-out everything except the same four characters as the I.D. stamping. Also block-out any other information that you don't want to share, though you may want to leave your name visible.


With 10 or 12 or 17 characters in the VIN, and a choice of 30-plus alpha-numeric characters to choose from, the odds of the same four letters or numbers appearing on both the tag and the****le are pretty slim. Probably just shy of 1 in a bazillion! I don't know . . . You do the math.

 

But by blocking first part of VIN, I can't tell if your Corvette****le is suppose to be for a coupe or conv. Red flag if it doesn't match the car being sold.

 

I wouldn't be upset if the seller would not provide an image of the full vin or trim tag. But with that said and the high level of jackassery going on in this hobby, I would certainly insist of an image of the vin tag even if some of the vin is covered. This will give you some level of****urance that the car does at least have a factory vin affixed in the correct location. There is also certain info you can conceal on a trim tag and still convey a good deal of info on the car.

This serves a couple purposes. For one, in the case of cars like a tri-5 chevy where the vin tag is spot welded to the car, the instant I see a couple hardware store pop rivets holding it on, we're done.

Another couple questions for a seller is "Does the vin on the****le exactly match the vin on the car?" You'd be surprised.

Has the****le already been filled out incorrectly, marked up, or been signed by someone else? Not interested in trying to fix somebody else's DMV nightmare.

I'm sure there are many other caveats but those are just a few.

 

Just go look at the cars if you want to see VINs. If you're worried about the ones who won't send pics of the VIN and such, then don't go look at them. It seems like you should check the****le and VIN with the proper authorities before buying an old car.

 

Hell, there's a ton of guys on the hamb that won't put what state they're in, let alone the city! I think that's why people hide their license plate

 

I could see it from this view.

Legit frank has a muscle car, hot rod etc for sale, I (bad guy) ask for vin and more pics than legit frank posted in add.

Me, (bad guy), take the extra pics that legit frank sent me and post a for sale add on another sight, now unlucky Tommy comes along and wants to buy my "car", unlucky Tommy ask me for a vin, I give him legit franks vin, unlucky Tommy checks out vin, sure enough it comes back to the car I'm trying to sale.

Unlucky Tommy now satisfied with my fake pics and stolen vin agrees to send me a substantial down payment to hold the car until he can come check it out in person, by this time I've taken his down payment, went dark and flew the coop looking for the next guy....

That's the danger I see, although lately they've been stealing houses by providing false paper work so I guess if they can do it with a house they can do it with a car.....


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There are a couple of states where it is way too easy to get a mail order****le. Vermont being the latest popular one. If you have a legit vin to put on the paperwork that makes it that much easier. Especially if said car has been sitting unregistered for years and it has an old****le that has never been in a dmv computer. The guy gets your vin and applies for a mail order****le from one of those states and gets plates for it and all the sudden when somone who buys your goes to****le it it comes back that that vin is already****led and registered in another state.

That would be a violation of the privacy act but some states don't seem to pay much attention to that.
On the other hand, if you have your car****led Arizona, no one is going to weezle any info out of them.

True there and that is federal law that they have them but there isn't any law that says that you can't have somethign that is easily moved over it. Usually the guys who cover up those vins is way behind on his car payments.

Blocking your plates in a photo, Although the privacy act is supposed to prevent people without a legal need to know from finding out the info it is way too easily obtained and your home address is in that info. Personally I don't want some clown driving up to my house because he somehow pulled up my address by running the plate number.

 

quite a few online auction sites will put the vin right in the ad. Last week a guy visiting his brother up here in Wi. saw a truck listed online at an auction site in his hometown and I ran the vin thru carfax to determine what engine it had for him.

 

I'm positive that's true in OK.

 

I would be with the group that doesn't think it's a big deal. Every time you drive the car the plate is on display. on newer cars every time you park in public the V.I.N. is on display. It just is not that easy to do anything with that information. Has anybody had personal experience with an attempted theft due to this? Not something about a friends brothers third cousin, but personally?