Kev250R
Well-known member
Oh what a tangled web we weave when we try to do things the legal/right way...
Sorry, this is a bit long. Feel free to skim to the end where I get my valid registration...however that hasn't happened yet.
So a week ago I bought a year-old Trail from a member on this site. The bike is in almost new condition and is everything I hoped it would be. However it was registered out of state and the Title was lost. The PO assured me that he had requested a replacement Title and we agreed to meet again once that replacement Title arrived so we could do the deal.
Two months later the replacement Title (finally) arrived from an East Coast state, we met-up to do the deal. PO filled-out his portion, I filled-out mine. I verified that the VIN on the bike matched the Title (it did, though years ago I got burnt on an ATV which I later found-out did not math, but that's a story for another time). Money exchanged hands, a fence was knocked-down and I left with my new-to-me-Trail.
My first stop was the Auto Club which can do DMV things like Tags, Title Transfers & VIN inspections. I needed all of those things since CA requires VIN inspections on out-of-state vehicles (last March I went through this same process registering a '63 Datsun P/U I brought here from Kansas). Walk-up to the counter, explain what I need and they tell me their computers are down and they can't do any DMV transactions that day.
Too late to go to another office I went home and rode around my neighborhood, sans plate or valid registration but I still had a blast.
Two days later (don't judge me, I work a lot and had another project which took precedence over the Trail) I went to a different Auto Club office. Explained what I needed. The Clerk was happy to help but needed to draft a second (then a third person on the phone) to help since she wasn't sure how the process worked for MC's. They verified my VIN and engine numbers, but when they (because now it seemed I had a team working on this) went to enter it into the DMV's computer they said the VIN numbers didn't match. More phone calls and she finally she said it couldn't be registered and suggested I call the East Coast state where the bike had come from and fix it with them (because that will be easy; they are 3,000 miles away from me and as far as they are concerned the PO of my bike is still the registered owner so why would they talk to me?) I thanked them for their time and left. In hindsight this same Clerk royally messed-up what should have been a simple Title transfer on a Trailer I once owned a couple of years ago as well. Lesson learned.
On the way home I stopped-by an independent tag office. As soon as I told them I wanted to register and tag a motorcycle from out-of-state they made it clear they wern't interested in doing that. Even going so far as to tell me that it was impossible because my new bike didn't have CA Emission equipment. I explained that it did have all the emissions equipment and that there was a sticker stating that fact on the bike but they wouldn't be swayed (or even bothered to look at the bike which was sitting outside their office). I left. I don't recall thanking them for their time since they mostly wasted mine.
I've been in registration limbo before with other vehicles. I know that there is an independent tag office a couple of cities away which could probably get me a plate for my Wheelbarrow if I asked them to. But their staff (especially the owner) is less-then-pleasent. I've used them a couple of times before. However their staff is down right rude if I'm honest but they know all the tricks so after a couple of days I decided to haul (since they aren't located near where I live and with no registration and no plate I wasn't interested in riding the Trail to them) my Trail up to them.
As usual, I dealt with the owner who was, as usual not thrilled to see me ("You ever think about maybe buying things which are already registered in this state? It would save me a lot of hassle and you a lot of money!") I laughed and explained my situation.
Thirty minutes later she figured it out (I told you they were good, just not nice but I can deal with that). The VIN numbers on my bike and my Title are good and match (I knew that but I nodded like this was new information). What the problem was/is (and this part was news to me) is there is a national database which every state (except Hawaii) uploads their vehicle Titles to. Each of those Titles has a S/N. In the case of my bike, since the PO ordered a duplicate Title to replace the lost original one, the S/N of the original Title (which is uploaded into the national database) doesn't match the S/N on the replacement Title since that Title has yet to be uploaded to the National Database (which I think is what the girl at the Auto Club was trying to explain, but couldn't). I asked how do we fix that and was told that they would do it for me, now how did I want to pay for their service?
So they are going to get the paperwork squared away for me with the DMV's in my state and in the state where the Trail came from. In addition to that, since there has been so much activity with the Title on a less-then-year-old bike, I next have to go to the Highway Patrol to have the VIN inspected by them. I have an appointment in two weeks to do that, which is cutting it close because a week after that I'm going-on a riding trip in Utah which I might be taking my new Trail on but I really need it to be in my name by then since I don't want to have to explain to a Police Officer in Utah why a guy from Ca is riding a bike in Utah which titled in a state on the East Coast LOL!
Thanks for reading! If anyone is interested I'll keep this thread updated with any progress.
