Window Stickers

[SS427]

If these reproduction paperwork sellers want to work with the car community and be on the up and up as well as not condone fraudulent use of their work, I would say the best thing to do on their webpages is to list every VIN of every car that they have made paperwork documents, POPs or cowl tags for. No invasion of privacy here, just a list of the VIN's and what was produced. No harm no fowl. However, when that is suggested everyone freaks out and says no way. Why is that? What are they trying to hide?

Some of this paperwork is getting extremely hard to prove is a reproduction as these guys are getting that good. Now a buyer hires an inspector to inspect a potential purchase and the inspector gives his thumbs up on the car and the paperwork only to find out later that the paperwork was faked. Now we have a liability issue as the inspection gave a letter of authenticity.

If there was a database then all that would have to be done is to look on that database to see that those items were reproductions. Since the reproducer of the paperwork claims they are not trying in any way to be fraudulent and the owner of the car and it's new paperwork claim they only want a facsimile of what GM offered for show purposes, I just cannot understand why no one wants these VIN's to be made public to protect future buyers.

The last thing that troubles me is all these fake pieces or paper are having an effect on cars that have legitimate paperwork and their value. I personally inspect dozens of LS6's around the country every year and have gotten to the point that I don't even want to see your window sticker, dealer invoice or POP as many of the reproductions are so good that you cannot tell the difference so in turn the real items have very little meaning or value anymore.

Bottom line is, if you want a facsimile of paperwork that could have been offered with your car, that is cool. Not wanting to admit that it is a reproduction, having it watermarked as such or having the information made public only shows me that you have something to hide. It is sort of like engine stamps. I would much rather see a CE block in a car than a restamped engine. A CE block leaves nothing to hide whereas a restamped block only puts up a red flag that there may be many other things about the car that are fraudulent.

Flame away.