Still a £$&£$ on the log book

[Liquid Knight]

I'm not saying the Corsa has a stolen engine but apart from insurance fraud and tax evasion why hide a conversion with such potential? Sure I'd keep the 1.2 badges on the back and upset a few people for the fun of it but it's dodgy and done to a budget otherwise the electrics would all be working.

[Jimmy Recard]

I agree with you and I don't know the origin of the engine in that Corsa so I'm not suggesting it's a stolen one.

But I think that most Astras/Vectras with a slightly hot engine that get stolen and never recovered probably end up as donors of that kind.

[Easternlight]

Can the Corsa get an MOT with out a working speedo/dash?

[Jimmy Recard]

Easternlight said:

Can the Corsa get an MOT with out a working speedo/dash?

Not without a speedo, I believe.

It's the normal thing on the Corsa C engine conversions and pretty common that the original clocks aren't working.

Either modify the clocks inside or leave them in place (not working) and bypass them with another gauge. (I think that's the normal way on these)

[Liquid Knight]

Easternlight said:

Can the Corsa get an MOT with out a working speedo/dash?

Nope it's a fail. You can get a Corsa for a few hundred quid and a salvage VXR for £800 these days. Do the conversion properly yourself and know where the donor came from and save yourself a bit of money and a load of hassle.

Cheaper still get a SAAB 9-3 or 9-5 turbo and use the engine and box from that. The VXR is highly strung and the immobilizer is a faff. You can get a decent on the road with full history SAAB for a fraction of the price of a cat C or D VXR donor and in my opinion it's a better engine all round; reliability, tuning and cost.

[Liquid Knight]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/c20let-CORSA-B-ROAD-LEGA...

Thread resurrection as this Corsa caught my attention.

"road legal"

[Kitchski]

Liquid Knight said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/c20let-CORSA-B-ROAD-LEGA...

Thread resurrection as this Corsa caught my attention.

"road legal"

How the fk is it 'road legal'?

[Steffan]

Kitchski said:

Liquid Knight said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/c20let-CORSA-B-ROAD-LEGA...

Thread resurrection as this Corsa caught my attention.

"road legal"

How the fk is it 'road legal'?

Barefaced lies from someone with no regard for the luaw.

That car is never road legal I would hope it is off EBay soon.

Total nonsense.

[anonymous-user]

Steffan said:

Barefaced lies from someone with no regard for the luaw.

That car is never road legal I would hope it is off EBay soon.

Total nonsense.

It was unsold anyway. Who in there right mind would pay 2.5K for a corsa C?!?

Junk.

[Tinkshusband]

started a new thread and someone pointed me this way

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300bhp-corsa-z20let-vxr-...

another corsa with a c20let swap and not declared.

[anonymous-user]

Tinkshusband said:

started a new thread and someone pointed me this way

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300bhp-corsa-z20let-vxr-...

another corsa with a c20let swap and not declared.

Thats a proper sleeper, shame

[daemon]

Steffan said:

Kitchski said:

Liquid Knight said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/c20let-CORSA-B-ROAD-LEGA...

Thread resurrection as this Corsa caught my attention.

"road legal"

How the fk is it 'road legal'?

Barefaced lies from someone with no regard for the luaw.

That car is never road legal I would hope it is off EBay soon.

Total nonsense.

If its MOT'd, and the owner has it insured, either on modified car insurance or via trade insurance, other than a few £ of road tax going missing, whats the issue?

[daemon]

sleepera6 said:

Tinkshusband said:

started a new thread and someone pointed me this way

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300bhp-corsa-z20let-vxr-...

another corsa with a c20let swap and not declared.

Thats a proper sleeper, shame

Why is it a shame?

Huge opportunity there. Declare it, put it on modded car insurance / trade insurance and theres a load of fun to be had there.

[Kitchski]

daemon said:

If its MOT'd, and the owner has it insured, either on modified car insurance or via trade insurance, other than a few £ of road tax going missing, whats the issue?

