I agree it is worth it and after what I have read here I spent some more time today really looking at it. It is definately worth fixing. I am looking forward to it. Just need to get through this part. I looked up the name they gave me and the address is still current after 14 years. I hope that indicates stability and someone I can work with.

 

Sounds like yet another crazy California law. That is unbelievable! In any state I've lived in you just transfer the title and pay for the new registration. Sheesh!!

 

My brother works for a tow company and he says he's heard that an inquiry on a vehicle's title will start the clock over.

I think we should call this place Kalifornistan. Screwed up vehicle laws.

 

Ray, apparantly that is how it worked so every time someone inquired about buying it over the 14 years the clock restarts. I finally got to someone today that solved the problem. I can fill out two forms and do the transfer through a Low value purchase procedure. It must have to do with the actual risk and the fact that I paid only $350. There is no way to get out of the three back years of tabs, but that is better than 14 years. And I can do the non op for the current year until I get it back on the road.

 

So, sounds like you found a loophole to step through, keeping most of your money in your pocket. I hadn't thought about that low purchase price thing. I think my uncle did that with a clapped out Austin Mini-Cooper.

Ray

 

I'd love to hear more on this low purchase price thing!

I've dealt with the DMV on BS like this and have gone around it a few ways. I put a lien on my '72 alfa to get it. Had to do all the lien sale BS but I got a clear title.

My '74 F-100 is another story. I trusted the PO when he said it was on Non-op and I shouldn't have. In my defense I had called on other vehicles he said were on non-op and they were, and he wore this one was... Oh well, live and learn.

I've started a tricky process to see if I can get around the back fees on this thing but we'll have to wait and see if it works. Damn Commiefornia and the BS vehicle laws/fees!


I had never heard this before but I'm glad I did. No one at the DMV had told me that before and it explains some things about past vehicles...

 

unfortunately california dmv employees are trained NOT to give up info that would help a citizens situation. my wife was a title person with Enterprise rent a car for a few years in Roseville, CA. certain rules she found out from dmv employees was suppose to only be told to business accounts and transactions. had to jump through hoops when i bought a 68 from a guy who never changed out of his fathers name. his dad had passed away years before and he was just paying the registration every year. dmv wanted the father signature. technically it was still his to dmv. months later and some notarized papers and it was mine.

 

I can't believe the run around you guys get in Kalifornia! It's so much easier here in Utah....if a vehicle sits for 15 years..you don't pay taxes for it!! You only pay the fees if it's registered!

 

The way the law is as written in laymans terms.

You must keep a vehicle with current registration, or have it non-oped. If it's non-oped, it cannot be in view of, or parked along a street or roadway.

If the vehicle is let to lapse on it's registration, without getting a non-op. Registration fees, and penalties compound in perpetuaty untill it either... A: It Drops off the DMV computer system. B: The fees and registration are paid in full, or C: The Vehicle is salvaged and reported scrapped.

In california it is a privilege to own or drive a vehicle, you do not have the right to own or drive a vehicle in this state.

1: If you do not pay the registration fees, either due to non payment or you cant because of smog compliance, they have a right to take your vehicle away to pay for these fees.

2: If your vehicle is non-oped to keep "#1" above from happening, and they can see it isn't registered from the road, or it looks abandoned or not in service, they can also take it from you either using code enforcement laws, or vehicle laws which state a vehicle must be registered to be in view of a public street or highway. So if it's non-oped, make sure it's stored properly. IE: Out of public view.

Lots of horror stories over the years. One person here had all his classic cars taken away and crushed, his winters wood burned, his yard cleaned up, and huge property fines added to his property taxes for stupid laws like this.

Heck, I've got one of my own. My grandfather used to keep his tires after he bought new ones, and he collected around 14 in the shed over 20 years. So I thought I'd clean the shed, and get them out of my hair. Took them to the dump, signed a form, which included my address etc... Got a nasty letter in the mail from the EPA stating that I broke the law because I hauled more than 10 tires on my vehicle, that I needed a license to haul more than 10, and if I didn't cease and desist, I would be brought up on charges. The letter also stated I could have no more than 100 tires on my property including the ones on my vehicles, and if I was found to have more, I'd be brought up on charges. Furthermore, the EPA did sweep searches of my property with helicopters looking for an ilegal tire dump for more than 2 weeks. Of course they didn't find one the stupid asses. All this because I wanted to clean up the shed.

So when people say things like kalifornica, I think that's an understatement.

 

Things like the above are what make me HATE Commiefornia. Having multiple cars/trucks on Non-op I must say the above bolded text pisses me off. We are loosing our rights to keep our property (cars/turcks) on our property (our land). I'm getting utterly pissed off just typing about this type of BS.
I get not driving on public roads, etc. with not paying the taxes/fees to do so, but if they can see if from a public road - F them!

 

I hear you there. If it's behind a locked gate, then they cant come up onto your property to check if they cant see the license plates, but that's when they get code enforcement out.

Lots of lawsuits about such happenings going on. Don't even get me started about eminant domain...

It's very disturbing...

 

It really depends if you live within certain cities, within city limits, or neighborhoods with homeowners associations. For example, the City of Concord will leave you alone whereas the City of Walnut Creek has full time code enforcement officers and are on the beat all day long. Living in an unincorporated area also garners less attention because county governments tend to be REALLY lax. However, that's not to say that if non-operating vehicles get out of hand and it looks like a junkyard then someone will likely complain - then they are compelled to take action based on that complaint.

Me? If I'm working on a vehicle in the driveway and it's gonna be in pieces, I re-mount the wheels and throw a cover over it so it looks like it is driveable.

 

My wife keeps threatening to move us to California because of the line of work she's in (and I'm in, by default and by proxy, since she basically owns me and I do what she says thanks to my criminal history and inability to get hired by anyone, and she is GOOD at finding work for me, MUCH better than the state ever was) and that would basically mean no more Torino for me. Mine was built 7/76 so it would have to pass smog. I would have to go find another one built 12/75 or earlier. Wouldn't be a problem I don't think, since whenever I find used Torinos I want, they're either in CA, OR, or WA. I can handle the car situation I think.

It's the property values, sky-high real estate costs, and the general attitude of the government I don't like. Let's see here, a little green 1264sf 3/1 house with bars on the windows, a single car garage, and a backyard the size of an inflatable pool for $259,000? For that money, I could buy a five bedroom, three bath, three car garage home on ACREAGE!!! Or another way to look at it, I could buy ten carbon copies of that house in Indianapolis for the same money. And they would have yards!

 

Can't imagine anyone wanting to move to California for any reason. It is really bad. You will now have a 12% income tax and 9% plus sales tax and 1% property tax escalated every year. And water bills that will make you cry if you want to have plants and god forbid a lawn. And you have to pay a high real estate price even in a down market. But we do have rust free trucks. Just to stay on topic.