In a message dated 2/5/03 10:52:49 AM, clark10006@COX.NET writes:

<< Wouldn't this be easy to check out with a car-fax check? >>

You can use a Car-Fax report when you go to the bathroom for all of its
ability to keep someone from doing a number on you.  Anyone bent on fraud has
little trouble making the necessary adjustments to produce a pristine Car-Fax
record.

Consider these couple of scenarios.  I see full page ads in used car
advertising rags for large wrecking yards which deal in late model insurance
recoveries.  In these ads for totaled vehicles two things are often
highlighted in bold print: good airbags and GOOD TITLE.  I take that to mean
that the car is being sold with a kosher title and not a salvage title.  Now,
when that jewel is once again crab-walking its way down the road, how in the
hell is Car-Fax going to inform a buyer of its little sojourn in Joe's
Junkyard?

Also, I've seen one particularly audacious list member offering titles and
VIN number plates to one and all who might need them.  Being mindful of this,
could it be possible that the lovely van you are buying showing 99 K on the
clock has, in reality, already been fed into a Bessemer blast furnace?

Years ago some notorious crook said, "More men are rob with a fountain pen
than with a gun."  Since then, the only thing that has changed is that crooks
have less balls and better penmanship.

George