Sorry, this is a bit long. Feel free to skim to the end where I get my valid registration...however that hasn't happened yet.
So a week ago I bought a year-old Trail from a member on this site. The bike is in almost new condition and is everything I hoped it would be. However it was registered out of state and the Title was lost. The PO assured me that he had requested a replacement Title and we agreed to meet again once that replacement Title arrived so we could do the deal.
Two months later the replacement Title (finally) arrived from an East Coast state, we met-up to do the deal. PO filled-out his portion, I filled-out mine. I verified that the VIN on the bike matched the Title (it did, though years ago I got burnt on an ATV which I later found-out did not math, but that's a story for another time). Money exchanged hands, a fence was knocked-down and I left with my new-to-me-Trail.
My first stop was the Auto Club which can do DMV things like Tags, Title Transfers & VIN inspections. I needed all of those things since CA requires VIN inspections on out-of-state vehicles (last March I went through this same process registering a '63 Datsun P/U I brought here from Kansas). Walk-up to the counter, explain what I need and they tell me their computers are down and they can't do any DMV transactions that day.
Too late to go to another office I went home and rode around my neighborhood, sans plate or valid registration but I still had a blast.
Two days later (don't judge me, I work a lot and had another project which took precedence over the Trail) I went to a different Auto Club office. Explained what I needed. The Clerk was happy to help but needed to draft a second (then a third person on the phone) to help since she wasn't sure how the process worked for MC's. They verified my VIN and engine numbers, but when they (because now it seemed I had a team working on this) went to enter it into the DMV's computer they said the VIN numbers didn't match. More phone calls and she finally she said it couldn't be registered and suggested I call the East Coast state where the bike had come from and fix it with them (because that will be easy; they are 3,000 miles away from me and as far as they are concerned the PO of my bike is still the registered owner so why would they talk to me?) I thanked them for their time and left. In hindsight this same Clerk royally messed-up what should have been a simple Title transfer on a Trailer I once owned a couple of years ago as well. Lesson learned.
On the way home I stopped-by an independent tag office. As soon as I told them I wanted to register and tag a motorcycle from out-of-state they made it clear they wern't interested in doing that. Even going so far as to tell me that it was impossible because my new bike didn't have CA Emission equipment. I explained that it did have all the emissions equipment and that there was a sticker stating that fact on the bike but they wouldn't be swayed (or even bothered to look at the bike which was sitting outside their office). I left. I don't recall thanking them for their time since they mostly wasted mine.
I've been in registration limbo before with other vehicles. I know that there is an independent tag office a couple of cities away which could probably get me a plate for my Wheelbarrow if I asked them to. But their staff (especially the owner) is less-then-pleasent. I've used them a couple of times before. However their staff is down right rude if I'm honest but they know all the tricks so after a couple of days I decided to haul (since they aren't located near where I live and with no registration and no plate I wasn't interested in riding the Trail to them) my Trail up to them.
As usual, I dealt with the owner who was, as usual not thrilled to see me ("You ever think about maybe buying things which are already registered in this state? It would save me a lot of hassle and you a lot of money!") I laughed and explained my situation.
Thirty minutes later she figured it out (I told you they were good, just not nice but I can deal with that). The VIN numbers on my bike and my Title are good and match (I knew that but I nodded like this was new information). What the problem was/is (and this part was news to me) is there is a national database which every state (except Hawaii) uploads their vehicle Titles to. Each of those Titles has a S/N. In the case of my bike, since the PO ordered a duplicate Title to replace the lost original one, the S/N of the original Title (which is uploaded into the national database) doesn't match the S/N on the replacement Title since that Title has yet to be uploaded to the National Database (which I think is what the girl at the Auto Club was trying to explain, but couldn't). I asked how do we fix that and was told that they would do it for me, now how did I want to pay for their service?
So they are going to get the paperwork squared away for me with the DMV's in my state and in the state where the Trail came from. In addition to that, since there has been so much activity with the Title on a less-then-year-old bike, I next have to go to the Highway Patrol to have the VIN inspected by them. I have an appointment in two weeks to do that, which is cutting it close because a week after that I'm going-on a riding trip in Utah which I might be taking my new Trail on but I really need it to be in my name by then since I don't want to have to explain to a Police Officer in Utah why a guy from Ca is riding a bike in Utah which titled in a state on the East Coast LOL!
Thanks for reading! If anyone is interested I'll keep this thread updated with any progress.
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Man you couldn't pay me enough to live in California. Getting a title company to do the work is a great plan though.