It says 'Road Legal' on the ad, yet three lines down says that it's still registered as a 1.0. Therefore, it isn't road legal.

If he wants to sell it as a road legal car, he has to declare the engine etc to DVLA. If he wants to sell it as a 2.0 Corsa that chavs can tax/insure for the price of a 1.0, then sell it as that and don't claim it's road legal. It's just outright bullst

He might as well have listed it as a 4wd cabriolet.

[daemon]

Kitchski said:

daemon said:

If its MOT'd, and the owner has it insured, either on modified car insurance or via trade insurance, other than a few £ of road tax going missing, whats the issue?

It says 'Road Legal' on the ad, yet three lines down says that it's still registered as a 1.0. Therefore, it isn't road legal.

If he wants to sell it as a road legal car, he has to declare the engine etc to DVLA. If he wants to sell it as a 2.0 Corsa that chavs can tax/insure for the price of a 1.0, then sell it as that and don't claim it's road legal. It's just outright bullst

He might as well have listed it as a 4wd cabriolet.

Surely its road legal with a valid MOT? Its not uninsurable as is. Trade insurance would cover that without batting an eyelid.

Granted, theres a few £ of road tax duty going astray, but hardly in the "al capone" style Tax Evasion that some people are citing?

[98elise]

daemon said:

Kitchski said:

daemon said:

If its MOT'd, and the owner has it insured, either on modified car insurance or via trade insurance, other than a few £ of road tax going missing, whats the issue?

It says 'Road Legal' on the ad, yet three lines down says that it's still registered as a 1.0. Therefore, it isn't road legal.

If he wants to sell it as a road legal car, he has to declare the engine etc to DVLA. If he wants to sell it as a 2.0 Corsa that chavs can tax/insure for the price of a 1.0, then sell it as that and don't claim it's road legal. It's just outright bullst

He might as well have listed it as a 4wd cabriolet.

Surely its road legal with a valid MOT? Its not uninsurable as is. Trade insurance would cover that without batting an eyelid.

Granted, theres a few £ of road tax duty going astray, but hardly in the "al capone" style Tax Evasion that some people are citing?

There is a whole lot of insurance fraud going on though (assuming its insured as 1.0).

Thats a bill the rest of us pick up.

[daemon]

98elise said:

daemon said:

Kitchski said:

daemon said:

If its MOT'd, and the owner has it insured, either on modified car insurance or via trade insurance, other than a few £ of road tax going missing, whats the issue?

It says 'Road Legal' on the ad, yet three lines down says that it's still registered as a 1.0. Therefore, it isn't road legal.

If he wants to sell it as a road legal car, he has to declare the engine etc to DVLA. If he wants to sell it as a 2.0 Corsa that chavs can tax/insure for the price of a 1.0, then sell it as that and don't claim it's road legal. It's just outright bullst

He might as well have listed it as a 4wd cabriolet.

Surely its road legal with a valid MOT? Its not uninsurable as is. Trade insurance would cover that without batting an eyelid.

Granted, theres a few £ of road tax duty going astray, but hardly in the "al capone" style Tax Evasion that some people are citing?

There is a whole lot of insurance fraud going on though (assuming its insured as 1.0).

Thats a bill the rest of us pick up.

So the issue is the insurance fraud, not the cars themselves?

I would have thought we would be embracing well modified sleeper cars.

Maybe a thread should be started for insurance fraud?

[Liquid Knight]

daemon said:

Huge opportunity there. Declare it, put it on modded car insurance / trade insurance and theres a load of fun to be had there.

This is kind of the whole point of the thread.

If it's such a good swap and so well done and so much money spent why could they not be bothered or afford to fill in the for and send it to the DVLA themselves?

I started this because a very good friend of mine bought an E36 325 Touring that had a full M3 Evo 3.2 conversion. When he filled in the form and sent it off he was arrested for receiving stolen good and theft of a motor vehicle because the M3 donor was nicked.

