So I bought a car with a good ***le from North Carolina. The problem is they have to verify the VIN on the vehicle before they'll give me plates(I've been going to AAA in Burbank). I haven't been able to find the VIN on the '51 Ford, but now that I figured out where it is, I found out that it doesn't match the ***le anyway, since the ***le is from a different car ('50 Ford). AAA said they can't ***ign me a new ***le, that I have to go to the DMV. I'm afraid if I do that, then they'll find the ***le/vin mismatch and god knows what will happen, but I'm sure it'll be a lot of burocracy involved. Anybody have a suggestion? I'm not going to try and get any recourse from the seller. He's cross country and I can't get ahold of him, and he's not a regular on the HAMB anyway. Any thoughts, experience, suggestions on dealing with this situation here in socal? I can't be the first person with ***le problems here, but I did searches and couldn't find any info. Thanks! This is a real surprise to me.
I think "surprise" and ä lot of bureaucracy"are understatements...I think you are real close to serious trouble. I don't know the rules in California...but basically you own a car with no ***le whatever (and no bill of sale?) and also a nice piece of paper utterly unrelated to the proceedings... I would suggest that you do not go near the DMV, Police, or AA until you get a lawyer with a vehicle specialty--yes, that's expensive, but you want a shot at keeping and registering what is now a completely outlaw car. Lawyer can advise, but I bet his main role will have to be applying serious heat to the seller, probably by threatening him with prosecution/reporting to attorney general where he lives. I think without serious legal help you are utterly screwed as it is and need to proceed very carefully to avoid making things worse.
Have you even contacted the seller? What if they had more than one ***le and just sent the wrong one. I gotta wonder why your not all over this guy.
Hah yeah Bruce you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what I was thinking. Unfortunately, since I was unaware of the problem, I initiated the paperwork to change the ***le and got a temp tag so I don't get ticketed for no plates, so I'm in the system as 'unfinished', they need to verify the VIN and I'd be golden, but that can't happen. I *really* don't want to have to go after anybody, other states have different laws so what was legal in his state isn't in mine. That's just my utter last resort if all else fails here. Thanks for your suggestions. I'll try a couple lawyer contacts and see what they say. Evidentally in the states the car was registered previously they don't verify the VIN, so it was OK.
Just get a bill of sale w/ the correct vin and then go through AAA. You dont need the pink slip. I have done this a couple of times
Yes, if it's a mistake he can fix it... But a big part of how I see this is so: If it's not a mistake, what he did is fraudulent (telling you car had a ***le) and probably something in selling a car with no ***le is illegal too--don't know how to define that quite. SO--keep all the dubious and possibly criminal stuff on his side. Don't become potentially prosecutable or get car confi****ed by faking number stampings or such...remain a party who has been misled by an evil seller, not someone trying to correct his fraud by doing things illegally yourself. That is part of why I say LAWYER...you don't want to do anything without qualified advice, or you are going to end up with no car. Also, a lawyer can get the paper moved at his level a lot better than you can standing in the DMV line when a route to a ***le is found.
Also, you are now in the system with your temporary stuff and so now you have to battle this out as it is...you can't get a friend to write up a bill of sale on junkyard find car at this point, even though that likely would have been less scary than going in with a definitely bad ***le. So...make sure it stays clear that you proceeded into this with what was supposed to be a real ***led car and just found out during registration that things looked fraudulent. You need to stay in VICTIM mode now, keeping the trouble pointing where it belongs to the seller.
Thank you chopped, thank you Low. I know this is the 'correct' ***le because the builder told me so, there never was a matching ***le to this vin in the first place. The builder and the seller are two different people. The builder has been extraordinarily helpful and forthcoming, the seller, not so much. He's not returning calls, unsurprisingly. I can go after the seller, but you can't get blood from a stone. I'd rather exhaust all my other options before even going there. Low66: I just called AAA and they said no dice, if it's an out of state car I have to have a ***le, and if it was in state I'd have to file for a lost ***le before I could transfer it. Ugh. I'll PM you for more details Thanks for the help you guys! I'm trying to keep an even keel, but this is, uh, a real shockeroo.
Johnny, you do NOT have the correct ***le for this car, it dont matter who told you anything, if the numbers dont jive it is not the correct ***le. check with this place, I havent used them but have heard they are good. http://www.its-***les.com/firefox/index.htm Larry
Yeah,, I'd go with what bruce said,, play the victim, play slightly ignorant even, like you didn't know you were duped. I'd check out the vin that is on the car, make sure it's not stolen or holding any outstanding tickets (a friend in law enforcement is handy for this, you might even be able to call the DMV and say something about you were looking at buying said car, but the seller didn't have a ***le). I might also look into getting lein paperwork on the car, I've never done this, but I hear it's not too painful (this is up to speculation though). Now, I'm ***uming here also that the dmv has the vin for the ***le and not the vin on the firewall corrrect? If that is the case I might just try to ditch the paperwork all together and register the car without a ***le or plates.
Thanks PBR and CptKaos! I'm seriously considering the ***le service. It'll cost me probably $250, but that's a lot cheaper than some other alternatives and I should end up with a legal california ***le. PBR: you're exactly correct, the DMV system? has the VIN for the paperwork, not the car. It's probably worth a trip to AAA with a bill of sale to see if that'll fly. The phone center *said* they wouldn't process it, but maybe I'll get lucky? Sounds like it worked for Low66. If it doesn't work, then while I'm there I can get my bill of sale to International ***le Service notarized(for free-I'm a super duper level member ) and then transfer my ***le with that. I'm thinking I may be able to say the guy gave me the wrong ***le(he did), here's the correct one, and since I paid the fees in advance I shouldn't even lose those, hopefully, just be out the $150 for the ***le service. That would be cool.
Greetings... Nothing like posting that you are thinking about doing things that are against the law on a public forum. No need for all this bull ****. California law says you can file for a ***le, but you need to do so through a ***le/registration company. Basically you file for the ***le and they hold a deposit. You get a non-clear ***le that is yours on the condition that nobody steps forward to say it was stolen withing a couple years. If the car isnt stolen the ***le is yours and clear after the time spent. If someone claims it was stolen you are out the car and the money you put into it. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but you already skipped over the easy way. It is often easier to pay the seller to file for a new ***le in his state... Most other states are very EASY to get a new clear ***le, however if you already took delivery of a car without a ***le and the seller doesnt have it for a VIN verification you are out of luck. It costs about $50.00. Either way requires footwork.... Any other (non-lawful) way is stupid. Hyfire
Hyfire,,, I think we pretty much steered johnny away from the bribery several posts ago, I don't think anyone here is suggesting commiting a crime that would get him locked up in a federal "pound me in the ***" prison, the poor guy is just trying to get his rod reg'd. As for the AAA, don't bother, they don't even want to know about state to state transfers, I've tried on a couple occasions. I think it may be a bit more strict in your neck of the woods, but up in the not so southern california a vin verification can be done by any peace officer. I've heard down your way though they have specific people for that. As long as you know and can prove the car is NOT stolen I really don't think you have much of a problem, you can "aquire" a bill of sale, and apply for a new ***le.
Thanks, Hyfire. I deleted the mention of tipping the AAA guy. I'd still have a ***le that wouldn't match the vin anyway, so the problem wouldn't have been fixed. If I'd known beforehand the ***le didn't match the VIN, I'd never have bought it. That's over and done with, so I have to work with what I've got. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check into the ***le/registration company thing.
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