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I purchased a vehicle (99 Sentra - White) back in October 2008 from a private seller. He informed me that the vehicle had a new VIN number because someone broke out the windshield and stole the VIN plate off the dash. The vehicle had a new VIN plate issued by the DMV, I was a little uneasy about it so I called the DMV to confirm what happened and they said it was all legit. The owner had ALL the maintenance records for 3-4 years, so it made me confident he was the owner, plus the DMV confirmed that.
Fast forward to this week, I received a letter (certified) from a man named Victor. I opened the letter, and it said that he was the owner of a 99 Nissan Sentra (Gray in Color) and he purchased his vehicle in September 2008. He said he went to register the vehicle in January, and was told that the VIN was registered to someone else (me) and was instructed to send me the letter. The letter says I must either apply for a joint title with him, or refused and include a letter with my make and model number and my current VIN number.
So his vehicle is the same year, make, and model, but is a different color. My title says the color is white.
I am not 100% sure what has happened, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened. I think that the person who stole the VIN plate from my vehicle placed it in another sentra, Victors. The VIN he has was originally issued to my vehicle, so it's leading back to us when he tries to register it?
I wouldn't go by the letter he sent. Sounds like he needs to let auto theft experts examine his vehicle because there are numbers in other places on the vehicle that they know about. I'd report this to the local police myself as I think your right ;he proably bought a hot vehicle with the VIN had been changed.I am kind of surprised that DMV didn't jump all over it but he probably didn't deal with a law enforcement officer.
How did this person get your address? I'm leery about a DMV having provided that information to him. Perhaps they did, but i think i would discuss the letter with my local law enforcement because something doesn't smell right here.
DMV will not issue a dual vin registration. the old vin which he has is null and voided by DMV. he has a stolen car. do not work with him, go directly to the state patrol, they have people that work with this. you have the backing of DMV for the car you have, nothing else that you "have" todo. the other guy has a problem, its not yours.
How did this person get your address? I'm leery about a DMV having provided that information to him. Perhaps they did, but i think i would discuss the letter with my local law enforcement because something doesn't smell right here.
Agree! This sounds like a would-be scam.
Although you could do an internet search to see just how available your name & address are. (I do this regularly, and remove it whenever it shows up anywhere.....)
Point being, if it IS somehow legitimate, he possibly could have found your address on the internet, once he had your name.
I thought the vehicle manufacturers started stamping the VIN on multiple places within each vehicle years ago? If you know the locations, it shouldn't be hard to determine the correct VIN for a specific vehicle with or without the windshield VIN plate.
As others have mentioned, something is "fishy" in both directions.
For quite a number of years, auto makers have been required to place the V.I.N. number in a number of locations on their vehicles, including "secret" hard to get to spots.
This is how vehicles that have been through "chop shops" get identified.
I'd say call the State Police, maybe they can assist you, or at least determine the true V.I.N. of your vehicle.
BTW, There is an association that prints a booklet for police use that shows many of the locations on each type of vehicle where V.I.N.'s can be found.
I purchased a vehicle (99 Sentra - White) back in October 2008 from a private seller. He informed me that the vehicle had a new VIN number because someone broke out the windshield and stole the VIN plate off the dash. The vehicle had a new VIN plate issued by the DMV, I was a little uneasy about it so I called the DMV to confirm what happened and they said it was all legit. The owner had ALL the maintenance records for 3-4 years, so it made me confident he was the owner, plus the DMV confirmed that.
Fast forward to this week, I received a letter (certified) from a man named Victor. I opened the letter, and it said that he was the owner of a 99 Nissan Sentra (Gray in Color) and he purchased his vehicle in September 2008. He said he went to register the vehicle in January, and was told that the VIN was registered to someone else (me) and was instructed to send me the letter. The letter says I must either apply for a joint title with him, or refused and include a letter with my make and model number and my current VIN number.
So his vehicle is the same year, make, and model, but is a different color. My title says the color is white.
I am not 100% sure what has happened, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened. I think that the person who stole the VIN plate from my vehicle placed it in another sentra, Victors. The VIN he has was originally issued to my vehicle, so it's leading back to us when he tries to register it?
What do you guys think?
I am heading to the DMV on Tuesday.
Ignore the letter entirely, don't even waste your time with the MVD. Don't make any contact with Victor at all. You have registration, you have plates, you have a title. Unless the MVD involves you directly, there's nothing required of you, period, end of story.
My guess is Victor is full of **** and this has no relationship to your replacement VIN tag. I suspect it's purely random and it's raising your eyebrows because you have a state-issued replacement VIN. Also, that replacement VIN should not trace back to the stolen VIN, so I have no idea how Victor says he has the same VIN. I really think this is BS.
How Victor got your information is another question, but basically if there is any service the vehicle has had while in your possession, the VIN is probably on that service ticket, as well as your address. Victor might have a friend at Jiffy Lube, the tire shop, or maybe he got some information another way. There are so many databases kept by different places, information is everywhere. And it's probably not as safe as any of us would like to think.
The whole thing just smells wrong. But I'd be very curious about this Victor guy and where he got your contact information. I think it's just a scam and personally I would throw the letter in the trash, and never accept any other signature-required letter from a source you don't know.
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This totally smells... no, it reeks.
