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Czechsix

Old bike gonna fall off DMV records? Not so fast.....

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I scored a nice little project bike off the board here, a while back.

I've been tearing into it gradually, and figured it was time to check into registration, and if there were any issues.

Last time the bike was registered was in 2005. No inquiries had been made until now, on it. As a matter of fact I don't think it was even in the States, so no issues with registration here, etc.

But it's still on the DMV records, it turns out.

$631 in back fees.

So it looks like there's no more of the "it'll fall off the records in 5 years, or 7 years". I'm thinking that stuff is going to permanently be on the DMV records now, which'll make buying used vehicles even more interesting.

So a heads up for you folks out there, don't believe that 5/7 year thing.

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I bought an 07 last year. Turns out the guy did not register the bike in 5 years. I knew that going into it and bought the bike anyways believing the seller when he said it shouldn't be over a couple hundred bucks. turned out it was some ridiculous amount like $680 with fines..... SOB !! Thats nuts Ca has some big cajonies but knowing they got ya between a rock and counting on you paying up. They wouldnt even reason with me. The good thing is that the previous owner was willing to split the fees. So lesson learned ALWAYS do a Non-Op if you arent going to be using the vehicle. And before purchasing find out how much it will cost to register.

Side note I have 2 1980 Honda trail 70s one is non-op the other DMV wants nearly $400 to register it. Pfffft I will never be held hostage and register that bike nor will I pay the almost $90 for registration on the other one. Crying out loud it is 34 year old and a mini-bike....... Ca. blows... and will make all efforts to separate you from your $....

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If you want you can sell it to me for $1.00 and I'll register it in AZ for about $15.00 and then sell it back to you for $20.00 with current registration.

CiD

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Winner winner chicken dinner. You can wash it out of state and come back in.

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Got about 45k on it...just getting broken in, hopefully.

CID...might just go for that. Thing is that I could swear I heard that CA no longer lets you go that route easily...they still go after someone for the fees.

Ah well, I guess I'll keep building her up and figure something out. Lots of help on this board, for sure. PM's too, heheheh.You're all good folks, I don't care what your siblings say about you.

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I'm just glad it's out of my garage! :upsidedown: Just kidding, I know we have all heard the "out of the system" before, and I have bought bikes that were not registered for many years that didn't cost extra so I know CA used to do it.

The last bike with back registration I dealt with, a Ninja 250 that my daughter's boyfriend bought, I tried doing the TrophyHunter paperwork but for some reason the kids didn't get the letter the DMV mailed back to them and everything got messed up. They ended up not having the patience to wait and paid the entire thing.

I have seen this on ADVrider, may be an option. Never done it, but keeping it in my back pocket in case.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=655441

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We had a kid at our office buy an old Impala. It hadn't been registered ion a zillion years and the fees he was facing were crazy.

The local DMV did bargain with him after he signed an, "I didn't know anything about these fees before I bought this old car" affidavit. He walked out of there after paying the regular registration ($130).

So someone in that bureaucracy still has some reasoning left in them!

Thats nuts Ca has some big cajonies but knowing they got ya between a rock and counting on you paying up. They wouldnt even reason with me.

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Trophy may have to step in and correct me if I have this wrong but as others have mentioned here a declaration that the back fees were the responsibility of the previous owner is a viable option. My experience with DMV has been of considerable variation of common sense vs personal agenda/malicious and vindictive abuse of power. Had I known then what I know now I would have saved myself the stress and registered out of state ala CID.

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Easiest way to bypass the old fees is to register it out of state. I know of people who will do lein sale paperwork to wipe out the old fees but they will charge you $50 or so to do it. I'm not sure how the process works but my FIL used them to wipe out a ridiculous fee on an old VW bug. The fees were more than the car!

7500 miles only applies to new vehicles that must be smogged and don't have a CA sticker. There's lots of information about this on the internets if you want to read up.

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yup. offered help via PM. CA DMV Statement of Facts. Good explanation of the details of how you just bought the bike, it was inoperable when you bought it and had been for years, PO didn't do a non-op....not your responsibility. I even print off the online calculator figures and cross off the back fees/penalties. Send in the remainder as a normal transfer would cost.

Sorry to hear the Mo kid friend didn't have the patience. Would've liked to had that as an example.

I also send mine to SAC. Nobody to argue with, no "lemme check" stuff. It's paperwork that hits their desk, they want it off of their desk, been successful 5 times.

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Yep, some good ideas here.

I went and read the statute about the penalties and fees, I can see how that would probably help. I like the idea of also sending it direct to tech branch or whatever their name is in Sacto.

What I don't like is giving this thief of a state any more of my money...sigh. But I probably will, just to make life a bit easier. Gotta pay for high speed trains, I guess.

I've had more than a few experiences, like you guys, with the DMV. I remember one old German truck I bought years ago that had been imported into the country some years before I bought it. No paperwork with it, no files in the DMV network, and they didn't even know what the hell to categorize it as. Idiot clerk couldn't figure out what it was, and kept insisting that it was in this class, and needed this equipment check, and these were the fees (HOW MUCH? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!). I occupied that clerk for about three hours, arguing...until they finally went to another supervisor, just after the office shut its doors. I'll never forget the supervisor looking at the paperwork for about a minute, signing off on it, and telling the clerk "waive all the fees".

My jaw dropped. Had no idea at that point those idiots could do that.

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Trophy eluded to it, but in case you guys didn't catch it, you can run a vin on the public DMV site to find out what the back fees and penalties are before you buy the bike/car/whatever.

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Nice ! Thank You for the info. Now no more guessing as to how bad it is going to hurt........ :bigeyed:

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Yup, Caveat Emptor. The back fees are meant to punish the current owner/seller who fails to keep up the registration. The seller either pays the State the back fees and sells full price, or discounts the price of the vehicle so the buyer can pay the back fees when registering because they got a great deal. The buyer has to perform their own due diligence to know the risk and negotiate a deal. The websites pointed out above make this easy enough.

I think the only thievery going on in these examples is by the previous owners who sold the motos. Not the State's fault in these instances. Caveat Emptor!

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Sneeker I disagree. If I have a motorcycle that's only been ridden on private property for the last 20 years or just stored in a garage and decide to sell it to someone. Why does the state think it's entitled to any back fees when the bike wasn't used on public property. The non op fee is BS also when it's not just a one time fee but they send you a bill every year or 2 just to keep it non op.

CiD

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Sneeker I disagree. If I have a motorcycle that's only been ridden on private property for the last 20 years or just stored in a garage and decide to sell it to someone. Why does the state think it's entitled to any back fees when the bike wasn't used on public property. The non op fee is BS also when it's not just a one time fee but they send you a bill every year or 2 just to keep it non op.

CiD

Well, to clarify, if you have a motorcycle in non-op status, you do NOT have to pay a fee every year. Yes, they do send you the registration renewal, but if the bike is still in non-op, then you do nothing...no fee, no paper work. I have 5 acres and I have a couple toys in non-op status because I only use them on my property.

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