My salvage inspection experience
Posted: September 22nd, 2010, 3:18 pm
Hello everyone,
I'm new here but not to Honda's. I've been drag racing and building FI hondas for over a decade but I'm sick of going in a straight line and finally picked up a theft recovery that was rebuilt thinking it would be a relatively process. I couldn't have been any more wrong!!! I did research and made sure I had receipts for every part purchased and all numbers matched the body or receipts. The car is put back together nicely with legit JDM parts and is in great shape.
I purchased the car after reviewing everything and started the process of titling the car. I took the NY title to the DMV, paid the taxes and got myself a NJ salvage title with receipt to fax over to the salvage inspection site. It took me three faxes of the paperwork and 20 phone calls and a week before they acknowledged my papers. I didn't schedule an appointment at that time because I found out I needed to get the Police report and theft recovery report, so I waited until I got that info to schedule. How hard could it be to find out the police/recovery report for a car, right?
Unless you work for the DMV or are a hacker you will have one hell of a time trying to get that information!!!!!! DO NOT PURCHASE A SALVAGE CAR WITHOUT THAT INFO ALREADY!!! It took hours and weeks of phone calls and dead ends to get that information and if it weren't for a few truly kind hearted people I wouldn't have ever gotten that stuff because of privacy laws attached.
Finally, I survived finding the rest of the paperwork needed...it's inspection time. I picked up my 5 day registration and drove to the site. It felt sooooo good, I had cleared my day just to drive around. I showed up and they immediately took my car and made me leave the room. I made the mistake of giving every receipt for every nut/bolt used in the rebuild (to cover my ass) instead it made them have to check over EVERYTHING, since they are required to check out everything they have a receipt for. They called me in an hour later and my smile immediately turned into a frown when I was told I failed.
I failed because a JDM engine swap was used in the rebuild. The receipt on the engine from the importer matched the engine number but ultimately that didn't matter because the engine is considered "grey market" and doesn't adhere to US emmissions. I searched all over the internet and didn't read anything about engines getting rejected during the inspection process because they are JDM so I am posting for that reason.
I now have to buy a USDM swap from a 00-01 with bill of sale/vin on receipt, pull my JDM out, freshen up and install the USDM swap. Then I need to write up a statement stating I installed all the major component parts including the vin's and have it notarized. Schedule my appointment again, work some magic to get a new 5 day registration and bring the car back.
I plan on a formal introduction for myself and the ITR once the car passes and I can take some nice pictures. I hope this information can be useful to people considering buying a salvage titled ITR or cars in general
I'm new here but not to Honda's. I've been drag racing and building FI hondas for over a decade but I'm sick of going in a straight line and finally picked up a theft recovery that was rebuilt thinking it would be a relatively process. I couldn't have been any more wrong!!! I did research and made sure I had receipts for every part purchased and all numbers matched the body or receipts. The car is put back together nicely with legit JDM parts and is in great shape.
I purchased the car after reviewing everything and started the process of titling the car. I took the NY title to the DMV, paid the taxes and got myself a NJ salvage title with receipt to fax over to the salvage inspection site. It took me three faxes of the paperwork and 20 phone calls and a week before they acknowledged my papers. I didn't schedule an appointment at that time because I found out I needed to get the Police report and theft recovery report, so I waited until I got that info to schedule. How hard could it be to find out the police/recovery report for a car, right?
Unless you work for the DMV or are a hacker you will have one hell of a time trying to get that information!!!!!! DO NOT PURCHASE A SALVAGE CAR WITHOUT THAT INFO ALREADY!!! It took hours and weeks of phone calls and dead ends to get that information and if it weren't for a few truly kind hearted people I wouldn't have ever gotten that stuff because of privacy laws attached.
Finally, I survived finding the rest of the paperwork needed...it's inspection time. I picked up my 5 day registration and drove to the site. It felt sooooo good, I had cleared my day just to drive around. I showed up and they immediately took my car and made me leave the room. I made the mistake of giving every receipt for every nut/bolt used in the rebuild (to cover my ass) instead it made them have to check over EVERYTHING, since they are required to check out everything they have a receipt for. They called me in an hour later and my smile immediately turned into a frown when I was told I failed.
I failed because a JDM engine swap was used in the rebuild. The receipt on the engine from the importer matched the engine number but ultimately that didn't matter because the engine is considered "grey market" and doesn't adhere to US emmissions. I searched all over the internet and didn't read anything about engines getting rejected during the inspection process because they are JDM so I am posting for that reason.
I now have to buy a USDM swap from a 00-01 with bill of sale/vin on receipt, pull my JDM out, freshen up and install the USDM swap. Then I need to write up a statement stating I installed all the major component parts including the vin's and have it notarized. Schedule my appointment again, work some magic to get a new 5 day registration and bring the car back.
I plan on a formal introduction for myself and the ITR once the car passes and I can take some nice pictures. I hope this information can be useful to people considering buying a salvage titled ITR or cars in general