Good News. Got my cardboard liscense plate in the mail last night and went for a LONG cruise. Weather happened to be perfect. I have a lot of driving to do to catch up. Metal plates are supposed to be in the mail in a few weeks. Just in time for fall/winter.
I just went through the same process in Missouri. New chassis, glass body, so no VIN. Had to have the Highway Patrol inspect the car, then apply for the title with a giant stack of all my receipts and manufacturer's statements of origin. Had to wait 3 weeks for the HP appointment for the inspection. Drove my application to Jefferson City (like your Springfield) which probably saved some time. State sent the VIN tag too the HP (they have to install it). HP took two weeks to call me to attach the tag, then another two weeks to tell the state it was attached. A few days after that, I could get my license plates and got my title in the mail. The DMV folks were helpful and responsive, the HP moved like molasses in January. But as someone said earlier, it's done now and I'm on the road and it doesn't matter any more. Have fun with your ride!
Um, I'm actually good to go now. The cardboard plate they sent me is good as a temporary permit. I can put as many fake plates as I want to on it as long as I have the cardboard permit.
Good news..... Just yesterday I received my letter back from the state of Illinois stating they had adjusted the amount I owe from their daydreamy $1500 figure, back down to the correct figure of $25. To achieve this, I documented the reasons it was a #5 car, hadn't run in over 20 years, a copy of the handwritten bill of sale, and pictures of the car at the time of purchase.
Damn. reading through this worries me more about when i got to get mine "legal". Few questions for the illinois folks that have delt with all of this.. My truck, i built the frame, i have a title but i believe it was for the chassis that i do not have anymore, the cab has a VIN but its a short Navy VIN #. Where the hell do I even start to get this thing licensed!? And also, can i start this process before Im done, so I can be driving it in the spring? or does it have to be complete for the inspection???
Awesome news!!! Nobody seems to know where my file is. After losing my original receipts I sent them, I'm not suprised. Luckily, I didn't trust them to start with and copied everything I sent them. Now I'm really getting pissed off at how Poor and Unproffesional the whole thing has been handled. I've had my checks not cashed since June 08. What a bunch of Clowns.
Anyone know if using a S10 frame and titling it as a S10 body will cause problems? I going to use a body from a 48 to 54 Chevy on hte frame.
If you have the S10 title in hand, you would be able to run it thru as an S10 if you don't tell them what you are trying to do. Just present it as a S10 truck for title registration. The trouble you will find is if you get pulled over by John Law, and he checks the registration (which he will), he is going to have your truck towed to impound and haul you in for driving an illegally titled vehicle. In Illinois, you cannot legally remove the factory affixed VIN tag for ANY reason. Starting a few years back, the state requires inspection of any pre-1949 vehicles that have not been previously titled in the state of IL, PERIOD. Whether you have a legit title or not, from ANY state. Part of the reason is Dep of Rev wants the max tax $ they can get (thanks again Barrett-Jackoff), but also the Sec of State finally caught on 40 years later that car builders were making titles match the car they were building. On the brighter side, my son built a custom chopper from scratch out of a parts book and went thru the titling process. He had just a small amount of trouble with inspection but all in all, it went very smoothly. The inspector even took great care not to mess anyting else up while he hand stamped the new serial number assigned by the state in the frame. Sorry for the off topic pics, but it shows what you can get done with the state if you don't try to slide stuff by them and be up front and honest.
Last I heard (and this is pretty recently) is that they have stopped the pre 49 VIN verification inspection process in most cases. However the Dept of Revenue will in almost ALL cases "lose" your Bill of Sale submitted with the RUT 50 form and send you a tax due letter for a stupid amount plus late fees and penalties later ALWAYS KEEP A COPY OF YOUR BILL OF SALE!!!
