I bought this 98 amigo pictured in this thread: LINK. The truck came with a salvage title. Take this as a warning if you want to buy a vehicle with a salvage title. It may be different in other states, but in the 'Communistwealth' of Massachusetts this entire procedure of converting the title to one that can be registered and road-driven is a beuracratic nightmare full of red tape and an alltogether expensive and frustrating experience.

I bought the vehicle on impulse not knowing what salvage titles were, and did my research after I won the auction. You cannot drive a salvage titled vehicle on the road until it is inspected in your home state. In Mass, the inspection is done at rotating locations by state cops. The inspection is not a safety inspection, they basically are checking to see if all of your paperwork is correct, and that the vehicle parts used during the reconstruction were from legit sources.

Here is the original damage:











I bought a new bumper cover, taillight, and did some dent pulling on the quarterpanel, threw some bondo on it and some primer.

The reason I bought this vehicle was for cheap and reliable transportation with little perks like 4WD and A/C (never had A/C before). I bought the vehicle because it was cheap and the parts I needed to fix would be simple to do. I do not care about my vehicle's appearance beyond it all being one color and legal. Also, I have no plans to start paying for collision insurance. Everything on autos I will do myself in my garage or learn how to do myself and try first. There is nothing I can't do and I will not bring a vehicle to a shop or buy new products that aren't available used. I will not buy a new car and I find it insane to spend more than $10K on a vehicle (for now atleast).

This is my automotive outlook in a nutshell and if that also describes you, a salvage vehicle may not be something you should get involved with.



I didnt touch the door or doorsill because I was not planning on fixing it. The salvage inspection application asks you to list the major parts used and the VIN numbers from the original vehicles. My application was easy since I did not use any major parts. Taillights are exempt so all I need is a VIN from the bumper corner.

The state cop was sitting in a chair in an air conditioned room reading the paper when I arrived to my first salvage inspection. As soon as I walked in he's says loudly and with authority:

"Get in your vehicle, drive around the building to the stop sign and wait for me there!"

I explain that I do not understand since we're in a parking lot, I don't understand what he means 'drive around the building'.

He repeats the exact same thing only louder.

So I say "sir, Im not sure what you mean by "stopsign?" Do you mean on the street?"

He's like NO I DID NOT TELL YOU TO OPERATE YOUR VE-HI-CLE on the STREET, I SAID A_ROUND THE BUIDLING!!"

I said I'm sorry sir but I don't understand what you mean by go to a stopsign. He's like "OBVIOUSLY YOU DONT UNDERSTAND SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS!!"

So I'm thinking this is great. Off to a good start. I just get ready go outside to my tow truck driver and grab my truck.

I don't take one step until the cop jumps out of his chair and says pointing: "Is that your vehicle with the primer on it?" GET OUTSIDE AND TELL THAT MAN NOT TO EVEN DROP THAT VEHICLE, your vehicle must be painted and fixed!!!"

He comes running outside with me and he starts pointing at everything:

"You have to fix this, that, this, that, no dents, no scratches, replace this, and that, no dents."

I ask him if I can do my own work being that I am not a professional. (if that was OK, considering it is my truck...) He gives me the analogy of a broken bone, "when the bone heals, it is healed but it is not perfect." (I remembered that analogy but the next few cops I met did not like that analogy.)

I go back inside with him and I ask why there is so much emphasis on this inspection with appearance. I explain that the application asked me to cite VIN numbers from replacement major parts and that if I do decide to fix the vehicle in the future that I won't be buying anything used just banging out dents and maybe repainting. He goes off on a dissertation about the new procedure reducing car theft by 50% over the last decade. I explain that since I am not going to need any major removeable parts the law is basically telling me I have to make my truck look pretty in order to drive it legally. I am trying to explain how the parts he sees will be the only parts I will use and that he should let me go on those grounds. He writes up a rejection notice with emphasis on the big red stamp.

The insurance appraisal report is an exaggerated vision of the damage (5500 worth of damage). In mass it is required to be included in teh application. The appraisal cites items that are not really worth replacing but the cop is adamant that I need to go line by line to fix or repair each item. I am being told to fix and repair components of a vehicle I own that has no bearing on safety.

