Projects "Don't buy a car in CA w/o a title"

if it were important they would have gone after the guy with his VIN on the other car. it wasn't my VIN and the guy who originally built the T had passed away, he was in his 80's. the T ended up scattered in the wind, the V8 60 axle ended up on Von Franco's Kookie T and someone here owns the body.

 

..........Just out of curiosity, why did you wait 15 years to try to get a clear title to the vehicle? It never gets any easier, in fact it only seems to get more difficult, not just in California, but everywhere.

 

No tickey , No Shirty....

 

I have bought 30 or so vehicles in California with no title and was able to register all of them. I have learned many lessons along the way. The biggest lesson is never ever under any circumstances go to the California DMV. Never. They are a collection agency and everyone you speak with there will give you a different form to fill out. AAA can provide all the DMV services you need to title and register your car. Join AAA. Once you get the registration and the issued plates in your hand from AAA, then and only then go for your personalized or YOM plates from DMV.
DMV records only go back about 25 years, so your car being, "Out of the system" is the best-case scenario. It means California does not show it was 'or was not' ever registered in California. It also confirms the car was not reported stolen in California. If you have any old registration paperwork it may help you, but it is not needed. It may also cause more fees to be owed. If you have an old registration and plates which match all you would need is an application for duplicate title, but you had better have a bill of sale from the person whose name is on the old registration. If you don't have that, I would simply start the process with no paperwork.
The first thing I do is find all the VINs on the vehicle and get the VIN verified. California has tightened this up. Any cop who received specialized training could do the verification. Now DMV only want verifications done by CHP Officers. Most CHP stations only have 1 officer to do the verifications and if they are lazy they want you to bring the vehicle to them. If they request this, I find a local Deputy or Officer to come verify the vin. AAA still accepts VIN verifications from agencies other than CHP. They submit the paperwork to DMV in bulk. I have not had any of these verifications denied. I have also used a private VIN verification person. It normally costs 100-200 bucks and is worth every penny.
Luckily my local CHP officer will come to my house. The car should mostly be complete. I let them know I don't want to invest a ton of money restoring a car only to find out I can't register it. This resonates with most of them and they will do the verification. I would not try this tactic with a set of bare frame rails though.
Once you have a VIN verification you need a statement of facts (Reg 256). You want the narrative to go back about 25 years, so either you have owned it for 25 years or you bought it off a person and that person also completes a statement of facts and owned it 25 years before selling it to you. The 25 years matches the fact the car is, "Not in the system." When I buy a car with no title, I bring the form with me and have the seller complete a statement of facts. Include that the car has no known liens against it. Remember, you bought the car from the old owner, not the old owner's family after the old owner passed away. This will open a can of worms if you write that as you may need to provide proof the family member has the right to sell the car. Avoid this at all costs.
With a vin verification and a statement of facts you can register anything. I bought a 1919 Republic Truck as yard art for $110 and got it titled. Any commercial vehicle in California will need to get a weight certificate so DMV can collect additional commercial registration fees from you. You can avoid this by completing a REG 256A form and calling it a house-car if you put a camper on it, otherwise expect to weigh and pay.

 

Life. Plus I wasn't serious about getting it going. And it didn't seem to matter- I suppose because I figured it wasn't in CA DMV's system and I could get to it when I got to it. That still seems to be the case.

 

Personal experience:
No paperwork of any kind, filled out required form (application for title or registration REG-227), had private registration service verify VIN and filled out required form (REG 31); this was at my place, DMV wanted car brought to them. Finally took the forms to DMV, paid the fee, and title arrived in about two weeks... ABC.

Part two: the only times I have had to see the CHP was on motorcycles with no paperwork, they did not care if it was complete, just verified the VIN.

 

I called the California Highway Patrol and they said the vehicle doesn't need to be complete; go to DMV for the VIN verification, first; they'll refer to CHP, as needed; and an appointment is needed for the CHP VIN verification, with the first available appointment being in mid-July.

 

Where are you at in California.I used a registration service that came to my house. She's in Yucaipa.

 

DMV roadblock #1: I had called and asked if it needed to be a complete car to get the VIN verified. "No, it doesn't have to be a complete car." Trailered the shell into DMV this morning: "It has to be a complete driving car to verify the VIN." I don't know why they can't publish sufficient details on their website. So, I'll have to get it going. They say they'll title it.

 

And THAT is the basic problem WITH ALL govt agencies,the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing & neither understands the overlapping redundantcies of past & current law . Then add in the wink ,wink , under the table activity & things get better for some & worse for others .

 

I had a guy that worked with me about 20 years ago, at Douglas Aircraft. He came to me asking about getting a title for a 55 Ford pickup he had owned for over 20 years and wanted to get it on the road after hauling it from garage to garage forever he had been to the DMVa couple of times and each time they would give him another pile of paperwork to fill out. Nobody there had any idea what to except to pile on more useless paperwork. He had enough paperwork to fill a trunk by then. I told him to toss all the papers and go back in and tell them that he had owned the truck for lots of years and kept it stored wherever he lived. But lost the paperwork and needed to get a replacement title. He did that and had a title in less than a month after that.

 

I'm not personally lucky enough to have things go smoothly when I do anything so a VIN Verifier was a no brainer for me. Well worth the money. If it's a car that runs and drives, I would go the AAA route.

Literally do WHATEVER YOU CAN to avoid going to the black hole that is the CA DMV. You can spend a year researching and getting every document known to Lucifer prepped and in order, just for them to put a number in the computer wrong that you figure out during a traffic stop in Illinois 10 years later. Remember, these are government employees. They are secured in their lackluster-paying, cushy, soulless job that requires them to deal with the lowest of the low (the public), and to cope with that they are on autopilot. If you bring them anything other than new car registration, license renewal or smog certificates, they have to turn their brains on to help you OR leave their brain off and lead you in circles. Which one do you think they are going to do?