Jim, I absolutely agree - that's all about honesty
but I saw weird things in the past, where guys changed VINs, dublicated VINs and did some other criminal things just to get more money for their car
I know of a guy who had a geniune 911 RSR race car with known history
he built a perfect clone and even cloned the VIN, kept the original car in his collection and sold the clone to a guy in another country, but telling him that's the original car, just to get the premium $$$
it all came to the surface accidently
I also know a guy who sold a 914-6 GT (clone) with (manipulated) race history to another guy who just believed what he read on the papers ... bad luck, he payed about 4 times too much, because someone faked with VINs
Another example is that Austrian guy who claims that he owns a geniune 916 race car. Most of the real insiders know that this is absolutely nonsens. But he shows the car in his Museum with the info that it would be a real 916.
If anybody uses the information honestly I have to say that the American way with the COA is good.
But in this times I'm sure the European way is the better - because there's more security against mis-usage of information. It's a little bit of crime prevention in my eyes
just my 2 ct
Gustl