Rhode Island regisration help

Has anyone here in RI gone through the registration process of an old vehicle without a title or old registration? Any tips or suggestions?

Long story short, I recently moved to RI. Years ago I acquired an old, rusty 1955 Chevy truck while I was growing up, living in CT at my parent's house. In my youthful ignorance (and because the truck needed work) I never registered it. Now, fast forward about 8 years, and I don't have any paperwork leading back to any of the previously registered owners. Neither CT nor RI issue titles for vehicles that old. I know that the truck is not stolen, and I'd hate to see all the work and effort I put into the truck (again, in my youthful ignorance) go to waste because I can't register it. I do have the original VIN for the truck... help!!!

 

Hello, if you can find a used car dealer to help you they can write you up a bill of sale for your truck that the R.I. registry will accept including the low price he puts down as purchase price. If you use any other method the registry will value your truck from a book they use for value which is way too high. Goodluck, Bob

 

You aren't alone Milhouse, I'm going through the same trouble with the RI dmv. they want to charge more money to register my car then I've spent working on it so far Good luck, and if I have and success I'll let you know, but I believe basicbob's suggestion may be the best way to go.

 

Some of the options I'm considering doing is going through the CT DMV to see about doing a title or registration search, but I'm not sure if they find nothing on record if that will be enough to satisfy the RI DMV? Or if they do find something how hard it will be to track down the previous owners.

Another option I was wondering was if the RI police could do a VIN verification to show that the truck is not stolen and it's history is clear.

8Flatliner6 - are they trying to charge you for sales tax based on the vehicles value in their book?

 

I know nothing about RI reg. However, in CT all you need to do is have the VIN verified by a Cop or at DMV. They have a form for this. Take it to DMV with proof insurance and the reg application and you walk out with a set of plates. If your folks still live in CT you could register it their and transfer it to RI. CT does not issue titles for vehicles of 25 years old. Tdd

 

x2 what he said. Find a CT relative to reg it....


Also, CT DMV won't have records that far back. The state statute says they only are required to save the last 3 years.

 

As long as you have a VIN tag this guy can help, THE TITLE MAN 585-232-3217, He got me a registration signed over to me and a notorized bill of sale for my 51, Went through North Carolina DMV no problems, Registration was from New York. Well worth not going through the hastle of any state DMV bullshit.

 

Reeeeeeeeeally... I hadn't realized this before. Do you know if there is a required length of time for the car to be registered before it can be sold? (If I register the truck in CT, do you think RI would be upset if I sold and re-registered it the same day?) I checked their website but didn't see anything.

I may still talk to my town's police department to see if they can help with the VIN verification in a way that the RI DMV would accept it. If I need to register the truck in CT to get this done so be it, but I would like to think the RI DMV could help out if they understood that CT only required the VIN to be verified and that if RI wouldn't register it I would sell the truck back to my father, verify the VIN, register the truck in CT, sell it back to me, and then register the truck in RI... if I can avoid it, it would be nice to not have to trailer the truck BACK to CT or have to take more time off from work to do this.

Thanks for all the help!

 

i know this is an older post, but today is my first day. from RI, had the same issue-dmv told me i had a parts truck-period. had to use a title service. cost about 150. they 'buy' the vehicle, register it a state that does not require a title (alabama in my case) and then 'sell' it back to you with all the papers needed to register. i was sweatin bullets at the dmv but went thru with no issues

 

Glad to hear it worked out for you. Todd

 

I went through this process 3 years ago with my 1946 Chevy. We moved from Ct to RI. From what the DMV said was all I needed was a copy of the bill of sale and copy of the last owner’s registration. I could not get a copy of the last registration. I later found out that if you have a bill of sale from a dealer you do not need the old registration, I went the route of the later and ended up getting a bill of sale from a dealer and had the truck registered in no time. Also with a dealer bill of sale you also only pay the sale tax on the agreed value on the bill of sale. If you use a private seller’s bill of sale the agreed price on the bill of sale for sales tax is disregarded, they go by NADA value for sales tax. Just another way for the smallest state in the union has to bail their asses out of this recession. Hope this info helps,
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I'm sorry to side track this topic but I live in Connecticut and am finally starting my rod. Do I need to go to DMV for an inspection? I have a bill of sale for my model a frame from the guy I bought it from. It would be so cool if I could just fill out some papers and be done with it. Thanks for the help!!

 

I just had to go through a VIN inspecting in CT. They will allow you (for a $10 fee) to have the vin checked at an emissions testing garage. When I had mine checked the guy looked at it for about 10 seconds before filling out the paperwork. I was in and out in under 5 minutes. Believe it or not, it was relatively painless. http://www.ct.gov/dmv/cwp/view.asp?a=804&q=460746 <- Theres a list of where you can take it that isn't the DMV.

EDIT: I had a bill of sale as well but since the truck hadn't been registered in 20+ years I still needed to have the VIN verified.

 

You are going to need a "VIN" or serial number for that car in CT.

Most all of us know that a Model A used the motor number and there was no frame number.


Hint: I did see a Model A that has a serial number on a plate under the dash. I also saw a 32 with a serial number plate on the firewall.......and neither of these were a problem at the time they were vin checked. Your results may vary

 

Thanks for the input! I'm still unsure of how to get it registered. I'm use to doing newer cars and a while back a fellow handed me a paper stating the rules for registering a street rod that tells how the car cannot touch the ground until it gets inspected, etc. If I get my VIN or serial number verified I can just go to the DMV and register it without any inspections? This seems to easy for the DMV! I should have started years ago instead of piddling around. Thanks again!

 

For CT registration; You need VIN verification by either the smog stations, DMV (don't do that), or a police officer or other officials listed on the CTDMV site. (doubt a cop would do it unless you knew him?) If you ask around, you will find out which smog place does it quick, with no other hassles.

Then you need, bill of sale and proof of insurance. You can download an official bill of sale on CTDMV site.

If your car was reg'ed in CT recently and have proof, then you don't need VIN verification.

There is no saftey inspection....unless it's a car that has a salvage title like on a late model. No inspection on older out of state cars.

Older cars don't need a title, but if you have one, you can pay a fee to get a current CT title in your name which helps on out of state resale. They will take your old title when you do that.

If you have no title, you can't get one, even if you register it here.


Yes, it sounds too easy...compared to years ago when we needed titles, and had to get an pre-registration inspection if the car was 10 years or older, or any year car that was from out of state. They did away with all that some years ago! We never could have gotten a fenderless, hoodless, no bumpers car registered back then!

 

I just realized I never posted the outcome of this -my truck is now registered and has plates! Fortunately enough I had bought it at a local garage and the bill of was on the garage's letterhead, which RI (at least the DMV branch I went to) considered a dealer and I had no issues what so ever. Lesson learned, never again will I start work without registering it first and getting all of the proper paperwork in hand.

 

Know anybody in NH?

Here in Mass, You can have somebody in NH register it for you, then "sell" it back. Mass will accept the old NH registration in place of a title. AND, they will give you a legit MA. title. Worked for me on a couple of cars.
Dunno if this helps you in RI, but could be a roundabout way of doing it.

 

Congrats Milhouse and thanks for starting this thread. It's a great help and load off my mind that this will be somewhat easy for a change. Thanks to F&J also!