Today I found a 92 ? Bronco for sale. Its in rather nice condition, the guy only wants 600$ for it. Eddie Bauer package, Ok miles, interior is quite trashed though. Which is ok with me being as though its a vehicle for my son.

He has the title, but the vin number plate has been tampered with. 2 letter have been scratched off the plate.

He has the title, the vin has been tampered with. What can I do ? I really do want this truck, runs great, outside is excellent.

Any idea's on how to go about getting a new Vin ?

Any advice is good advice.

 

You should contact your local Department of Motor Vehicles. They should be able to assist you. A VIN that has been tampered with should be a red flag. If you are truly interested, the DMV should be the only place you should turn. They will know whats involved to keep the entire deal above the table.

 

1FTHF2519GKA36900, I believe as long as the last 5 numbers are not tampered with I wouldnt worry about it. There should be more than 1 location for the vin, (door, tag under the hood?) If anything just have the local PD run the number just in case!

 

thanks guys, I'll see what I can do on monday.

 

If your son drives it and he gets pulled over with that tampered vin in it he could get into some deep stuff. I would stay clear from it and report it to the DMV.

 

I am with grease money on this! Call the cops and stop the chop.

I can tell you from pulling VIN tags from my various wrecks, I mean cars, it is probably scratched because of this reason. When removing the steel rivets (which are hard to buy but not impossible) from the aluminum VIN tag, if you do not completely remove the rivet while securing the VIN tag, and pull on the metal you will rip the tag while pulling or drilling. It takes practice on the newer cars.

So, you hammer the tag down flat (will not tell how) and weld/fill the tag back together and "scratch" the weld to hide it after you paint it flat black again.

You can almost be guaranteed that this vehicle's VIN does not match the body and frame numbers/production dates and the vehicle you are buying is stolen and has a tag from a scrapped vehicle or a vehicle that was wrecked and kept from an insurance claim. A good police detective could probably bring this to light in a few hours and find this was a stolen vehicle (hence so cheap).

Ask to take it to a mechanic if possible, leave a deposit, and bring it to the police detective waiting inside the garage.

Here is a picture of a VIN tag I wrecked by not being careful, as an example of what happens around the rivets when drilling. I suppose I could have sold the tag and title, but, that would enable a thief more then help someone trying to piece a Bronco together from junkyard finds.

What happens is you get the first one off fine, then rush and do not secure the tag, and the drill whips the tag around and wrecks the tag around the second rivet or rips the tag in 1/2. As you can see, it is pretty easy to mess up the first two digits, the 1F

 

Me personally, I would compare the title vin to the vin that is scratched, then the other vin on the door jamb. Then an old cop trick I picked up, look at the tag on the seat belt, it is at the base of the belt and has a year. When people put a car together out of stolen parts they overlook this. If the guy hasn't told you that it had been stolen before, I would take it to a mechanic and flag a cop down and have him check it out. Really sounds too good to be true, but I have seen some strange deals in my day.