Date:         Thu, 13 Oct 94 09:55:10 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "J. Walker" <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      salvaging buses from junk yards

there is, however, one possible trick to doing this, but it involves some
paperwork.

if, for example, you bought a bus from a junkyard in california (if the yard
will sell it to you AND give you a bill of sale/receipt/salvage title ...
whatever is legally necessary in that state), you could then 'move' the bus
(on paper, anyway) to some other state, say, alabama (where the title laws
are not so restrictive).

once the bus is 'registered' as an alabama vehicle, you could then apply for
an alabama title. once the alabama title is received (which would NOT have
anything about 'salvage' on it), you could then 'import' it back to your
home state.

this seems to be a rather lucrative business for the higher priced cars like
mercedes, bmw, and porsche ... lots of which are 'totalled' up in states like
new jersey and pennsylvania, but show up on the used car lots of mercedes
dealers ... all nicely repaired with alabama titles. but if you check with
the mercedes service department (which has a computer connection to the
national organization), you can find out all about that VIN, and you find
out that it did NOT come from alabama. surprise! :)

just a thought.
joel