No foolin'. But if I haven't done my due diligence, that's surely a prima facie reason for a special exemption. No wonder the people at the DMV can get cranky.
I would bet that the new buyer was trying to register it under the old number to circumnavigate the new assigned Salvage title. The salvage title can be difficult to get more than minimum coverage insurance on it and limits its value.
I think the problem is the NY transferable registration. That is not a title and I think CA is a state that requires a title. A lot of out of state people won't buy older vehicles from NY because there aren't titles for them just the transferable registrations.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/404204877908?nma=true&si=owxzpFbnfWOzi%2FqN%2BOYIyyQNOhk%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 for what it is worth, believe this is the truck in question.
No, it does not require a title from a state that doesn't issue them. This is not, nor has it ever been a problem. Their records show what official documents form all states look like. If the vehicle comes from a no title state, they simply look at the next available supporting document, which is the registration. I was not issue a title for the old vehicles that I owned in Connecticut, because they were too old. When I got to California, they looked at the book (now on the computer), remarked that Connecticut did not title older vehicles, and used the transferable registration. There were no problems, or delays. That was 25-years-ago, and my first experience with the CA DMV. Since then, I have processed about 180 vehicles, and exactly zero have had issues.
Update : the buyer now claims he has gone to Arizona to register the truck but no go they say the truck can’t be registered with that Ohio vin number. Do I believe he did this ( I don’t know ) . All I know is it was clear to register it in New York with that transferable registration. I think the buyer has buyer’s remorse and wants out of the truck .
In New York the transferable registration IS the title up until 1972 that’s just the way it was here .
Yes this is the truck in question we posted 102 pictures and clear pictures of the ohio vin tags . The buyers admitted he didn’t bother to look at all the pictures or read all the description . He just threw a bid on it last second. And bought it under what those trucks sell for everywhere else .
He is trying to pull a fast one, I took the liberty of doing an online chat with the Arizona dmv. See the lower right hand corner chat in these two screen shots. Arizona will accept and use the Ohio assigned vin number. The Title being from one state and the assigned number being from another might be more than some individuals can mentally get past but it happens all the time with kit cars. As several others have said on this thread and on many others, Quite often you have go up a few pegs on the DMV food chain or to a specific office where the knowledge base is up to the task. No to pull a fast one and do something that isn't legit but simply because all too many folks just cannot think outside of the tiny little box their work brain is in. Truck has a legitimate title that either Cali or Arizona can verify very quickly. Truck has a legit assigned vin that again either state can verify very quickly. We personally cannot do it but a legit state dmv can.
Mr48chev, Thank you for digging into this with the dmv . I think the problem is that it keeps coming back as a salvage title but here in New York our paperwork said nothing about salvage .
Update : we ran the Ohio vin through a national title database and it comes back clear title no junk of salvage.
Still, worse case he should be able to get Cali or Arizona to do the inspecition with the paperwork that they have and assign their own vin. Title in hand is proof of ownership of that vehicle. I'm thinking that he has got it in his head that the truck isn't worth as much if it doesn't have a title with the Chevy serial number aka vin on it and has his panties in a knot because of the assigned vin.
Ill say that if there is a picture I missed of the Ohio issued vin tag, or if the issue was made clear to the buyer...I apologize up front. I'm only going by what I see and what has been said so far. I looked at all the pictures in the Ebay listing and the Flickr page and didn't see a "clear picture of the Ohio vin tag". I see one picture in the Flickr site that you can see a non stock tag off to the side. I might be wrong..but I didn't see anything else. I will also note that you didn't mention that it had a replacement state issued tag in your ebay writeup. I see a weird non factory vin number "DPSXXXXXXXXX" in the items specifics area..but that's it. Replacement state issued vins happen...its understandable...but I would have made that issue crystal clear in the Ebay writeup and in the Ebay pictures. I don't know what the buyer is trying to do..its all conjecture. I do know it's a growing trend where people don't look at all the pictures and read the entire writeup. Personally..I would have mentioned it in the writeup..and before the guy sent me a dime I would make sure that he knows about that issue. You know what I mean? I'd rather blow a sale..then have some domino effect happen like what is happening here. I've found being painfully clear keeps down the line issues to a minimum. You may not have sold it to this particular bidder...but to another guy perhaps who is 100% ok with the state issued vin for $100 less. Isn't that a better place to be?
I am curious of this national title data base that you ran the numbers through? Reason I ask is, we currently have a off topic, customers car in the shop, that came from another state, that has a year and vin prior to the modern 17 digit numbers, that the customer does not know who the actual legal owner is. He has possession of the car but no title. Person he got it from is now dead and no family, that he knows of, to inquire about the title or ownership. He is working on trying to get a bonded title for it currently. I have someone in the Illinois secretary of state office in Springfield that ran the VIN and it comes back as, not on the stolen list and "no other data available". So just for a test, maybe due to this car being from out of state, I have a car that is also prior to the 17 digit VIN, that has a valid Illinois title in my name from 1998, that has never been registered for license plates as long as I have owned it. I had that VIN ran and it also comes back, not on the stolen list and " no other data available" I was told that if the car is prior to the 17 digit VIN, and hasn't been registered for license plates in the last 5 years, it gets purged from the system and they are unable to tell me who the car is actually titled to. I would think the information is somewhere, but where? Bill
Pulling idle records is something fewer and fewer states do. It was done to save on physical and digital storage. Many states, like California, have switched to inexpensive, scalable digital storage, and no longer purge records. Eventually, as hardware and systems are replaced, all states will be like this.
That isn't going to work unless they accept the title and matching assigned vin as proof of legal ownership and then start from ground zero with the original vin number. I still say he is trying to pull some BS and wants a title with the factory serial number as vin rather than the Ohio assigned vin. Just thinking, that even if the state of Ohio removed the original vin tag on the door post, the vin may have been on the spid on the inside of the glove box door. Why they would look for it when the truck has the assigned vin is beyond me but you can never tell how someone's mind works.
That is a dead VIN. Only the Ohio one will work now. If there were not a way to invalidate a VIN, you could get any number of new VIN's and titles, in any number of states, and still use the original one, essentially using one vehicle to fraudulently "make" additional vehicles. So long as you disclosed the current status, and the Ohio VIN tags were on it when the buyer took possession, this IS NOT your problem.
I’m in the “ got a truck, will be worth more with original VIN later down the line” crowd. If you (which I believe you did) told the buyer it had an assigned Ohio vin, why wouldn’t he just tell that to the DMV? I’ve only had to take a few vehicles to the DMV for verification, a few trailers to get the stickers ( MCs we used to pencil etch the engine number on paper) but everything I brought in I was with the person as they were looking at them. Never was told “go back in and have a seat, will let you know”. Meaning the buyer could have said “hey, here’s the proper VIN to use”. Then referred to the paperwork you sent him/her. Maybe @gimpyshotrods knows differently, but my impression is once the Ca DMV puts it in the system, it’s there. I’ve mentioned about having a clerk put me down for a smog check on a ‘32 Dodge. “Sorry, it’s in the system”.
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