Car Registration - No title, No VIN

Maybe somebody from each state who's registered an old car with no title, no VIN plate, homemade tubing frame, non-original engine, etc., etc., could give the lowdown how it's done in their state. Hopefully the first voluenteer will be from Texas!

 

How old a car are we talikng?

 

Mine are '34 and '41, but this would be for any year, especially really old ones with barely any original parts left. My roadster pickup will have only 3 Mopar parts, the cowl and two doors, and these came from 3 different cars. The engine/transmission, frame, suspension, steering, floor, rear of cab, and bed will be all fabricated or pieced together from various other makes and models.

 

Be careful....Big Brother may be watching.

 

No worries, none of the parts are stolen. Who would steal this old junk?!?!?!?!

 

My coupe had no title and no numbers. I had two bills of sale, one for the body and cowl (1930 ford) and one for the drivetrain (1947 ford). The KS technical trooper came to my house, looked at the coupe and assigned me a vin and I got a KS title with that paperwork. Usually in KS when it's a car made from parts you get an "assembled vehicle" title for the year they look at it.

At least that's how they do it out here in rural kansas.

Your results may vary...

 

You can start here: http://www.dot.state.tx.us/services/vehicle_titles_and_registration/default.htm

But you know if you call and ask, you are just asking to speak to some idiot that doesn't know how to check their own oil, or believe that a Model T was a real car...

You may need to do this:

http://www.dot.state.tx.us/services/vehicle_titles_and_registration/default.htm

 

Save every reciept for everything you have purchased, even for raw materials, they ussually want to see everything.

 

Easy way is title company or swap meet......

 

You forgot number and letter stamps.
Cosmo

 

Richard - I know you were on this thread but I thought I'd reference it here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144158

1. Get a VIN off of one of your main components. If you don't have a VIN, there are obviously creative ways that I'm not condoning to come up with one. I'll assume you can get a legitimate VIN number.

2. Use a title company like International Title Service or Broadway Title - you will sell them your car, they will "title" it in a non-title state like Alabama and sell it back to you with a bill of sale and the equivalent of a title for vehicles over 25 years old. Cost you about $130.

3. Take the Alabama "title" to the tax office and do a title-only transfer. You *might* be able to register at this time if they know what they are doing but there's a chance they may not and try to require you to do a 68-A inspection which will be a problem depending on your car's running order or if you got creative with the VIN and they deam it to be altered in some way. Just doing a title-only transfer is the best way to avoid this confusion. Costs you about $30 plus the tax on the sale price of the vehicle which is what you came up with.

4. Once you have a Texas title, then register as an Antique - no inspection required. The Antique plates are good for a 5 year period in Texas and it's the same 5 year period for everyone so, when I registered mine, they were 2.5 years into it and I paid a prorated fee and will have to pay a full fee to get new ones in 2.5 years. If you decide you want to drive the car regularly, you need to have a Classic Registration which requires an inspection but it's the same inspection you get for a regular car - you can take it to any inspection station and they will just look to see that VIN on your car (wherever it is) matches. You car only needs to adhere to the standards that were in place at the time of manufacture, though.

Hope this helps!

 

Just remember, No matter what state you are in.When it comes to the Department of Motor Vehicles HONESTY IS NOT ALWAYS THE BEST POLICY! Unfortunatly the system demands that we Lie, Cheat, and Conive to get these hot rods titled or regestered. So, as many of us has, you step up to the counter with all your bogus paperwork and look em' right in the eye and lie through your teeth! Sometimes I lose sleep thinking of the lies that I've told to the DMV

 

Ha Ha good answer. Remember too . Its better to pay a little tax money up front on the purchase price of the car. They like cash,...
Dave

 

We aught to have a tech thread just on registering cars in various states.

If you were in NY, I'd say get a number on your car that's correct (something like a Model A or '32 that there are lots of you may want to see if someone can run your number first and make sure it's not in use already, but something goofy like a 29 LaSalle there may only be one or two even registered in the state) and looks correct. Go down to your DMV office and ask them for an MV51 and an MV51-B, bring 'em home, fill them out according to the instructions - you only need both on cars you've owned less than 12 months. Then take a pencil etch of the serial number, some sort of indication of the car's weight (book or actual scale slip), your insurance cards, etc back down to the DMV and you should be able to get plates the same day. You get a registration only, and it's non-transferrable until Albany verifies the serial number isn't hot or flagged.

45 days later you should get new stickers for a transferrable registration in the mail - and that's that.

Same deal here, too, sometimes it depends on what clerk you get at the front counter, when I put my '50 Chevy on the road I went up to the office everyone always said it was easier at, and got an asshole, so I went to the main office in the city and was in and out quick with exaclty what I needed.

 

That was what I was suggesting with this thread.

 

Richard,
You need to talk to Sharon at Gulf Coast Title 713-946-0006 She Will send you in the right direction. Very very good at getting titles of older cars.

 

Refering to post #11:
I'm gonna skip past #2, since I bought a title from a guy in another state, for half that price. I'll have to get creative because the part of the car with the VIN is gone. If that doesn't work, I'll call Sharon at the # above. Thanks.

 

kansas, go for the quiet, not lost, title. signed bill of sale and $10

 

good idea- we need to hear REAL experiences, not some magazine article with generic info.

