Well while I don't condone the vin swapping, after reading the article in the link regarding the 62 Impala I think the insurance company made a huge mistake writing off the 62 impala as non repairable. That contributed to this guy getting the idea that this car was fine just needed "papers and a tag" for new lease on life.
I have been there at these auctions, it is such a joke with some of the cars the insurance company will write off. I think they have probably talked quite a few people out of their cars that were fixable, so they could save money by not having it repaired.
You look at that impala. Sure there is some guess work with the body, because nobody knows what kind of work was done prior. But if a shop pulled out the necessary interior and replaced any and all items with new material, your saying that would eclipse what the car is worth???
If a house has flood damage, with standing water , you have serve pro, mold mitigation , and endless ways to remedy the problem. They don't red tag the house if it has a few inches of standing water in it and say "tear it down". I would think in a car it is much easier, since (most of the time) there is no wood.
My 66 SS Chevelle got into an accident years ago, and they wanted to total it. I said no way this is and SS, they don't grow on trees, and they are a bit harder to come across. The insurance agent tried to tell me the SS, is like power door locks, and doesn't make that much of a difference. I said fine I will let you total it when you can find another one for me, for the amount you are trying to pay out. Well long story short, they could not, and finally came to the conclusion that the car was valuable and worth fixing (which totally baffled the claim rep). My mustang that was stolen same thing though, it was fixable but the insurance company wanted it off their books and wanted to pay the claim. So even though it wasn't as bad as when I found it, it got a salvage title and was sold at auction. I think it got sent to Sweden so the high bidder probably didn't care.
