[king_midas]

I don't doubt you'll not have a problem finding experts. Getting them to testify in court is another matter entirely, as they'll probably not do it out of the kindness of their hearts. The Jerry Macneish comment-- I'm sure he'll fly all over the country to appear in court to testify. Uh huh...

The real issue, and what I was referring to by the "expert" comment, is the inability to actually prosecute private sellers for fraud because proving that they should have known of the fraud prior to sale would be impossible. Long story short, unless you can prove that the seller is an expert, you cannot prosecute them for fraud. Here's why, via an example: I'm a normal guy that sold a fradulently misrepresented vehicle, and yeah, I knowingly switched body tags, rebodied a VIN, kissed your wife and winked at your daughter in the process, what have you. However, my defense is that I bought it this way; "I don't know nothin'", and I didn't know that it was misrepresented, because hey, I'm not an expert-- I'm just a guy that sells a few cars a year, maybe makes a few bucks... How am I supposed to know, I'm just a novice car owner-- I also collect hats and like my riding lawnmowers, by the way. I don't buy and sell vehicles for a living. Just like in this example, the court cannot hold a private individual in the same regard that someone that does buy/sell for a living (i.e.: Dealer), and the transaction once again is simply buyer beware.

Dealers have their own ways of dealing with trouble, and depending on their available resources, they could reimburse, can appeal, blow it off, etc... Courts expect reasonable people to work it out between themselves first, and court is the last resort. Couple this with logistics such as court dates in advance, courts are already clogged, determining jurisdication, etc. A case of fraud, even if it's seemingly iron-clad, will probably never reach the stage of prosecution anyway. It would be settled
via mediation, leaving the guilty party free to do the same thing again (because there's too much money in it for them not to). And, even if a court orders someone to pay up, it doesn't guarantee that the guilty party will act-- Look at the O.J. case...

You've also probably noticed that e-bay and other outlets of sale have taken puffery to the next level. This will also be a very convenient defense in the case of a misrepresented vehicle-- Take a look at some of the ads on e-bay, and you'll most likely notice that sellers, and
specifically dealers, are very careful as to what they state regarding selling.

That ZL1 comment-- I don't even know where that's coming from... There are 69 cars, and they are all known, so very little chance of fraud there. That's why people clone Z's and Chevelles-- It's easy to do with success.

I just googled collector car fraud, car fraud, etc...-- The type of fraud that Brian is referring to, and noting came up as a lawsuit. What does that tell you? It tells me that it's not successfully prosecuted.

By the way, what's a "victum"?