Weird cobra title problems

[DeMartino17]

Okay so long story short, I bought a cobra last May from a guy locally...I tried to trade it in on a truck and the car fax shows it as a Total Loss vehicle so I asked my bank to fax me over a copy of the title and it shows nothing on there about rebuilt, total loss, salvage, flood, fire, or whatever. When I bought the car I knew nothing about it ever had been in a wreck and my insurance agent also says that anytime he insures a total loss car he has to see documented photos of the repair and a big warning pops up on the car, and nothing popped up for this one.
The guy with the bank said it looks clean and clear except the banks lein on it. I am in North Carolina if it makes a difference..anyone ran into this issue before? What can I do? I'm lost on this one. The car fax even states no airbag deployment and no structural damage.

 

[vettez062002]

title has been washed (jumped from state to another state). goodluck with that. should of ran a carfax before you purchased it. pm me the VIN. I can run a carfax report and have them investigate it. If it has been washed theres basically nothing you can do. but there is always a off chance carfax messed up. I have seen a lot of screw ups with them before. wrong mileage. wrong owners, accidents. ect. its rare but hopefully its not a branded title.

Also what does autocheck say? get me the vin. Ill try to help

 

[VenomousDSG]

Yea, i'm going with the "washed" title theory as well.

 

[black99lightnin]

in

 

[thomas91169]

Sounds washed as well. Carfax tells all because it follows the VIN, not a nifty piece of paper, between state lines.

Is the bank running a carfax on it? If they think it *looks* clean and are going off just the title........wow. Ive never seen a bank not run their own carfax at least before lending.

 

[usmotox]

In for info.

 

[SweetSVT99]

wow. Ive never seen a bank not run their own carfax at least before lending.

Mind doesn't. In fact, the last 3 vehicles I've financed through them they didn't even know the VIN before I already "owned" the car (aka, wrote a personal check to the dealer/seller). My process is this: I tell them what kind, the year(s), and the options of the vehicle I'm after, they tell me roughly what I'll be able to finance. Once I find the vehicle I want, I write a check and stop in the bank the next business day to sign, they deposit the money into my checking right then and there.

This situation sounds to me like a washed title too. I've only read about and watched some news special about this happening and have no personal experience with it, but sure sounds like a plausible explanation to me.

 

[R.D.P.]

Man I hope this is just a screw up with Car Fax. I ran both autocheck and carfax before purchasing mine as I had ran across a few similar stories. People will do extreme things with a limited edition car, especially back when they were only 1-2 years old. I'm sure it's happening right now with Shelbys. As far as getting it figured out, I would recommend a good Ford body shop. If it really was totalled, they will be able to find signs of the repairs.

 

[thomas91169]

Mind doesn't. In fact, the last 3 vehicles I've financed through them they didn't even know the VIN before I already "owned" the car (aka, wrote a personal check to the dealer/seller). My process is this: I tell them what kind, the year(s), and the options of the vehicle I'm after, they tell me roughly what I'll be able to finance. Once I find the vehicle I want, I write a check and stop in the bank the next business day to sign, they deposit the money into my checking right then and there.

Thats weird, ive never done it quite that way. Sure ive gotten prequalified for a range of vehicle models/trim/mileage/condition etc (IE an 03/04 cobra with 40-60k for $XX,000). But usually when it came time to sign the loan docs a vin was required, since that that point the bank was taking posession of the title/car, thus taking on the liability if I do not pay leaving with the car to try to recoup their loan after the repo/auction off process. It only makes sense that they car they are taking liability on is worth what they are lending, not half (or more, most times for salvage title cars).

And people accept a personal check for a vehicle and hand you the title? Damn, thats even crazier. Id laugh at someone who hands me a check. Sure buddy, ill sign over this entire vehicle to you just based on a 2" x 4" piece of paper with pretty numbers on it. Lets go to your bank/lender where that money is coming from and well talk.

 

[SweetSVT99]

Thats weird, ive never done it quite that way. Sure ive gotten prequalified for a range of vehicle models/trim/mileage/condition etc (IE an 03/04 cobra with 40-60k for $XX,000). But usually when it came time to sign the loan docs a vin was required, since that that point the bank was taking posession of the title/car, thus taking on the liability if I do not pay leaving with the car to try to recoup their loan after the repo/auction off process. It only makes sense that they car they are taking liability on is worth what they are lending, not half (or more, most times for salvage title cars).

And people accept a personal check for a vehicle and hand you the title? Damn, thats even crazier. Id laugh at someone who hands me a check. Sure buddy, ill sign over this entire vehicle to you just based on a 2" x 4" piece of paper with pretty numbers on it. Lets go to your bank/lender where that money is coming from and well talk.

I absolutely give them the VIN and whatever paperwork I have on the vehicle when I go sign, but there's no Carfax done at that point (at least that I know of, it has never come up, and at that point it's too late anyway).

