328 Totaled - title issues

Shame about that misfortune. How did you get the car? Dealer, PP, some other way? Probably 90% chance that the remaining bits magically get another "clear" title

 

i thought vins all had to be 17 digit for those years....

 

Have to think that you'd have some legal recourse against the Seller for the reduced value -- but we know how that goes...

Unless that MA XXXXX number is also for a different much earlier car -- seems kind of lowish for a numerical sequence of cars sold in Mass -- like maybe for a '32 Ford

 

this assigned MA Vin is also 17 digit ?

long story short - i am thinking the assigned MA vin is cross referencing with another car ?

what state title does the car have now ?

 

Well you got my curiosity up...here's the deal. Your car had one of the following conditions associated with it or it was salvaged before you bought it. I'm not sure which of these applied but once they put that sticker on.....everything is associated with the MA number.

A Massachusetts-Assigned Vehicle Identification Number contains the prefix "MA" and five digits. The Vehicle Identification Number is issued on a pressurized decal with adhesive backing and tamper-proof features. Each decal carries a control number for accountability purposes.

A Massachusetts-Assigned Vehicle Identification Number will be issued for the following:

• Vehicles with a missing or destroyed vehicle identification number

• Vehicles with a new motor
• Replica Vehicles
• Specially-Constructed Vehicles
• Street Rods
• Custom Vehicles
• Glider Kits
• Kit cars
• Homemade trailers with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 3,000 pounds

To make an appointment to have a Massachusetts-Assigned Vehicle Identification Number affixed to a vehicle, a customer should call the Massachusetts State Police Salvage Title Section


I would give the Massachusetts State Police a call and ask them why the car has the sticker on it.

 

sue Tesla for not autobraking??? Rotsa Ruck

There's no pic, but $45K estimate seems kind of low. But any damage can be fixed. If that's what you want have it repaired, get it appraised, reinsure it & drive it with the salvage title.
IMHO - it will never be the same. And these are older cars. when things got shifted from the impact, other things will start to go wrong like perhaps motor mounts, drive shafts/bushings, cracked headers from the exhaust shifting, etc.

 

1)so it originally had a 17 digit vin and a 17 digit title

2) something happened and was issued that MA VIN with a MA 5 digit title

3) the SC title is 17 digit ? and what title did you buy it with (MA 17 or 5 or another) ?

 

so based on number 3 this really shouldn't be a surprise as when you bought it had a 5 digit vin..

i was thinking that somebody had gone back and washed the title getting a duplicate 17 digit and then selling the car to u

 

I find it strange that there would be no other notations on the title alerting the owner besides the five digit Vin. Salvage\flood \ theft recovery etc, just doesn’t make sense.. had a used dealers license for approximately 10 years while we had the body shop. The five digit Vin would be there to alert the clerk/recorder and then should be spelled out on the face of the title for any prospective buyer/owner. Even when you were purchasing insurance, as soon as the vin was logged in to the system it would kick back a big red flag. Tried something similar in my younger days while purchasing insurance for a Porsche turbo, decided to not tell the underwriter the “turbo” part, within 15 minutes of running the Vin my premiums increased significantly!

 

It sucks with what happened. Couple questions, you did not have collector car insurance with an agreed value? And if you did, you did not ever increase the value when things changed 3-4 years ago. Is this the situation? Trying to understand what the insurance company really is liable for.

Let see some pics of the damage. My gut would be get a different car regardless, but how bad is the damage.

 

Your insurance company didn't raise this issue when you went to insure it?

What's on the title? The registration? The full 17 digit number? or this 5 digit abomination? Do you have a copy of a MA registration for the car? I'd order from from MASS DMV if you can.

Someone is jerking your chain. A salvage title in MA is not saleable or insurable, as it can't be licensed for the road. It has to have a reclaimed title, which is issued post inspection following the issuance of a salvage title and the appropriate repairs are made, which is clearly marked on the front of the title in a box center-right.

Once a "salvage" or "salvage - reconstructed" title is issued, it carries that from state to state if the title is transferred. No way to wash it off.

Given all that, it would HAVE to show up on a title search unless it was somehow omitted when the title was last transferred.

Last but not least, it most certainly would have showed up when you went to insure it, and there would have been some questions from the insurer at that point.

This is f'ed up.

D

 

To me it does not look like anything close to 45K, but I know repairs today are outrageously expensive. Who is your insurer that they can't get payment from a rear impact, those are almost automatic. What does the police report state as cause, if any.

You should have gone to the hospital to have your back and neck checked after an impact like that.

I hope it works out, I would not be happy either if I were you. It just seams like an unreasonable length of time to still have the claim open.

 

Family owned a body shop for over 30 years.. that’s totaled
Only way I would even consider fixing that ( and I wouldn’t ) is with a complete rear clip. Get the insurance check and start searching for another 328

 

I'm completly "out of my element" here ("Shut the f..k up, Donny, you're out of your element" Walter Sobchak / John Goodman "The Big Lebowski") considering the discussion about the Title...
But just in case..."Ducowti's" car seems to be an euro 328 and there is an euro 328 used rear clip for sale on E-Bay U.K these days.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FERRARI-328-GTS-Back-End-CLIP-CLAM/152832736434?hash=item23958a7cb2:g:EVYAAOSwfZhXMvSX

Sorry for your troubles, Ducowti.

Rgds

 

OK...deep breath....

IF they accepted the insurance payment, they are on the hook for making you ""as before" under your policy. with a big BUT see more below...

Modern insurance knows NOT what they are doing valuation wise, and with my FIRST incident I learned you have to ACTIVELY 'manage the claim"....they are going to "Total your car using NEW parts and shop labor rates. Point out to them the NEW parts are not even available, you will be calling FerrParts or Trutlands and finding a donor car for the metal.

They also fear future liability, but tough for them you want it FIXED.

The your title issues also disappear, you still have it (and can figure out any way forward to resolve.)

Forget the Buy Back siren call, only certain Certified Rebuilders can by back a totaled car.
That's a rigged game too.

Manage the claim. back to some "smaller number" against what "they think its worth" and this will be your field position.
Yu did go worong without "Stated Value" as the ratio of "damage to value is higher I have been told....maybe 80% rather than the 60% we throw in the towel" of a normal street car (and future liability and supplenetals.

Once you have a "loss check" in your hand (and release them from the trap) then you find a Hot Rod Shop that will FORGET the damn horse, and weld your car back up in a sensible manner. Modern insurance is built around 100% parts support, and a shop that can strip, rebuild, and paint and redeliver in three days time.

NONE of that applies to our cars!

IF there is frame deflection then maybe you want to think about that.
But "in the old days" we straightened frames as well, having the factory dimensions on file.
We used big chains and bolts in the floor.

Call me if you like, I have played this game a few innings already!

 

See?

Nerofer just supplied ALL of you parts, for $8K!!!

The Euro VIN may have been the start of the MA confusion, I can tell you Tax Clerks know jack &(^%^( about 5 digit VINs or, a 17 that did not MATCH THE BOOK...

 

If your card shows the Fcatory VIN, your carrier is hooked.

Don't give up!