Registration Experiences

I’m interested in hearing of the experiences folks have had with registering kit/custom cars, especially those that were built using a fabricated chassis rather than a donor chassis.

A few questions:
o What state did you register your car?
o How easy/difficult was it?
o What did the municipality require of you?
o What roadblocks did you face, and how did you overcome them?
o Does the legislation in your state seem to support the registration of kit/custom cars, or does it seem to discourage it?
o Any hard earned lessons you wish to share?

Thanks for your input!

Rich,

I don't think many responded to this because it is such a varied topic. Every blasted state is different. Lucky are those that simply get a title based on what the car looks like and they are done with it. I'm seriously considering finding a friend in one of these states and having them register and title it, then sell it to me etc.

Some states have made provisions for replica cars to be registered with no hassles. Some make it very difficult by having you put up bonds for the title etc. And, I think there are one or two where it is just about flat out impossible to get a self-built car registered without having emissions problems.

It really is a national issue and should be handled at a national level. One rule, covers all the replica/self built cars, and be done with it. We're such a small percentage of drivers on the road that it would not be a problem, although the issue is too small to ever make it on the law maker radar.

R

In Washington state you are required to have a state patrol inspection. What use to be a safety inspection has now become a cursory look-see to make sure all major parts are accounted for and not stolen. Once you have the OK the DOL process allows you to register as a kit vehicle using the current year or alternatively as a replica of a period car using the date of that period. If the vehicle is registered as new you have a four year exeption from emissions inspection. On year five you get sniffed, likely fail, and request a review. Once reviewed you get a permanent exemption.


I've noted that some counties within the state process registration differently and may not be as stringent.
All in all, not too difficult in WA. There is talk of WA adopting CA emission standard. All bets are off if this happens.

Ron & Neal,

Thanks for the replies. I have had a significant amount of experience registering classics, even heavily modified ones. My home state of MD allows for easy registration of such vehicles under the “Historic” or “Modified Street Rod” categories, but with annual mileage limitations (not a problem for me personally). The magic age is 25 years. Even the kit based cars don’t have much difficulty with older donor chassis and a good title.

However, for ground-up custom cars, things can start to get difficult, as Ron pointed out with emissions. I’m hoping on finding a few “rules of thumb” for builders in this category. One such rule of thumb has been to maintain meticulous records of your parts acquisitions. It seems most, if not all states, are concerned with stolen parts trafficking, and a lack of good record keeping can be a significant headache for the builder seeking to get his/her car on the road.

I appreciate the ideas, experiences and feedback. What do y’all see as being a fair approach? The move toward a national standard starts somewhere, maybe here.

I plead the 5th.

Rich,

I'll plead nolo contendere in my case, but Delaware allows
registration based on the year the car emulates, including emissions, even on "ground-up" vehicles. The State Police do want to see an accurate accounting of parts for "ground-up" vehicles and kit/replicas. Our DMV also allows a "failed emissions" car to be registered, if the owner can prove that he's spent over $75 in trying to make the car emissions legal, AFTER the failed test(receipts as proof). Kind of a gimme, don't you think? $75 goes up in smoke pretty quickly on a car these days!


Bill

Bill, my buddy! Want to own a RF GT for a couple of weeks, register it, drive it around, and sell it back to me as a 65 Ford GT?

Ron

Ron,

Sure thing, but do I have to give it back? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


Bill

Well, it'd help, but you can drive it around for a good bit and make some cash in the process. I thought to trailer it out to AZ and do it but DE is a hell of a lot closer than AZ. I think my buddy Jeff and I are going to shoot up to Rich's sometime to have a look at the XJ13 stuff, you are pretty close to Rockville maybe we could drive your way and see a 40 too.

This sort of crap wouldn't have to even be thought of if the various DMVs had a rhyme or reason to how to handle these low-volume, low-impact, replica/kit/self-built cars. Nobody is immune from it either - self-built or turn key minus, you've still got the same problem in some states.

Ron,

Rockville is 2.5 hours from me.
If you have the time and are so inclined,
you'd be welcome to stop by anytime.



Bill