I did that deal with one private seller. I thought it was a little nuts he accepted my personal check too, I originally told him to just meet me at my CU the following day (It was a Sunday). I think he was desperate to sell. He did write on the bill of sale "contingent upon cleared funds" or something along those lines. I can't imagine that would mean squat if it came down to a dispute. The other two was a dealer (the same one both times - most recent just about a month ago for a Fusion for my wife), and at the time of the sale I had them list my CU as the lien holder. My CU happens to be one they use regularly, so it's no big deal to them to accept my check. I probably don't even have to write a check, I'm sure they'd just allow my CU to send it directly to them. In my mind, even though I am financing anyway, I'm avoiding the "what would you like your payments to be" game by just writing a check and walking out. There just seems like it minimizes the chances of shenanigans on the back end of the deal.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

hope its some kind of screw up, did you make sure they didnt fat finger something in the vin when they ran it

 

[vettez062002]

just some real info... carfax means NOTHING to the bank... its all about the title status. a currently Branded title normally they will not give loans out on. but if someone washed it, they bank is non the wiser. some credit unions may require a carfax just to ensure clear title. but if its had a accident, structural damage its still a clear title in their eyes.

 

[DeMartino17]

title has been washed (jumped from state to another state). goodluck with that. should of ran a carfax before you purchased it. pm me the VIN. I can run a carfax report and have them investigate it. If it has been washed theres basically nothing you can do. but there is always a off chance carfax messed up. I have seen a lot of screw ups with them before. wrong mileage. wrong owners, accidents. ect. its rare but hopefully its not a branded title.

Also what does autocheck say? get me the vin. Ill try to help

Sounds washed as well. Carfax tells all because it follows the VIN, not a nifty piece of paper, between state lines.

Is the bank running a carfax on it? If they think it *looks* clean and are going off just the title........wow. Ive never seen a bank not run their own carfax at least before lending.

hope its some kind of screw up, did you make sure they didnt fat finger something in the vin when they ran it

just some real info... carfax means NOTHING to the bank... its all about the title status. a currently Branded title normally they will not give loans out on. but if someone washed it, they bank is non the wiser. some credit unions may require a carfax just to ensure clear title. but if its had a accident, structural damage its still a clear title in their eyes.

I have the carfax here and it has never been registered out of state. I will send you the vin. my good friend is a nationwide insurance agent/also my agent so I had him run the vin as well and it shows 0 claims ever being made against that vin in the insurance claim database. when I bought the car, the credit union never mentioned anything about it being total loss, and I got the loan on the car for 18.5 with no problem. Even my insurance agent said it was unusual for a warning or notice to not show up on his end when trying to insure a total loss vehicle. I had my bank pull the hard copy of the title and fax it over to me and it is a clean and clear title except for the lein on it. It has no brands on it anywhere at all. I have been emailing back and forth with the resolutions manager at carfax on the situation too and while they've been helpful, they are somewhat dodging my question of proof on their end from the insurance company that supposidly paid out for the total claim. the car has all original sheet metal and has not been repainted as far as i can see, and all of the bumpers have the ford stickers and what not.The other odd thing is that the name of the company that did the repair work was not given to carfax so i am at a dead end there too as far as finding out who did what if anything. I appreciate the insite guys, i am all ears at this point. i am sorry if i came across shitty but i am so frusterated at this point that its all i can be right now :fm:

 

[vettez062002]

If u dont get anywhere with carfax let me know. Also what does auto check say??

 

[DeMartino17]

Carfax isn't giving up any more info... Haven't looked on autocheck
1fafp48y94f195483

 

[mavericks-03svt]

Just ran the VIN on NICB and it shows it had a salvaged title from a collision loss on 1-29-2008. Looks like they may have washed the Title on it. Check all the spot welds on the structure of the vehicle and you will find where it was wrecked.

when you find the prior repairs, please post photos so we can see if they did a decent repair or hacked it up. look for grinded up spots on frame rails, no spot welds where there should be spot welds, plug welds from a human and not a robot, or spot welder, hammer marks, pin holes in bondo, etc...

 

[CobraBob]

So prior to this you had absolutely to knowledge of any past issues with your car. Darn, that really sucks if the title was washed. If so, I hope that you didn't pay top dollar for the car. That really sucks! Let us know, of course, what you find out assuming you follow Mavericks-03svt's recommendations.

 

[Blk04L]

So prior to this you had absolutely to knowledge of any past issues with your car. Darn, that really sucks if the title was washed. If so, I hope that you didn't pay top dollar for the car. That really sucks! Let us know, of course, what you find out assuming you follow Mavericks-03svt's recommendations.

He paid 18.5k for it

 

[vettez062002]

accident with total loss on carfax

just accident on autocheck

 

[13COBRA]

accident with total loss on carfax

just accident on autocheck

+1 That's what I'm seeing too. It does say "right front impact"...."moderate damage reported".