I go back home fuming and start doing more body work, here is my progress:


I used 1/4" eye bolts to pull the dents along with a 1-ton comealong attached to a concrete anchor. the eye bolts keep opening so I made about 6 with washers welded top and bottom. Using combinations of washers and nuts I could get the type of pulling action I needed. It was a long and tedious process.

door before



after door dents pulled out


There were some access plugs back behind here that I could remove to put nuts on these two bolts
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/5.jpg[/img]

haha yes that is a 1st gen t-case skid screwed into my floor with tapcon screws.
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/6.jpg[/img]

I cut some access holes to get at these bolts.
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/8.jpg[/img]
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/9.jpg[/img]
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/10.jpg[/img]
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/11.jpg[/img]

I welded some sheet metal to rebuild the rear here by the taillamp then built up the surface with bondo. The rear 2" of the fender is made of bondo. yeah it wont last but I just want to get it through inspection.
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/12.jpg[/img]


Painting:
PPG OEM color match
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/1.jpg[/img]

I painted my work in the sill first then force-dried it with the halogens so I could close the door.
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/2.jpg[/img]


I built a fully enclosed spray hood to keep all dust out of the paint. It had 2 stand up fans at each end. The intake fan had a panel airfilter to filter dust. I figure if I am spending $180 on paint and clearcoat that I should do it right.
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/4.jpg[/img]

[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/5.jpg[/img]

[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/6.jpg[/img]

Clearcoat setup
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/8.jpg[/img]


Final product. The paint color was not a perfect match and I made the mistake of hardlining a masked square around the quarterpanel damage instead of feathering it out in successive coats. The end result was a different color square at the back end with a sharp transition. It looked worse in real light.
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/9.jpg[/img]

close up. not happy with the results given the effort I put in, but all I wanted to do was to drive this stupid thing!!! (This wa smy first time doing bodywork, auto paint and clearcoat, haha.
[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint1/10.jpg[/img]

2nd attempt at inspection.

Yesterday I was towed to a location about 10 minutes from me cost about $150 for the tow. I had all the paperwork and noted the VIN numbers of every part I replaced, receipts etc. I was feeling very confident.

The officer seemed humble so I thought I was all set. She was an older woman and did not have that disciplinarian streak to her and I even saw her smile. She did a visual inspection cross-checking all the VIN numbers visible on doors, fenders, every part of the vehicle to see if they were original parts. Here at the salavage inspection we are looking for stolen goods. This is not a safety inspection. They do not check anything to see if it works. Their idea is to eliminate the potential of parts-trafficking by burdening the vehicle owner/dealer with excessive detail-oriented regulations and paperwork.

She comes over to the quarterpanel and says "What's going on here, what happened?" I assumed she wanted the full answer so I explained all that I did to fix it. She was referring to the slight variance in colors.

I tried using the fact that the paint was not cured, and hadn't been exposed to the sunlight yet. I also tried saying I hadn't used any buffing compound yet and the line would blend in afterwards. She did not like it because it looked like two seperate pieces. She failed me on that point and said I had to return when it was fully blended together. This is like someone coming in your house and telling you the wallpaper doesn't match the carpet. It is invasive and frustrating.

I lost my receipt for the bumper piece so I wrote one by hand with the VIN I got ofrom the yard over the phone. She asked about it and I said it was a junkyard in VT so they are a little old-fashioned. She failed me on needing a real receipt on company letterhead.

During the inspection, no photocopies are made of my receipts, no phone calls are made to verify the parts were actually purchased legally and no VIN numbers are entered in any computer system to cross-check against a national pool of stolen vehicles. This test is about if you have your paperwork. If you do you pass. I could have listed the VIN's of president Bush's motorcade and this cop would have no way of knowing.

She also failed me on the fact I did not provide her with a photocopy of my PA title, which was not noted on the application instructions. I called my tow driver and he called his grilfriend who works at a bank down the street, I was going to run on foot to the bank but the cop said don't go yet, "I will be with you in a moment."

She comes out and gives me the failure notice and says she will bring the paperwork with her tomorrow and she will be at the bridgewater site. (30 minutes from my house). She says my best bet would be to bring the vehicle there and she will check off these 3 items and pass me. I asked if I could bring pictures of my work since it is a small area (save me $300 on a tow). She declined that suggestion.

Last night I did painting round 2, no spray hoods, not much prep, just blast the quarterpanel and feather it out, then re-spray everything with clear.