Nevada- home built cars- you build the car, you take all the receipts down to prove you built it, they assign a VIN. You take that form and the car to an approved automotive shop (any shop in NV that pays the fee), and they safety inspect it, and sign off. It's pretty basic- horn, signals, seat belts, lights, wiper, etc. You take that back, DMV signs it and assigns you a title. You pay registration fees based on 2006 and it will devalue for 10 years down to the minimum payment of $39 (currently). It willl need to be smogged unless you can prove with documentation from the manufacturer or otherwise that the motor installed is PRE-1968. If it's a 1968-1979 motor you will need only a gas cap and pass the sniffer test.

Any car from out of state needs to be inspected. If either the body or frame has been changed you need a new VIN, it will be 2006 or whatever the current year is. Doesn't matter if it's all 1925 parts, if it has been heavily modified it will be retitled as a homebuilt, see above for the procedure. That means no sketchy out of state titles applied to your in state cars, because to register it needs to be inspected.

Anybody I've dealt with will NOT accept title company titles, so save your money.

If you live in Nevada and buy a NV titled car it does NOT need to be inspected, just hope the previous owner did all the correct titling procedures.

 

When I registered my 47 in Connecticut 7 years ago, the DMV inspecter pulled out a book to verify that my VIN was actually a 1947 Ford Vin #. My vin had been restamped in the front clip. because it was not in the stock location he wanted to verify it was a leggit #

Fast forward 7 years and the only thing CT does now is a vin verification. No safety requirments or check at all. If the car came from in-state you can go to most any dealership and have them sign off on it. If it came from out-of- state you have to go to the DMV. Connecticut is a non-title state for anything 25 years or older. So we don't ever worry about titles, just vins.

 

Another option- Kentucky

I "lost" the title to my 28 RPU.

In a nutshell, you are swaring that you've had this vehicle longer than KY keeps registration records, and have lost the title.


I purchased a Briggs body number tag from Mac's for $1.40.

I had a local trophy shop engrave the VIN into this tag, and then riveted it to my firewall. The VIN number starts with an A and then coincidentally contains my daughters birthdates.


I filled out and affidavit stating that I have owned the car for 12 years and provided the VIN.

I filled out an application for a new title.

I paid $15 dollars for a deputy to come out and inspect the VIN.

I took the paperwork to the clerk's office, and got my tags.

Rich

 

after i bought my 25 ford, i checked with DMV (Arizona) and what the man said was to make sure i keep every receipt, and if you can get every major part on a bill of sale and if possible get it notorized,another one of you guys said keep receipt's, well when i buy raw material, i ask that they put in notes that this is for a 1925 ford project. even when i have purchased from ebay i have asked that they note the parts are for my car, i have never had anyone say no.
i keep great records of everything for each build, the first thing i do is go buy the biggest 3 ring binder i can find and i take a picture and print it off and use it as my cover, i have taken other projects to the inspector and when he sees my book and all the records, he just ask's me so what year do you want it registered as ?

 

in ohio without a title its aparts car or a non street driven race car and without a vin its a pile of scrap metal cant even sell it to scrap yard

 

Do you mind sharing some pictures of your car, Richard?

 

Any info you get is specific to the state it came from. People get confused not understanding that what works in one state does not work in another. Be careful, do plenty of research on what applies to where you live.

 

Thread 15 yr's old

 

yes it is old but important as each state has their own set and have become problems
i titled a F5 cobra in jersey what a royle pia, needs receipt for every nut and bolt .the tremic 5 spd trans came from jegs as a replacement part. Nj demanded a bill of sale for it the receipt of purchase wasn't enough .TG jegs people understood the problem and was able to give me one

check with ones state DMV for it's rules as each is different

 

Use a title company like International Title Service or Broadway Title - you will sell them your car, they will "title" it in a non-title state like Alabama and sell it back to you with a bill of sale and the equivalent of a title for vehicles over 25 years old. Cost you about $130.

A waste of money in Colorado! There are lots of state DMV's that are on to the Broadway Title scam and will laugh at you when you try it! I did two bonded titles in Colorado and it's pretty easy. I have two Model A frames that I have had the highway patrol run through the system to make sure that they are clear numbers. There are a lot of suggestions posted on these threads that border on a felony! Instead of asking on the HAMB, go to your local DMV or AAA office.

My avatar has a state issued VIN and I'm running 1927 CO plates that match the current personalized CO plate.

 

In Alabama I had a county sheriff come out and they did an inspection. Once he was satisfied nothing was stolen he attached a VIN plate to a fiberglass '32 coupe.
Similar with the '51 Chevy. A sheriff came out and inspected the out of state car and gave me a piece of paper that allowed me to get it registered.

When registering the '32 I gave them all of the receipts I had and they charged me tax on all of it. Very expensive. I would just give them the major stuff (body, frame, engine) for vehicle tax purposes, not every part.

 

Old thread, new thread, these titling discussions all come down to the same thing: Every state is different, do your research. And to be clear, asking for random thoughts onlne is not research. "Advice" here will devolve into something about a friend of a friend of a friend's cousin trying to do this and losing the car. That hair-on-fire story will be the one everyone latches onto, ignoring all the posters who said "I did it by the book, not a problem."

For the record, I've done it twice by the book, not a problem.