DMV fun

ward00

ward00

True Classic
Just a quick update for anyone contemplating bringing a 75 or older vehicle into California. About a 1 1/2 months ago I went to the CA DMV with registration papers for my just purchased 75 Beta Montecarlo. I went in thinking that having only a RI registration and no title, no metal VIN plaque in the front window, no California emissions sticker, and/or no federal safety label was going to raise red flags. But, no, all the DMV inspector apparently needed to do was verify the VIN that was stamped in the chassis. After I paid my fees, out the door I went thinking all was well. Well, after a month of waiting for my title to arrive, instead of a title I got a letter saying I needed to go to the CHP to do another check. Crap I said to myself. I had no idea what it was they wanted to check, and since the car had no emissions or federal stickers and labels, I began researching how to get the car titled in South Dakota, with the assumption the CHP was going to reject the car. It turns out that because the car was from out of state and because there was no federal safety label (that has the VIN printed on it) they needed to do a secondary VIN verification. Today I got the title. Wohoo, but damn, they spelled the make of the car as LNCI. Should I risk who knows what by going into the DMV to correct it (it might require a second inspection of the car), or should I leave sleeping dogs lie.
 
Only 4 characters to describe the make (FORD, Dodg, ACUR, etc...). I don't believe it is an error. Look on the DMV websight to confirm...
Otherwise, F-it. Leave it. Enjoy your car.

And BTW, once you get the VIN Varification from the CHP, you are golden. The DMV takes them as end item.
 
I recently bought a 850 spider off a guy who has not given me a bill of sale despite all attempts of reaching out to him (using my GF's facebook, which I hate) and have been wondering how the hell I am going to get this titled. I am in Indiana. Any clues as how to proceed are appreciated.
 
Chaostoy said:
I recently bought a 850 spider off a guy who has not given me a bill of sale despite all attempts of reaching out to him (using my GF's facebook, which I hate) and have been wondering how the hell I am going to get this titled. I am in Indiana. Any clues as how to proceed are appreciated.
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Are you in possession of the car, if so, how the heck did you do so without getting a bill of sale and/or signed title. If not in your possession, then it's really not sold, unless you gave him money, in which case it sounds like u may be F'd.
 
My GF found it on Facebook and we bought it through Paypal, but the guy really wanted to use cash app. The seller had it delivered here, but the driver said the seller was waiting on a title and would mail it. He kept promising to send something, but never has. We have text conversations as proof I suppose.
 
ward00 said:
Just a quick update for anyone contemplating bringing a 75 or older vehicle into California. About a 1 1/2 months ago I went to the CA DMV with registration papers for my just purchased 75 Beta Montecarlo. I went in thinking that having only a RI registration and no title, no metal VIN plaque in the front window, no California emissions sticker, and/or no federal safety label was going to raise red flags. But, no, all the DMV inspector apparently needed to do was verify the VIN that was stamped in the chassis. After I paid my fees, out the door I went thinking all was well. Well, after a month of waiting for my title to arrive, instead of a title I got a letter saying I needed to go to the CHP to do another check. Crap I said to myself. I had no idea what it was they wanted to check, and since the car had no emissions or federal stickers and labels, I began researching how to get the car titled in South Dakota, with the assumption the CHP was going to reject the car. It turns out that because the car was from out of state and because there was no federal safety label (that has the VIN printed on it) they needed to do a secondary VIN verification. Today I got the title. Wohoo, but damn, they spelled the make of the car as LNCI. Should I risk who knows what by going into the DMV to correct it (it might require a second inspection of the car), or should I leave sleeping dogs lie.
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Sounds to me like you were very lucky in your experience with the Calif DMV. It usually does not go that well in circumstances like this. Having no title of any kind can be the kiss of death, leading to a very involved and very lengthy process. However the regulations differ in various counties throughout the state so perhaps your area is better than in SoCal. And things differ even more so depending on the particular DMV clerk you happen to get, never the same experience twice. If I were you I'd be very happy it worked at all and not tempt fate trying to change anything, that could backfire on you. But I think it is like @tigeravg said, that is an abbreviation of the full name.
 
ward00 said:
Are you in possession of the car, if so, how the heck did you do so without getting a bill of sale and/or signed title. If not in your possession, then it's really not sold, unless you gave him money, in which case it sounds like u may be F'd.
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Many states don‘t provide titles to cars beyond a certain age. The general assumption is nearly all the cars from a certain period are rusted into oblivion (Vermont) and thus they dump the data. It makes certain states great places to bring in a car from far far away…like many of the Fiats you may see for sale.
 
Around 1970, one of the most common ways (at least in the East) to get a title was to get it from Alabama. You basically needed no proof of anything to get one. Once you had the Alabama title, you could then transfer it to another state.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Sounds to me like you were very lucky in your experience with the Calif DMV. It usually does not go that well in circumstances like this. Having no title of any kind can be the kiss of death, leading to a very involved and very lengthy process. However the regulations differ in various counties throughout the state so perhaps your area is better than in SoCal. And things differ even more so depending on the particular DMV clerk you happen to get, never the same experience twice. If I were you I'd be very happy it worked at all and not tempt fate trying to change anything, that could backfire on you. But I think it is like @tigeravg said, that is an abbreviation of the full name.
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Lack of title was really not what I was worried about. As mentioned above, Rhode island is one of the states that does not provide titles for pre 1980 cars. The seller provided a certified letter from the RI DMV that in conjunction with the cars registration the CA treated as proof. The saving grace, and why I gambled on bringing the car into CA, was that it was a euro import that was previoulsy registered/titled in another state and that it was a 75. If it was a straight euro import it would have never made it into CA. I'm very happy to own the car as I consider it "rare" to the US.
 
ward00 said:
The seller provided a certified letter from the RI DMV that in conjunction with the cars registration the CA treated as proof.
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I did not read that part before. That is the same as a title effectively, so a much better scenario to work from. ;)
 
My Scorpion was also registered as a LNCI in California.

Here in Washington, it took several minutes with the lady at the Department of Licensing when I was registering it for the first time.

"What kind of car is it? A Lanceeay? That's a Lincoln right? Is it a Continental? I thought you said it was a Lincoln! We'll I'm looking in Lincoln, but there are no Scorpions listed."

All's well that ends well....
 
In Calif they have a classification for one-off custom built cars that need a new VIN generated. For example a kit car that doesn't retain any existing VIN. They refer to this category as a "specially constructed vehicle". And on the paperwork that is always abbreviated as "SPCNS". You'd be surprised how many times the DMV clerks don't know what that means and ask "what's a 'spense' car?" Apparently they don't receive much training on their own policies.
 
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