C.A. DMV isues. help wanted!

the buick i bought has not been registered since 2002, almost 12 years now. before i bought it i went to the dmv and they told me it has some back fee's on it . how long until this car will be out of the system? and am i stuck with these fees or is there a way around this?

 

http://dmv.ca.gov/faq/faq.htm#Registration

 

What year is the Buick?

 

1954...last i check in feb the fees were still there, so ive been working on the car to make it road worthy and its just about there.

 

Register it in Maine. Call the Maine DMV tell them you want to register it, they will send you a few forms that you fill out and send back along with proof of insurance and away you go.

I think it's $45.00 a year taxes and registration for my '32, no inspection or smog needed.

 

Cal is cracking down on OS registers

 

that sounds to good/easy to be true.

 

The longer you wait the worse it gets even if you cant drive it go see about paying the fees

 

the fees arent going up, they capped out and i was told be a clerk who is a car guy that they wont increase.

 

You in luck. Check out these sections on the DMV web site: 4604; 4604.2; 5004 and 5051.

The short version: vehicles 25 years old or older and owned for hobby purposes of historical preservation and/or public display are exempt from PNO requirements and by way of that exempt from all back registration and penalties. If you are transferring a vehicle that meets these requirements you only have to pay the current year's registration fees.
Nobody at your local DMV office will know about this exemption until you educate them. I always print out the above sections from the DMV web site and highlight the relevant paragraphs to make it easy. Also bring a very patient attitude as many DMV clerks must go through all three stages of the Hegelian dialectic before they will extinguish the back reg & penalties and things can get a little ugly during the antithesis stage. It also seems to piss them off that you know more about the Vehicle Code and DMV procedure than they do, but stay cool and continue to press your case calmly. They may try to tell you that this only applies if you have Historic Vehicle plates or it only applies to "parade vehicles", but this is not the case. ANY collector vehicle 25 years old or older is exempt. Usually a 20 minute call to the head office in Sacto is required before your transaction can be resolved, but I've done it many times and it is legit.

 

THAT is great info! Thanks for sharing!!

 

Call C.A.R.S. In temecula and talk to nancy. 951-694-4331

matt

 

gearslammer,

i had a similiar situation with my Dad's 55 Olds....owed about $800 and in the end I only paid $300....I use a company in San Diego (Chula Vista to be exact) that offer DMV services. Diversified is the name and a great contact there is Alex. I'll PM the phone number. I also bought an out of state truck (61 chevy) and the PO never registerd it here in CA so I was looking at paying close to $500....my man Alex got it down to $176...I dont know how he does it but he saves me $ and time. Best of luck

 

KOOL! thanks alot this is the kind of hidden info i wanted. hanford's dmv is hell! i just didnt want to use alot of money on fees because the prev owner was to stupid to fill out paper work. thanks again!

 

x2- done it a couple dozen times. It is not a pretty process anymore, and they will argue till they are blue to deny you.

 

Need to get an old bike back into the system, thanks!

 

I recently had some back fees due on my '32. I asked for a "Statement of Facts" form at the front desk. On the back is a section where you enter these facts as pertaining to the vehicle coded sections posted by blowby. . .

Vehicle is older than 25 years
Vehicle has collectors value
Please waive penalties

Just that easy, saved me a few bucks.

 

I did this through the Auto Club and it was painless. Be sure you emphasize the "Historical Value."

 

so is the 10 year rule no longer in effect?

i havent bought a car with expired tags in many years, but i seem to remember that after 10 years they went 'off the books' and you could register them fresh.

FWIW...
NEVER trust a dmv employee. they don't know the book. as stated before, gather information and present it. but beyond all that do ALL of your paperwork at AAA or through a title service like Lugano Enterprises or C.A.R.S.

 

Some questions:
1) Do you have the title?
2) Is the title in your name?
3) Does the car have the original Black plates? If "Yes", make sure you have an old registration or title with that plate number on it. This ties the plates to the car.

Comments: I have a 1967 Impala SS that I had the title put into my name back in 1988-ish. The car sat unregistered until 2009. It was out of the system. I had to:
1) Have the car VIN-verified at an AAA office. Vin Verification form: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg31.pdf . This basically verifies the VIN on the car. I heard that if you get this done at the CHP or DMV, they crawl all over the car to make sure it is road worthy. My car wasn't operable and I towed it to AAA, they checked the VIN and I was gone within 10 minutes. This is the ONLY inspection required......EVER.
2) Complete a DMV Statement of Facts form: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg256.pdf . Your are stating here that the car has never been on any California street while unregistered.

I took everything to the DMV and I had to pay something like $80 and I got to keep my Black plates, but they had to send a photocopy of them to Sacramento. Surprisingly, the lady at the DMV was very helpful and I had to pay no back fees, even though I had mentally (& financially) prepared myself. My situation my have been less complicated since the title was already in my name, but was still long out of the system.

Don't bother registering it out of state, you are asking for more trouble than it is worth.

You can do it yourself, but a DMV service recommended here might actually be cheaper. And when at the DMV don't offer any information that isn't asked for.

Good luck!!

 

I'm surprised that with a title, and even in your name, you needed a VIN verification.

They used to drop out of the system in 3-5 years, but that was back when storing the amount of data that your home computer holds took up a good size room. Digital storage costs nothing these days.

BTW if you know the license number and VIN the car was last registered to, you can plug them in here. If it's in the system it will tell you how much is owed, otherwise it will say "not on file". This is a big help when you go to buy a car and the seller doesn't know.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/FeeCalculatorWeb/renewalForm.do

 

I'm not sure. I thought the purpose of the VIN verification was match the VIN on the car to the VIN on the title. Apparently, it is just to verify the VIN on the car is a valid VIN, I think. When I asked the answer I got was fuzzy.

 

explain how you did a registration as a out of state resident??

 

The State of California does not like this and you will get ticketed for having you DL in CA and a car registered another state. I know several who tried to register their cars in AZ. You can do it, but if you get pulled over.....
Personally, I do not think the OP will have to pay back fees or have a hard time registering it in CA.

 

this is strange.
when I go to
DMV they tell me that they "only keep them in the system for eight years unless they have been reported stolen" when back fees were never paid.

 

When I bought my 51 a few months ago it had $1200 in back fees.The DMV clerk told me that all back fees where the responsibility of the previous owner and I didn't have to pay them... Think I paid $45 and I was out the door with a smile on my face.

 

" all three stages of Hegelian Dialectic"? That's priceless!

 

Many 50s cars in California were registered by ENGINE numbers , so if its a weird number on the old title check and see if its the engine number,

we registered an old car , off the road 20 plus years , and it came back with a salvage title !
so no one knows how long records are really saved ?

 

I don't think there ever was a "10 year rule".
When the DMV digitized everything, they went back 10 years. So the 10 year thing was at the inception only.
Once it's in the system now, it is in there forever.

 

Just wanted to bring this back up top. I did this today and it went perfectly fine. The lady I had a dmv even new what I was talking about. Thanks