rld14

Here's one that's pretty screwed up!

I lost some classic cars in Sandy, and the cars haven't been recovered as of yet (house, garage, all pretty much completely washed away).

Because of this, the claim is being investigated. Basically the insurance company wants proof that the cars really existed. Well, in my case that's easy... I had pics of them at the house which I gave to my adjuster along with receipts for work done to them and he was able to verify that the cars did in fact exist.

However, what he told me was pretty scary.... If you look on ebay or classic car message boards or at swap meets, it's not too tough to find vintage titles for sale. Heck, I even own a couple that I've bought as curios. Well, some people buy them and then re-vin old cars to get them registered when they buy an old car where the title is long lost. That's illegal but if you've ever tried to get a title in NJ when the title has been lost, almost understandable.

However, some people are buying old titles, registering and titling the car in their name, and then some time later reporting the car stolen. They have license plates, insurance and registration for a car that simply does not exist, these titles often come from old time junkyards... Some of these cars were scrapped 40+ years ago, long before electronic databases of scrapped cars were kept.

Messed up, huh?

mmarshall

Sorry to hear about your losses from Sandy. You're certainly not alone.

Thanks for the heads-up. This is not the only car-buying scam that arises from incidents like Sandy. Everytime there's a major storm along the coast (or even inland with enough flooding), a lot of used cars (or "new" cars) end up on the market for sale with flood-damage (sometimes with attempts on the part of the sellers to cover the damage up).

Getrag

Always low-life people ready to pounce of a natural disaster to make some money....sad.


Being a fellow NJ resident, I wish you and your family the best in your recovery effort.

adamls2

Sorry to hear about your troubles. That scam sounds pretty legit though! I wonder how many people actually got away with it?

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

Thats just as bad as low lifes selling gas on Craigslist because of the storm.. The nerve of some people just baffle me.

1GSLuVeR

(Quote removed, as post was deleted for language)

Not to turn this into a debate thread but i am one of those "Vets" you are speaking of, and we all do not think nor believe the country owes up anything. Yes we made a sacrifice, but that was our choice and we all pretty much come back and work and live our lives like anyone else. Back to the matter at hand though, i just lost my car in the storm, i live down in Brooklyn right off Jamaica bay and got around 4-5 feet of water in my basement. Surprised to hear about a scam like this, i guess someone will always sadly try to find a way to scam one person or business.

slorider

Not all vets, man. I am stating that people use ANYTHING to take advantage of the situation. I don't think vets are bad people...in fact they are the ones we all owe our lives to. I am just saying that a lot of people have no consideration for others to the point where they will screw anyone to make their own lives easier. Sorry about your basement. My brother had his basement flooded twice in 2 houses and it is apparently a huge hassle. My prayers go out to you and all around you.

rld14

Guys,

Just to clarify... These scammers aren't from the storm. What's happened is since the wreckage of the cars wasn't yet located the claim was investigated.

Reason being is because some people have used titles from cars that were junked decades ago to create "phantom" cars expressly for the purpose of insurance fraud.

That being said, claims have been settled. Still dealing with the flood insurance adjusters.