A few of you may recall that My Uncles vehicle was stolen. Here is the archived thread..
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_8_42/448967_index.html

He got a call today from the Saint Paul Police that they had located his vehicle.

A scrap yard in Saint Paul received the vehicle (Whats left of it) yesterday or this morning, sometime.

It sounds like there may not be much left of it, other than a rolling chassis.

I'll have a few more details tomorrow on what was with it when scraped and if they have any leads on a the guys that stole it.

Same thing happened to a buddy of mine.
I fucking hate thieves.

Well I got a few more details on how it all went down.

It was stolen around 2:20 PM and then driven straight to the scrap yard about 15 minutes away. It was driven in by some lady and was logged in at 2:43PM.

My Uncle had to stay with me until 5:30, At work. It was probably crushed by that time.

Police do have leads on the suspects and are actively working on the case. These people have been caught on other various security camera systems, Stealing vehicles.

The scrap yard is Metro Metals off 280 and Kasota area. I've never seen the place but, I bet it sits RIGHT next to the railroad. Not very far from where he worked. (35W and Hennepin) The yard is also under a big investigation as to why this was allowed to happen to 1.) An out of state vehicle that RAN, And 2.) Why a title was not produced.

We're thinking that this may be an inside job but, Not quite sure.

Charlie Orme is one angry hombre.

Last month, someone stole his 1968 Volvo from the alley behind his home in St. Paul.

He had spent $4,100 to rebuild the car's engine and transmission.

But as bad as that was, it got worse. Two weeks later, police told him his car had been found at Metro Metals, a scrap metal recycling company in St. Paul.

But apparently, the car had been sold for scrap metal and then crushed.


http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_18572642?source=rss

why is it legal to scrap a car with out a title???

I have no clue...... I think there is a law that states anything 5 years or newer requires a title. Some scrap yards actually will require a title no matter what.

I hope places like Metro Metals are ran out of business.

Here is a quote from the article.

What do you suggest should happen to all the cars that dont have a title.  Do we bury them???  Most people just want them out of the yard or better yet the city or county wants them out of your yard.  Lets not fault the recycler for accepting metal.  Instead lets punish the person responsible for this act.  Think it thru first before you come to the magic solution.....

What is your point or your reply? That looking for a title on a car turned into a scrap yards too much to ask?

Every car has multiple registration and/or serial numbers etched into them.

It would only take a REPUTABLE salvage crew 30 sec to call into the state and see if something was reported stolen.

The VIN is just one number to look for. The computer has more as well... Any ODB scan tool can pull it up.

You can't get a "hello" out of the state in 30 seconds.

As vehicles enter the yard the VIN is recorded and reported to the state. If the vehicle is stolen, it shows a flag. If it was stolen thirty minutes ago, no flag. A title is not required to scrap a vehicle, but most yards make it a point to record the name and DL number of the persom presenting the vehicle. Best case, you stolen vehicle gets crushed, but we know who did it.

Pretty much. usually take 30-45 minutes for an Officer to arrive to a scene to take a report.

Maybe a solution would be to mandate that a vehicle brought in with no title be held for 10 days before it can be crushed. I mean seriously, these places have to know what's going on that they will crush the car within minutes of it being dropped off. I wondering they're as quick to crush if a car does have a title.  Pretty sleazy.

And on the eleventh day when I crush your car that turned up stolen you'll want me to hold them for a month. It's not a logical solution. If I am buying 30 cars a day, you want me to sit on three hundred cars.? Want to spot me the $300k to make that happen..? Where and how should I park them so as not to damage them during these ten days? I don't think that stacking them would work out very well. In addition, by the time the car reaches the yard, there is a very good chance that it already damaged or stripped. The guys doing this know what they are doing, and know where the money is in a vehicle.

Metro processes a lot of cars. The guy running the loader treats every car the same once it hits, the lot. He has no idea which came in with titles and which did not. To him it is a piece of steel and he'll handle and process it as such. The man in the office is the one that knows where it came from and how it got there. If they choose to buy an "questionable" vehicle, then they should be prepared to deal with the results. You can't judge or regulate the whole industry by the actions of one business. The upper midwest has more auto recycling facilities than anywhere else in the U.S. It is already a heavily regulated industry, with a large amount of accountability for the parts and components of a vehicle. Rarely do you hear of a business having an issue, and when you do they are not in business very long.

Lock you doors, and spend the few extra dollars on full coverage. Not much a man can do after that.

All valid points. I don't know what the answer is. It just seems pretty crappy that someone can steal your car, sell it for scrap and have it destroyed all in an hour and you really can't do jack about it and have basically no recourse.

If the guy that stole the car is caught or you have pockets deep enough to persue the yard, there may be a civil suit to pursue, most likely not.

Stealing regardless of what it is, is BS, and it happens everyday. Building materials, copper, electricity, cattle, horses, timber, hubcaps, watches, your mail, and once in Cairo this Russian whore stole my heart (paid for that one I did...). Nothing you can do about it unless you catch them in the act.

Do they need legislation?  Hell, no!
But anyone who instantly crushes a car these days, assuming it drove in, has got to have a suspicion that the vehicle is stolen.
Especially when that vehicle is a collectors car. '68 volvo?  Yeah, that's scrap...
The only reason not to hold it, or try to turn it over, is because they know the cops will find it before then.  It's certainly an ethics issue.
The media should be hammering that, rather than the loopholes in the law!  
Run 'em out of town.

Easy solution, don't accept the car without a title.  It's not that hard to get a duplicate title for a vehicle assuming it's yours.

Lets not forget that most of these places only pay with a check.  Can it get much easier to track the sale.  Or how about a coupon that you have to redeem at the local police department front desk.  My god.  Lets stop slapping the pig for watching the fox kill the chicken!

Damn Metro Metals...........................

Somebody should call the "Eye Team" or what ever its called.

You would be SHOCKED at how many stolen cars are scrapped there in a month.

Maybe the somebody could be you?

Yep, and you should have a bill of sale or original receipt to sell a gun also. Not that hard to do, assuming it's yours...