Now, hang on a minute.
This procedure is not the devil, any more than sideways oil drilling. It seems crooked at a glance, but there is a reason why there is a legal way to do this. It does serve a function, under the proper jurisdiction.
Technically, there is a way to do this, but it involves a Sheriff's inspection and falls under the same car builder's classification as a builder's title, a lost title, or change of ownership wherein the owner is not present (ie; deceased, abandoned vehicle, mechanics lean, etc.) People get cars without titles and without vins registered with new titles ALL the time.
How do I know? Because I've had to go through this process, twice! Point your guns all you want, but I'm about to tell you how to do this without pissing off the authorities.
Just swapping tags and heading over to the Motor Vehicle Registration Office is not the right way to do it.
The truth is, Goodmark as well as many other manufacturers sell complete car bodies that are void of any vin numbers. The body of the car is technically a part of the car that can be replaced, legally. You just have to go through the proper channels.
If a vehicle changes hands with no title or vin, is no longer in the realm of something registered with your local DOT. That does not mean that it cannot be registered.
Some vehicles never had a vin. They can also be registered with new titles.
If you are seeking to re-body a car legally, contact the sheriff's department to appoint a vin inspection. They will run the vin number through the police database and check for leans against its title as well as theft reports or other possible police impound reports for criminal activity, etc.
The sheriff will expect a court admissible, notarized document showing where the body of the car came from and its purchase date, for legal accountability of the body of the car to be titled and will be issued a title on either a new vin given to the person seeking title or a clean vin number that does not come up with any red flags or owners that do not have possession of the car, its vin and title.
If the current owner is vigilant on seeking possession of the car, after the sheriff's dept. has contacted the owner, the person actively seeking a title for the vin and car has to keep documentation of a public ad publication in their jurisdiction for a specific amount of time, in order to contact the owner. If after this time frame, the owner still does nothing about retrieving their property, they forfeit their legal ownership over to that jurisdiction's sheriff's department and the vehicle becomes technically impounded by that city or county.
If you are curious, just call your Sheriff's department. They deal with a lot of this and are always willing to help people seek clean and legal ways to save an old car from the crusher.
I do NOT advocate illegal activity of any kind, but I wanted anybody interested in titling a vehicle that does not have a title or vin, that there is a way to do this correctly.
