update on my mini
10-06-2002, 02:21 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Tulsa, OK
Posts: 3,346
Well I orginally was going to buy from a guy in Georgia, but that fell through. So I ended up contacting a guy in Florida who is an actual importer/dealer. I learned there are a lot of legal barriers to jump. First of all it is illegal to have a mini that is less than 25 years old in the states. Now the ones I have looked at are 99's. So what they do is re-vin the car and call it a re-shell to get it through custums and import. After you get the car here in order to get it past dmv and inspections you have to sell the car to an agency which does their "legal magic", then buy it back for a $150 fee. That part was a little confusing, but you are able to legally get your title and paper work done without worrying about having it siezed by dmv. After you go through all of that you have to find an insurance company that will still insure the car, since it is a classic and still a little "grey" in terms of vin numbers and such, if they were to really research the history of the car. Well turns out Hargerty insurance will insure re-vinned cars, since their specialty is classics and hot-rods. They said it is very normal for cars to be re-vinned and not 100% legal, and they would insure the car for agreed value with a picture of the car. Well here are new pics of what i'm getting. It is a 99 registered as a 71, 120 miles on the clock, been in car shows and magazines. Full leather interior, and he is swapping the rims for me to some other lighter weight wheels, they look much better too.
