Opinions wanted

George Jets said

First order of business you want to make sure the VIN on the title card matches the VIN plate in the vehicle and that the VIN plate has not been altered (or switched).

Same with the VIN on the trans and engine block, fender tag and core support numbers. (numbers matching car?)

If it was a known repair as a Clip Job, taking 2 half cars and welding them to make 1. You want to have your documentation to be correct and legal. Other wise it could just be a rebadged car, swapping the VIN over from the wrecked half of the car to the finished car after repairs > which is illegal.

Next question how bad was it wrecked? Did it hit a telephone pole or got driven off a cliff?

Anyhow it's all seriously going to affect the resale numbers when it comes time for you to part with it. Definitely going to be a salvaged title.

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The body number stampings are not full VIN numbers. And all you have on these cars is one stamping on the core support and another either in the trunk gutter or package tray. Those body numbers might tell you if a front or rear clip swap has occurred, but, they're generally not referenced for a title. If the VIN tag on the dash matches the title, that's about all that counts. Having the door sticker or fender tag helps, but, those are easily swapped. For that matter, transferring the body numbers on the core support and trunk gutter/package tray isn't all that hard either, especially for someone that can do a front or rear clip. Now, legal/moral/ethical is a different conversation.

As for the salvage title, if the work wasn't done through an insurance company and the owner had the title the whole time, well, you could replace the whole car around the VIN tag and it still wouldn't have a salvage title and the title would match the VIN.

Personally as long as the VIN matched the title, and you have another number to go along with to confirm, I'd be far more concerned about the extent and quality of the work done.