Overhaulin'

Is it illegal to pull parts off your totaled car and sell them?

Now at first glance the answer seems obvious, but after talking to a lady at the garage who was attempting to repair the car, I am unsure. She claims it is illegal, however I think she may be saying that so she can take the car and sell its parts. Is there a law against it? I should have specified. Technically, we haven't reported the accident to the insurance company because a. I didn't get a ticked for it and b. the car is clearly never going to see the road again. So while in technical terms it isn't totaled, in the everyday sense it is.

Public Comments

1. if the car is totaled you dont own it anymore, your insurance does. if you want to part it out, you can buy it off of them and sell the parts off of it.
2. If you received compensation from your insurance company for a totaled vehicle, you no longer own the vehicle.
3. no problem, as long as you are the owner.
4. I don't see where its a problem to sell parts off your vehicle if its totaled, however if an insurance company paid for the vehicle and is going to collect it, then yes its illegal. Otherwise if you take the settlement and say i will try to fix it, then you can do what you want.
5. no, sell what you like.....apart from airbags and pretentioners.
6. its not legal but whos to say the parts missing weren't lost in the accident? i've seen several buddies pull modified parts off their vehicles after being totaled