How do I get a title for a vehicle bought from a junkyard ? (sale)

[chewysplace]

My son is rebuilding a pickup that he tipped over while four wheeling and smashed the corner of the cab bad enough that we couldn't fix it to get a new windshield installed, so he bought a parts truck from a junkyard that we are using the cab to fix the rolled truck. The issue is he didn't get a title for the truck from the junkyard, and the vin tags are on the cab, so how do we transfer the cab from the parts truck to the truck we are rebuilding and keep everything legal. I have no worries about it being a stolen vehicle or anything but We don't want any legal issue's down the road. Both of these trucks were licensed and registered in Wyoming. The truck we are rebuilding is currently licensed, registered and insured in Wyoming.

[sunsprit]

You're building up a salvage vehicle to restore the old one to a roadworthy condition. It's essential that you fully document the process with pictures, and have proof of purchase from the wrecking yard of the replacement truck/cab showing the serial number of that donor vehicle.

I'd go over to my county clerk's office and see which titling they'd prefer in this circumstance ... perhaps a paper trail to establish a salvage title on your old vehicle with the replacement cab, or a new title by publication on the chassis numbers shown on the donor truck cab, or?

Just to be safe, I'd have the clerk run the donor chassis ID number to be sure that it doesn't have a clouded title (old liens, loan payoff, etc) ... even though you may have no worries about it being stolen or such, you do need to know that it's not going to be a problem to title it before you spend all the time and effort to use it on another vehicle ... and then find out that somebody has a legal/financial stake in it.

You may also want to check with your insurance agent about what they'd prefer, too. Even if you didn't file a claim for the truck loss, with this much damage/repair to the vehicle, they may have something to say about how it should be titled ("S" title, maybe?).

[wyolady]

Originally Posted by chewysplace

My son is rebuilding a pickup that he tipped over while four wheeling and smashed the corner of the cab bad enough that we couldn't fix it to get a new windshield installed, so he bought a parts truck from a junkyard that we are using the cab to fix the rolled truck. The issue is he didn't get a title for the truck from the junkyard, and the vin tags are on the cab, so how do we transfer the cab from the parts truck to the truck we are rebuilding and keep everything legal. I have no worries about it being a stolen vehicle or anything but We don't want any legal issue's down the road. Both of these trucks were licensed and registered in Wyoming. The truck we are rebuilding is currently licensed, registered and insured in Wyoming.

If you'd prefer not to have a salvage title and keep everything legal, you can go down to the courthouse (or wherever your vehicles are titled in your county) and get a blue form for builder cars and fill that out and send the title for the truck you have and the bill of sale for the cab from the junkyard to the State address on the form and some pictures of the build process, and they'll send you back a "builder title" for like $1.

It won't have a salvage title, but a builder title. They'll give you a new VIN number to put on the new truck.

But I would get the blue form and call the number on the form and see what they recommend. Since you have 75% of the original truck going into the "new" truck, they might have a route to keep that VIN number.