Lost the car.
Lost the money he had bought it with.
Nearly lost his job and could have ended up with a criminal record or sent to prison.

All because he bought a car with an undeclared engine conversion that he tried to make legitimate.

Who's to say that Corsa has a legally obtained engine? Insurance fraud and tax avoidance are the tip of the iceberg.


If you are buying a vehicle that has had an engine swap.

1/ Make sure it has been declared.
2/ Make sure a copy of the donor vehicle V5C is with the car (so you can check the MOT and service history of the donor)
3/ If required make sure the car has had an IVA or engineers report to go with the MOT and other documentation.

If there is a question mark over any of these walk away. There are plenty more out there that have been done properly and diligently.

[daemon]

Liquid Knight said:

daemon said:

Huge opportunity there. Declare it, put it on modded car insurance / trade insurance and theres a load of fun to be had there.

This is kind of the whole point of the thread.

If it's such a good swap and so well done and so much money spent why could they not be bothered or afford to fill in the for and send it to the DVLA themselves?

A lot of them are done by mechanics "to prove they can" and thus are run on trade insurance. My van was converted by a mechanic, ran on trade insurance, sold to a bloke who ran it on trade insurance, i sold it to a bloke who ran it on trade insurance.

Plus this isnt a new thing. 30 years ago we were sticking 1275s into old minis and 1.6s into 1.3 escorts.

And the reality is, whats a few £ down on road tax?

Liquid Knight said:

I started this because a very good friend of mine bought an E36 325 Touring that had a full M3 Evo 3.2 conversion. When he filled in the form and sent it off he was arrested for receiving stolen good and theft of a motor vehicle because the M3 donor was nicked.

Lost the car.
Lost the money he had bought it with.
Nearly lost his job and could have ended up with a criminal record or sent to prison.

All because he bought a car with an undeclared engine conversion that he tried to make legitimate.

Who's to say that Corsa has a legally obtained engine? Insurance fraud and tax avoidance are the tip of the iceberg.


If you are buying a vehicle that has had an engine swap.

1/ Make sure it has been declared.
2/ Make sure a copy of the donor vehicle V5C is with the car (so you can check the MOT and service history of the donor)
3/ If required make sure the car has had an IVA or engineers report to go with the MOT and other documentation.

If there is a question mark over any of these walk away. There are plenty more out there that have been done properly and diligently.

Yes, absolutely. Particular due diligence is required and if in doubt, walk away.

[98elise]

daemon said:

98elise said:

daemon said:

Kitchski said:

daemon said:

If its MOT'd, and the owner has it insured, either on modified car insurance or via trade insurance, other than a few £ of road tax going missing, whats the issue?

It says 'Road Legal' on the ad, yet three lines down says that it's still registered as a 1.0. Therefore, it isn't road legal.

If he wants to sell it as a road legal car, he has to declare the engine etc to DVLA. If he wants to sell it as a 2.0 Corsa that chavs can tax/insure for the price of a 1.0, then sell it as that and don't claim it's road legal. It's just outright bullst

He might as well have listed it as a 4wd cabriolet.

Surely its road legal with a valid MOT? Its not uninsurable as is. Trade insurance would cover that without batting an eyelid.

Granted, theres a few £ of road tax duty going astray, but hardly in the "al capone" style Tax Evasion that some people are citing?

There is a whole lot of insurance fraud going on though (assuming its insured as 1.0).

Thats a bill the rest of us pick up.

So the issue is the insurance fraud, not the cars themselves?

I would have thought we would be embracing well modified sleeper cars.

Maybe a thread should be started for insurance fraud?

I think well modified sleeper cars are great as long as they are road legal and properly insured. I just don't think I should be paying for the extra risk unless its my car.

I've owned modified cars in the past (including an engine swap fiesta) and my elsie has some basic mods. All declared and properly insured at my expense not yours.