Van stolen 35 years ago in Wash. state recovered

the insurance company is not supposed to profit from losses
it can only be sold for the pay out amount but should be considered salvage and is worth less
they already collected premium increases for the loss of the van in 1974

if the sell it whole it's wortabout 70K if they part it out itis worth at least double. what a shame if they have to salvage it and cut it up. Auction it off and use the proceeds for some worthy causw

Authorities have not been able to find the original owner . . . .

Nothing said about the shipper. Perhaps he paid for it and has a legitimate bill of sale.

Perhaps the old owner filed a bogus stolen car report and insurance claim to f*ck Allstate . . . . . . knowing the new owner was shipping the vehicle out of the country and it would never be recovered. Then with both the purchase and insurance monies disappeared back to his own foreign country not to be found.

I know about these sort of things. My old 433 lb. girlfriend came from Poland . . . her brother visited her for a short while, bought & sold a few things, then went back to Poland with a bankroll. Next, my girlfriend returned to Poland . . . . after I fattened her up to 460 lbs. and was about to propose.

Right On, Now only if the cops can find my Chevy things would really look good. Point being though, the gentleman should be able to work something out along the lines of a 50/50 split due to the fact he is the original owner of the vehicle, and nobody ever thought that this VW would ever turn up agian...

Cash for clunkers?

The insurance company Im sure wrote the loss of on taxes, meaning the taxpayers paid for it. It seems fair that they should only collect from the sale what they wrote off, and the difference should be the restorers where were duped. In fact the restorers should file suit against allstate to recover any excess proceeds that exceed the monies allstate is entitled to. Since Im sure Allstate WONT be ethical and offer it to them

Wow, the van looks nice. Where can I buy it?

wow dude... i love this van. will offer you 1000 dollars because that is what it was worth in 1970's..

The victoms in this case are the people who restored the van. The criminals are the Customs Agents and law officers who stole the van from them. This is a classic example of how corrupt the law is and how it favors corporations over the individuals that pay it to exist.

Yet the restorations on the vehicle are 100% owned by the restorer. The original vehicle is worth about $10. Its the restorations that were added onto the vehicle that are worth the money. If these crooked customs agents are seriously going to act without morals or conscience and steal the vehicle only to hand it to Allstate they reimburse them the expenses of the restoration. It's time new laws were passed forcing government agents and police officers to act with human conscience and discretion. That's why we don't hire robots or machines to do jobs.

IT WAS STOLEN AT A ""GREATFUL DEAD "" CONCERT !!!

OK, I understand things were crazy back then, but why would anyone steal a 9 year old van? This was a 1965 van and it was stolen in 1974. It was probably only worth $500.00 back then.

Hey, I was at that world's fair.
It wasn't me!
I did not steal that van. (i was only 5)
I REALLY want it though, it's beautiful.

The restorer most likely bought the van with a "salvage" title from a junkyard. If so, they bought it in good faith, and the state most likely gave it a "salvage" title without doing due diligence and running the VIN.

If so, they should be able to sue either the DMV for the full price the van auctions off for, or sue Allstate for the complete cost of restoration(and in the US, that may be higher than the auction price, so All State would actually lose TWICE)

The only way the restorer should be getting hosed like this, is if they knew the van was listed as stolen, and were shipping it over seas to sell it to avoid it being detected.

But that's gonna be real hard to prove, unless All State can find a paper or computer trail of them having a VIN search done.

If they restored this van in good faith without knowing it was 'hot', they shouldn't be forced to take this loss.

The owner of the van was contacted....he should have first option of returning the insurance cliam back that he recieved and get his van back.....why should All State profit. If the van is titled to the original owner...he should claim it...I would. it is a classic.

That is one nice van! Man... I would cry if I restored it and it comes to this... huhuhu....

I would check for drug money being shipped in it!!!!

THEY SHOULD DESTROY IT. THIS OLD VEHICLE POLLUTE VERY,HIGH,HIGH,HIGH, EMISSION. IT ALSO LEAK ALOT OF OIL. IF YOU STAND BEHIND IT WHEN IT IS RUNNING SUCH AS AT A STOP LIGHT, IT WILL CHOKE YOU

Great!
They finally found my van.
please call.

this story sounds fishy to me.they cant find the owner and the insurance people get to keep it.doesnt sound right guys,someone is pulling a fast one like making money on someone elses lost,shame on allstate

Ahhh, it's not a Van it's a bus.

Thinking it's lame if they don't contact the original owner, assuming he could afford it.

Maybe it belongs to the Partridge Family???? lol

I believe whoever restored the van did a wonderful job, it is beautiful.

I smell a possible insurance fraud from the owner, or a way of getting out of the upholstery bill. If the upholstery shop did a fantastic job on their work, I bet the owner couldn't come up with the money and declared it stolen. It is clearly stated that the van was to be shipped overseas. I am willing to bet that the paperwork got "swept under the carpet" during the insurance claim process.

"SPOKANE, Wash. – A Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Washington state has been found in a shipping container at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport."

"Authorities have not been able to find the original owner, whom they would not identify."

"The operators of a vehicle restoration business in Arizona were the latest to have possession of the van, which they refurbished and planned to sell overseas..."

Thats an awsome van! Its emissions are probably better than a lot of cars on the road today. Im sure it will be sold for lots of money. I hope they find the orginal owner and he gets it back.
I hate a theif. They should have put one in every "cash for clunker" and recycled them. Perhaps something good would come out of the deal.

If Allstate would like to score some serious PR brownie points, they would find the original owners and offer the van to them. I'm sure in 1974, the pay-out on the van was probably in the area of just a couple thousand dollars.

In the alternative, put the van up for auction and donate the net proceeds to a charity of the original owner's choice.

As for Allstate "priofiting" (see post #1), 25 years of lost interest income on the $2500-$3000 (?) makes a profit from the auction value a wash. And... insurance companies rarely increase premium for theft claims.

The van was STOLEN! All subsequent"owners" had a responsibility to verify the VIN to ensure the legitimacy of their right to this vehicle.This issue should be resolved between the rightful owner and his insurance company at the time of the theft.As for the folks that did such a fine job on the restoration,personally,if it was my van,I would be more than happy to pay for their work.

ITS NOT A VAN....ITS A VW BUS OR TRANSPORTER!!...these vehicles deserve the same respect and attention that any other "collector car" would get. Its not just some old vw.

ITS NOT A VAN....ITS A VW BUS OR TRANSPORTER!!...these vehicles deserve the same respect and attention that any other "collector car" would get. Its not just some old vw.

I think they should just give the van back to the company that was going to ship it hell the claim was processed and the original owner got his money weather the claim was true or not 35 years later hell i would be completly happy just knowing i had gotten paid for my van in 74 and not even worry about it now wat was he hoping for his pipe or something he left in the thing as epic as that would be in its own right i wouldnt have even bothered to report it...