When does one truck become another?

[ZmOz]

Re: When does one truck become another?

He sounds like a nice guy,,,,,,,Should have invited him in for a bowl. :^

I'm fresh out of cereal.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: When does one truck become another?

Kenneth, according the the Police Academy I just attended this year, there are locations in late model vehicles that VIN numbers are placed that are only known by the Feds and the manufacturers. They didn't teach you that in your cop school?

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: When does one truck become another?

Sure this. They have been putting the full VIN on many cars in many places since the mid 90's. The easiest spot to see is the windows. The problem is that its well known where a VIN is. If we can't keep the secret service quiet about an agents idenity how in the world can you believe that Bob and Dave at the assembly plant ain't gonna talk? I was a wrench long before a cop and have seen/participated in many truck/parts/vin configurations. We might have 5 different trucks in the yard and build two out of them. We simply used the title that was easiest to obtain. It was legal because the frame was under it, or the cab came from it, etc. On anything pre 80 its not a problem. A little newer than that and you might start running into concerns IF there is some serious doubt about you being a good citizen. He'll have no problem at all.

 

[Terry Olson]

Re: When does one truck become another?

Fellas - trust me: There are hidden VINs all over the place in anything built in the last 20 years. When we recover VIN switched stolen vehicles it's routine procedure to get a Search Warrant before putting the vehicle on the hoist to inspect for the VINs chop shops don't bother to alter, remove, or conceal.

Most cops are aware of hidden VINs but when it comes time to serve the warrant and conduct the inspection we bring specialists in from the State Patrol and a guy from the National Insurance Crime Bureau - they have the manuals that identify where the VINs can be found on each model.

Don't confuse this with casting numbers, part numbers or any other such thing. The VIN in it's entireity appears in a ton of places making it nearly impossible to alter or conceal them all. They DO NOT have the same appearance as the VIN on the dash or the one stamped into the firewall or radiator core support but they contain the same sequence of characters.

With that said, a good VIN swiched vehicle rarely faces this kind of scrutiny becuase there's no reason to doubt it's legitimacy.

So anyway - they exist but that means little or nothing to most of us in our daily lives eh?

 

[ZmOz]

Re: When does one truck become another?

This brings up another question...what happens if a vehicle's VIN(s) get destroyed? As I said mine appears to be rusted out now, and I don't think there are more than one or two VINs on this old truck. Is it possible to register a vehicle without a VIN with a salvage title? What do they do with recovered stolen vehicles who have had their VINs removed?

Not that it matters...this cab will probably get chopped up...

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: When does one truck become another?

Terry is very right.When i worked at a dodge dealer we got a Dakota pickup and I had to check the frame vin and the dash vin becouse acording to the vin on the truck it was a full size.Thay screwed up.Also one of the new car crimes is to strip the car and let it be recovered ,then the car thief would go down to the insurance sale and buy the car body back and have an legal vin.Thay would put the car back together and have a $70,000 car for peanuts But thay were getting busted from all the vin numbers matching.
ZmOz you should be fine if you take your cab an swap it over as long as your dash vin matches you incurance papers.

 

[Terry Olson]

Re: When does one truck become another?

Check with the DMV - they'll have a procedure for this. As was already mentioned, there are guys salvaging totaled cars and building street rods and other customs using a frame from one year, the driveline from another, and a body from yet another, and in some cases they don't have proper title for any of it. I'm sure there's a way to get it done but it may be more hassle than it's worth depending on your state's requirements. No doubt the process will involve an inspection by the state.

It occurs to me that some may not know how and why VIN switching takes place. First, you buy a legally registered beater. All you're intersted in is the clear title and the VIN plate. Next, you steal a nice but similar vehicle and place the VIN from your legal vehicle onto the nice one. You trash the remains of your legal vehicle - usually through a buddy at a car crushing / metal recycling facility and the stolen vehicle becomes the legal one.

I saw a report on the local news about a month ago about a guy who bought a 4 year old Jeep Grand Cherokee at a dealership. Somehow it was found to be a VIN switched stolen vehicle. Now of course everyone involved in the history of the truck is pointing fingers at everyone else and the buyer / current owner is making payments on a truck that has been seized as stolen property.

Bummer to be him.