Got pulled over today, heard something interesting.

So i was headin out to this podunk area. Had a good amount of junk in the pickup. Got pulled over by a Sheriff. But what he told me was odd.


After all the normal stuff. He told me that i HAVE to have an address, first and last name, phone number, AND signed piece of paper from the owner of the scrap stating that it was all ok for me to be taking it.



Man, are people really getting THAT desperate?

Sure does put a bad name out for all of us good guys.

Ada County sheriff? I've never heard of such a thing. Did he have any written documents or a statute to refer to?

I pick up quite a bit of free junk from Craigslist. A few of them are curb alerts. They won't like me hassling them for paperwork, nor would I bother to get it.

Leave it to the gov't to muck things up for a good thing. I use a cargo van with no back windows to keep the looky loo's out.

My scrap yard is now requiring a signature for EVERYTHING. Including CANS!

Said it was a new law that went into effect since April 1 in Texas. I don't know if it's a federal law, just know it is here.

My yard too, does signatures, requires ID for any non-ferrous, and takes a picture of your vehicle and license plate when you weigh in. If you're not stealing, it's nothing to worry about.

That aint what im talkin about, i'm talkin about if you get pulled over by any kind of cop, what they require.

Originally Posted by rca987

My yard too, does signatures, requires ID for any non-ferrous, and takes a picture of your vehicle and license plate when you weigh in. If you're not stealing, it's nothing to worry about.

Gem county. I was in Star at the time, just as it drops from 35 to 25. He was sittin on the side of the road watchin the abondoned houses. They're serious out there! I guess people have been stealin from those houses, takin the wiring and all that.

Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

Ada County sheriff? I've never heard of such a thing. Did he have any written documents or a statute to refer to?

I pick up quite a bit of free junk from Craigslist. A few of them are curb alerts. They won't like me hassling them for paperwork, nor would I bother to get it.

Out in rural areas I guess it would be like hunting, always have wriiten permission if you are on private property. But if your just pulling stuff off the side of the road or grabbing stuff from obvious curbside trash collection, I would take my chances.

Thats messed up/I got pulled over last week and come to find out in the paper the next day they where looking for a truck towing a truck on a trailer which i was.But they had stole a bunch a steel from a construction job.Wasnt me lol.

Originally Posted by rca987

My yard too, does signatures, requires ID for any non-ferrous, and takes a picture of your vehicle and license plate when you weigh in. If you're not stealing, it's nothing to worry about.

so how do you process your non-ferrous?

Where I sell my scrap, they require the same credentials for everything, ferrous, non-ferrous. Even though the state law doesn't require it. I confronted them one time about this and they stated that it was state law. They lied. Why don't they just say that it is their policy instead of lying about it??? State is Arkansas.

Originally Posted by TheHoss

Gem county. I was in Star at the time, just as it drops from 35 to 25. He was sittin on the side of the road watchin the abondoned houses. They're serious out there! I guess people have been stealin from those houses, takin the wiring and all that.

Gem County would have been my second guess. I have no personal experience, but hear they are pretty hard on people.

Agreed. The Sheriff was pretty dang nice though everything considered. I wasnt wearing my seatbelt, and we were speeding a bit, so if he wanted too he could of ticketed us.

Just for the record: We were going to a house to pick up a freezer i believe, forgot now. But the guy had a BUNCH of other stuff for us to take. We werent pickin stuff up from the side of the road, or strippin old houses or anything.

Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

Gem County would have been my second guess. I have no personal experience, but hear they are pretty hard on people.

The other day we pulled across the scales to be greeted by two state troopers. Apparently someone called and told them that the car we were hauling in was stolen. We bought the car broke down on the side of the interstate, they were from out of town and found our number online. They signed the title over right there in front of us and everything. We always keep good paperwork on every car as I know what a hassle it can be to not have proof of ownership if you get pulled over with a car on the trailer and they know or can prove that you are a scrapper or may be scrapping the car or whatever. The state troopers were really nice about it and they couldn't argue with the title. We assume a jealous scrapper called it in, as the owners were out of town and had no way of knowing where we stored the car for the weekend or when and where we were going to haul it in. Pretty crappy when someone is so ignorant they will call you in just because they are jealous. But that kinda made us happy for a few reasons- one the police were doing their job and being polite about it all at the same time, and also because when someone is so jealous that they call you in for stolen property when its 110% legit- you know you're doing good

The cops got it all cleared up and let us go about our business. The guys at the yard give us crap about it everyday LOL Its a big running joke that we buy stolen cars haha.... pretty funny really. There is probably at least one if not two or three car scrappers here that VERY likely do steal cars from the side of the interstate, but we are DEFINITELY NOT in that crowd!!! We have families and like our life without our wrists cuffed and without concrete floors and bars on the windows!!

Around here you don't need a title to take a car in whole. Here's some things you can do to cover your butt, that we do on every single car:
1) Get title signed off on.
2) If no title, get a bill of sale (usually can print them off of BMV/DMV website for free). Fill out this form completely. When doing a bill of sale also get the owner's driver license number on there. I also get the DOB and expiration date on there, along with the address on their ID if it is different than the address they gave me. Make sure you have their name, current address and phone number in addition to all the above. I usually put all of the info from their license on the back side of the bill of sale, then have them initial it. Any legitimate seller will not have a problem with this and will cooperate gladly. This protects you pretty much all the way. If you knew who owned the car I guess you could make a fake bill of sale, but if you have their license number and info then that's hard to guess or know, so that pretty well covers you all the way and also if there is ever a claim that its stolen, it gives the cops as much info as they need to track them down and confirm that the car belongs to you.

Good luck. Happy scrapping!

Yeah everytime i buy a car i just write up a receipt have them sign.print,and dl number and show me there dl so i know they are putting the write number down.

I have a story of someone my uncle knows was stealing cars off of the insterstate and was going to nashville tn to do it.Well stole a car and it ended up being a nashville pd bait car.

http://www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=14252820 here is the link read it.

Wow. that takes big brass ones to steal a car to scrap. I won't steal anything, but can't even imagine a car.

Thats a good one Focker, glad they busted those worthless scumbags. People like that make it harder for everyone that's legit because suddenly scrappers have a rep for stealing cars, so now the police hassle anyone with a car behind their truck. If a car is reported stolen i'm all for the police to check into it and do what they need but now they can't be too sure even if it wasn't reported yet it could still be stolen. Plus imagine if it was your car or your moms car that got stolen. Wow. I'd beat that punk until he couldn't function.