A buddy of mine knows someone that works in the inspections office...I called and talked to him. Sounds like now as long as you have a month to wait they can title pretty much everything...and bonded title if you dont have the bill of sale. He made it sound like it should be decently easy.
got the "letter" myself a couple months ago on the wifes nash metro. said I owed $900.00 and penalties after I already paid $25.00 along with my r.u.t. when I transfered the title. I only paid $1900.00 for the car, but thanks to hamb I knew what to do. fired off a copy of the b.o.s.along with a letter explaining that it was a non -op restoration project car. I also included pics of the car in it's current state. in a few weeks got back a letter basicly saying "never mind". just as insurance I saved more copies of all the paper work and letters in my fire safe just in case they ever try that again!!!!!
Not sure how you went about the bonded title but yours sounds alot more difficult than mine . I didnt have a motor or trans , bought the car at an auction and had that reciept . No vin .... Called the state police and had an officer at the house that day , re read the vin on the frame and he ran it while sitting in the driveway . Then left . called me an hour later with the new vin number . I got my bond and wrote out an appraisel with examples from craigslist , had a dealership sign off on it. Then i sent in all my papers , called that gal 3 weeks later and small talked her first about the weather and the weekend coming up .. Then i broke the news that i had misprinted a digit on the my vin on the paper work . She said " i really oughta send this back so you can change it but you seem like a sweet guy , ill just change it for you " i then litterally told her i loved her , offered to take her out to dinner " even tho im married" and she said " tell ya what honey , im gonna go ahead and run this through , noone has ever told me they loved me while sitting at this desk, youll have your title in a couple weeks" Never did have to buy her dinner , and my title was back in under 2 weeks ha ha ha . Sometimes ya just gotta work a little silver tounge action .
After hearing your story, I'll tell you I just got my title today, January 07, exactly 7 months of kissing ass and waiting with my finished car sitting in the garage all summer. I'm glad, but disgusted at the same time.
I sent the paper work in for the bonded title Dec 28. The car is almost ready to drive, need to do brakes (everything is here) and wire up the lights. Everything else that needs to be there is done. I'm hoping I can drive it this spring. Gene
I hope so too, I also hope you copied everything you sent. I was less than impressed, but not suprised when they told me that I didn't send in one of my primary receipts - they lost it. The agent that stamped my VIN told me that they ceased the headhunting program, hopefully the lower volume of cases speeds things up - but the whole experience has made me bitter and very deflated.
If the process was communistic, you would have had to pay a relatively large sum of "grease" every step of the way, only to have the car confiscated by the State after a definite capitalistic detail was noticed in your application. After serving your 25 years in solitary confinement as an enemy of the State, you would be released and see the local Commisar's grandson driving your car.
Ok, I guess it was more lack of motivation. I wish I could take 7 months to get a bid done, but the company would go broke. I guess the Communism remark referred to no ambition, you get paid what you get paid anyway. lol
Does anyone know if it is still as much of a hassle if you have an Illinois title as opposed to another states title. Mine is a 1933. Title was issued in 1948 and signed over to me a few weeks ago.
I would think it wouldn't be as big a hassle providing the serial number is a match and you have a bill of sale from the previous owner. They may question it and request a verification but I think you should be ok.
...I've heard there's not much of a hassle with Illinois titles in Illinois, mostly out of state titles. Good luck.
I understand they have backed way off on the title hassles as of late. I have not heard of any recently other than the typical tax due letter.
I started my paper work on my bonded title on Dec 28, 2011. I had to take a picture of the serial number. I had to have a signed bill of sale (with the serial number showing). I had to have an appraisal by an IL licensed auto dealer stating the car was basically complete with a wholesale value of the car (use the state of IL form) and I had to buy a bond from an insurance company for 1 1/2 times the whole sale value. (the bonds are issued per $1,000 of value at $50 per $1,000, with a minimum value of $2,000, a nice crisp $100 bill.) Everything was submitted through a licensing agent, not a DMV office. I did not buy plates at that time, only the title. I had duplicates of everything we submitted. I received my title on Feb 28, 2011. 2 months! The title does not say "bonded" on it at all, it actually says it is an "original" title. I finished up things on the car and bought license plates on April 1st. The entire process cost me $100 more then a straight title and license deal. I'm driving the car. Gene
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