Need to title my vehicle but im having problems.

Anyone?

 

bond it,we just burned 4500 titles as it is fraud
mercury and ford cars and trucks are frame stamped
call a few insurance companies for process
we help clean up junkyards and every person is told we sold them a vehicle from a junkyard and nothing else
it does not slow down the number of vehicles being saved
you have to but bond which is usually cheaper than sales tax where we live

 

I'm in Arkansas, and i'm doing a bonded title for my 51. You might want to see if you have that option where you are. also, my vin is very hard to read, so I put a piece of paper over it, took a pencil, and scribbled on it, and it picked up the numbers so that I was able to read it. and try to find a someone that has a "title service", the DMV sucks!

 

Got my title in November thanks to the HAMB!!!

 

Regardless of how complex your problem seems to be, most DMVs have "been there/done that" and most states' regulations cover whatever hurdle you're struggling with. Go to your DMV (after doing your website/regulations homework) and stop at the information kiosk. It's amazing how simple they can make things if you just ask.

 

So tell us how you did it.

 

I'm glad I live in Arkansas. It is so easy to get a title with a BOS but you have to have a VIN on the body and a motor #.

 

Lady at the DMV changed her mind and decided that my Bill of sale was an official document. So i paid 5 bucks a month later had it!!

 

Cool, good to hear that you got it straightened out.

 

Sweet deal!

 

Sounds like persistence paid off. Often the various state workers get customers so frustrated they give up before getting to this point. Glad you stuck with it and got your title.

 

When I lived in SD that was the greatest thing about titles. All you did was send a certified letter to whoever it showed up as (90% of the time they never came up as in someones name because the car had been sitting for 60 years or the person was deceased) and in less than a couple months you had a title. Not the case in most states. I've known guys in SD who did the inspection deal also. All the patrol guy did was make sure you put the assigned "VIN" tag in a visible spot on the car. Didn't check lights or anything. Just save your receipts and pay taxes on the parts you put on the car. Only do this if you can't find a VIN on the body you have. Hopefully they don't change the laws so you guys can't do this anymore.

 

So a clean swap meet title won't work? Lots of cars around here got legal that way. All MI wants to do is tax you on our birthday it seems. But we're talking about Model A's.....

 

I'm sure a swap meet title would work but Highly Illegal if caught. I didn't have to do that route I got it handled properly.

 

SD has become a nightmare to get a classic car titled. I bought a 57 Plymouth Savoy in Indiana last year. Had a bill of sale and title. SD tried to refuse the title because Indiana apparently doesn't put the vehicle weight on their titles and that is an issue with SD.

 

Several years ago I bought a 59 Mercury from an estate sale in Illinois. I had a bill of sale and title but once again SD refused the title because the owner was already flagged on the system as deceased. I told them it was an estate sale. Had to get an attorney involved. It was a nightmare. Took 6 months, tons of paperwork and lots of legal fees but I finally got a title.

 

For one of my classic vehicles I did the affidavit of ownership per SDCL 32-3-64. The DMV tried to refuse the paperwork. Here's the kicker... I was a patrol officer at the time and went there in uniform (badge, gun everything) and they were still rude. I used to do inspections for homemade trailers and cars too BTW.

My best bit of advice is to send your paperwork directly to Pierre and avoid your county office. Pay the title fee then when you get the title take that into the county office to get your license plates.

 

As far as swap meet titles and things like that go, old cars never had VINs. Some had multiple serial numbers. Often the frame had a number that was different from the serial number thst was different from the engine number. Different states used different numbers for title registrations.

Fast forward 50 years. Look how many classic cars are put on modern chassis. Some people say it's the frame that's titled. Others say the body. What if you swap out body parts? Or build a custom? Yes technically you're supposed to get a rebuilt title and list the cars including all VINs and part serial numbers from all donor vehicles. But how many hot rodders actually do that? Few, very few.

The biggest thing is to make sure the car isn't stolen. Typically after 10 years vehicles drop out of the database unless they have been reported stolen. If they've been added to NCIC then they'll remain active indefinitely.

The other issue is fraud. Are you just trying to put an old car back on the road or are you trying to pass off a gobbled together POS 57 Chevy 150 as a real Bel Air or so numbers matching all original high end muscle car. I still remember when Boyd Coddington got raided by agents with guns drawn for possible VIN fraud.

 

I'd advise NOT to claim the previous owner is deceased. You may be required to locate next of kin, get copies of a will or estate paperwork etc.

If possible take the VIN to your local police or sheriff's dept, speak to an officer or deputy and asked them to run a 10-28 on the VIN just to make sure it's not been reported stolen. You can just say you're looking at buying the car and want to make sure it's legit. Most will do it for you. If you run into Mr Attitude with a badge that refuses try again later and hopefully you get a different person that will.

 

You dug up a 5 year old thread. OP's last post said he got it taken care of.