Painting round 2:

[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint2/1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint2/2.jpg[/img]

[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint2/3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://berisford.net/uploads/cpom/amigorecons/paint2/4.jpg[/img]

Inspection attempt #3:

Today I took ANOTHER day off of work to tow my truck to Bridgewater.. I felt pretty confident it would pass since the paint looks great, I have my photocopies and the junkyard faxed the recipt of the bumper piece.

I ran way too late and pulled in at 2:55, when they close at 3PM. There was a Statey in a cruiser who was basically like: "Come back tomorrow, we are closed." I explained that I had already went through the full inspection but needed 3 items to pass. He looked at my vehicle as I explained I needed to blend the two clors together. He looked at my rejection form and said I had to come back when that officer was there because she had left and he would need to do a full re-inspection to pass me.

I asked him if it was OK if his visual account of the vehicle was enough to remove the blending item on the reject form so I could return tomorrow when he had time and do the paperwork component, not having to get towed again. He declined saying I must return to the previous officer to get sigend off by her or face a brand new inspection.

He looked at the vehicle and said "I would never pass that vehicle in the condition it's in. Does the passenger's side look like that? Exactly. The objective of the salvage inspection is to return the state of the vehicle exactly the way it looked before the accident. Some times you just have to realize these are worth more time than they need. That other officer is doing you a huge favor and I suggest you find out where she is working and get her to sign off on it."

Then he started lecturing me on things that had no relevance to me, just to hear himself talk.

him: "what insurance are you putting on that thing?"
me: minimum compulsory, no theft or collision.
him: Well we can't pass that since if you want to put full collision on it then the insuracne company wants us to make sure the vehicle is perfect so they can insure it.

him:"is that ripped [softtop] window on the insurance report?"
me: "no"
him: See those tops can cost up to $1000 sometimes it is just not worth it for a salvage vehicle to repair given the condition it's in."

him: (asking my tow truck driver)"Are you AAA?"
towguy: "no"
him" because you can't be AAA and tow a salvaged vehicle so you can't be AAA, well that is against the law.

He then went on to explain how the salvage vehicle process was desigend to protect the insurance companies so they can reinsure people after an accident. I asked him if I put collision on the vehicle that they would come out and take pictures of it to examine the state. He's like "yes they would" (another contradiction)

This guy was quick to say we were late, but then proceeded to talk to us for 25 minutes and lecture us like he had all day sitting in his cruiser.

This entire process is a joke. Why are our tax dollars paying state cops to do this job? What qualifications do you need to check vin numbers and process receipts? This prcedure should be outsourced to private companies or gas stations. There are too many variances in what one cop says will pass and what another says. I am doing a good thing for society and the environment by putting a salvaged vehicle back on the road instead of in a junkyard yet I am being treated like a criminal. This entire state is full of this beurocratic red tape and I think this experience has inclined me to write a letter maybe to the governors office.

The cop proceeded to play nice guy and starts looking through my paperwork. He has no idea why the last cop asked me for a photocopy of my title since he has never heard of that (hmm funny). He looks at the fax from the junkyard and he says I need an 'original' receipt. He says to call them and have them fedex an original to me. He also says I will fail again without one and even makes the suggestion to DRIVE to VT to pick it up. (8 hour roundtrip drive). This third tow was $150, which brings my grand total so far to $550 for local towing and I have one more trip (hoepfully) to go.

With the attitude in which you speak to a guy grabbing a six pack when teh liquor store is closing up, he says "Come on back at 8:30AM tomorrow and maybe that other trooper will be working here". Oh yeah no problem, I'll just come on back tomorrow morning, its only 30 minutes away and $200. Plus atleast 4 hours off of work.

Salvage in Mass is like a black mark, this state would rather you buy a new car than fix an old one. The statehouse is so connected to our insurance economy (it sets the rates, no national insurance chains can operate here (Progressive, Geico)) that the the state police is involved with the purchase and sale of damage vehicles.

No one has checked to see if my motor mounts are still attached, my axles hafts are not bent, my frame is still straight or if the thing even has brakes. With all of this effort, none is geared towards protecting the consumer. I am no safer now than when I started, the people are not in a better position, and our economy is no better off. This is a complete joke and I can't wait to move out of this state.