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Car may have wrong VIN

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Astrolink

Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MN

I recently purchased a 48 year old collector car on Craigslist from a private seller hundreds of miles and a state away. The car has the VIN tag on the door pillar.

The VIN tag looks absolutely original with no tampering or removal of factory rivets and matches the title. The problem is the VIN reveals the car as a 2 door sedan with a "post" between the front and rear windows, and this car is a hardtop with no post. The car is now titled in my name and registered in my state.

I can continue to plate the car, but what about selling it? The car was represented as a specific model, and with the "post" in the VIN, it's worth at least a couple thousand less. More of a problem is the VIN doesn't exactly match the car, even though it looks 100% untampered with. If I didn't know better, I'd say the factory made a mistake since the models and VIN numbers are nearly identical for the minor difference. Can I legally even own or sell the car at this point? I'm mostly concerned with the legal aspect of owning a car that that has had the VIN changed, although I don't know how that's possible. I can even see paint on it from 2 previous repaints that go back probably 30 years or more.

I've contacted the previous owner, but have heard no response as of yet. Is there any responsibility on their part? Another complication is although the previous owner had the car several years, they never transferred the title so it transferred to me from a previous owner (I know, warning flag). I also don't have a bill of sale from the seller....didn't feel the need to get one since the title matched the VIN.
 


OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
You likely have a car with a cloned vin. I suggest you explore some of the other vin locations, as well as a refund. I just ran across a Corvair on there with one and reported it to the state.
 

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