aemeijers wrote:
On 7/7/2011 12:34 PM, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In ,
Hell wrote:

On 7/7/2011 9:42 AM, Bob F wrote:
Hell Toupee wrote:
We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on
the freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to
retrieve it a few hours later, it was gone. The following day
they learned that a tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to
a scrap yard for $500 bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns
out car thieves have been selling stolen vehicles to the same
scrap yard without titles. The yard pays them, crushes the car,
and the lawful owners are SOL.

When I sold a scrap car to a yard, I had to provide them with the
title.

This yard doesn't concern itself with that. It says that requiring
them to collect proof of ownership from the sellers is
over-regulation, and bad for business. Yeah, when you're shady, I
can see how that would be bad for your business.

What is the state law? In Indiana they have to have valid title
of some sort to crush a car legally. Also, I would think their
rather lax standards would lead them open to charges of receiving
stolen property and one heck of a class action suit for damages.


Not sure if it is in effect yet, but in MI, they were trying to make
scrap yards operate basically like pawnshops- no purchases from
walk-ins without ID and a logbook, and a description of the material.
Not to mention a 'who are you kidding, dumbass?' educational program
for yard workers and potential sellers, showing examples of the most
common kinds of stolen scrap that anyone with common sense would know
are probably hot. (manhole covers, new cable on reels, unused
plumbing parts, etc.) The local yards have been put on notice by cops
and DA- if they buy obvious stuff without doing due diligence, they
will be prosecuted as well, just to make an example of them.

Seattle has the same requirements, plus no cash payments over $10, IIRC.