Screwed up vehicle title

[KNS]

I am the original owner of my 2004 BMW 325i. It's in fantastic shape for its years, never been in an accident or seen any damage.

When I moved from Arizona to Colorado I transferred my clean, unbranded AZ title for a new CO title. The CO title came back as "Stolen, theft recovery, Salvage". Apparently Arizona motor vehicles has it in their system that the car was stolen (at some point after I received the clean title from them). Of course it never was. This transferred to the new CO title.

Colorado says I have to clear this up with AZ motor vehicles. When I first inquired with AZ they said I'd have to bring it to the state to have inspected which is ridiculous. I have documents from my insurance carrier saying that I've never had a claim.

A classic car dealer I spoke with says he's seen this before and its a mess and a pain in the neck to correct. He said you have to be very careful they don't issue an assigned VIN or some other non original title. On high end vehicles (which this is not) he's seen arttorneys get involved.

I can't stand dealing with Motor Vehicles because of crap like this. The car isn't worth a whole lot (but is far nicer than comparable cars this age) but will take a hit when I go to sell if I don't fix it. Anyone run into this?

[biosurfer1]

For a collector car, I can understand fixing it, but around here a 2004 325i would go for maybe $4-5k in perfect condition. Hardly seems worth it. Someone buying a car that cheap probably doesn't really care, especially if you can explain it and show them the AZ clean title.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

For a collector car, I can understand fixing it, but around here a 2004 325i would go for maybe $4-5k in perfect condition. Hardly seems worth it. Someone buying a car that cheap probably doesn't really care, especially if you can explain it and show them the AZ clean title.

Yeah but you know none of us here will buy it even if it 2000 bucks. Sorry KNS you had to deal with this. I have no info to offer you.

[legion]

Some bureaucrat carelessly hit the wrong button several years ago. They've probably done it dozens of times and they will suffer no consequences for it. There's just about a 0% chance the problem will ever get traced to the responsible party. It will take significant time, effort, and money on your part to correct this issue, and you might not be successful. Such is the imbalance of power.

[fastfredracing]

My 1980 SC has been titled ,and registered as a 1940, since I brought it into Pennsylvania 25 years ago . I tried to correct it for the first few years that I owned it , and just gave up . I Still have copies of the CA title showing it as a 1980
It will always pass emissions testing !!!

[KNS]

I had some luck today after getting handed off three times to different representatives (almost an hour and a half on hold). One very understanding and patient gal was able to dig up the title from purged records and found it "clean". It's supposed to be mailed out to me so I'll believe it when I see it.

Hopefully Colorado DMV will accept it as it is and make good on a new, clean CO title (like they said they would over the phone).

I estimate it's probably worth $4000-5000 as mentioned above, possibly more because it is in such nice shape. E46s have been holding their value and nice ones are hard to find. Not a huge amount of money but far more than selling as a salvage title. Like Look 171 said, some people won't touch a car with a salvage title. What upsets me so much is that I've gone to the effort of really taking care of it (for 16 years) and with an errant stroke on a keyboard someone screws it up.

[petrolhead611]

I know what is bureaucracy is like. For several decades my wife is hauled into a room for questioning at whichever US port of entry every time( this is now probably at least three dozen times). She has asked each official to sort the records out,all because somebody forget to record in the 1990s that she left the country at the end of our vacation. No,they say she has to make a 500 mile round trip from our home to the US Embassy in London, by appointment, to sort this out( never going to happen).

[Arizona_928]

Yeah good luck with that one. Az dmv is still appointment only....

Might try a third party dmv. Pay that 15$ fee and have less of a headache.

As for co.... Is it salvage restored?

[Steve Carlton]

If it doesn't work out with AZ with what you've done, post about it again. I have a DMV specialist who may know another one in AZ that can help you. It'll be dirt cheap by comparison to taking the hit for a dirty title.

[pete3799]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

My 1980 SC has been titled ,and registered as a 1940, since I brought it into Pennsylvania 25 years ago . I tried to correct it for the first few years that I owned it , and just gave up . I Still have copies of the CA title showing it as a 1980
It will always pass emissions testing !!!

A 1940 911SC must be worth some serious coin......better bump up the agreed value Fred.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by pete3799

A 1940 911SC must be worth some serious coin......better bump up the agreed value Fred.

Rare 1 of a kind prototype, like the one advertised for 5 million on ebay!

[fastfredracing]

Well, I have to paperwork to prove it !

[Shifter]

I want to know how this turns out. I have a 71 alfa spider that came from California with a clean title, but when it came to Oregon, it is now a salvaged truck.
Oregon doesn't even want to talk to me about the fact the car isn't anywhere near a truck.

[john70t]

petrolhead611- I can't even imagine what UK'ers and Ozzies/NZ are going.. through right now.

[KNS]

It may be a few weeks or more before I get into CO DMV, I will update what happens. I'll be shocked if it gets straightened out.

[KNS]

I thought I’d update this thread to say I’m happy that the title has been corrected with the state of Arizona (where the screw up happened in the first place) and the state of Colorado.

As I mentioned above a very helpful gal at AZ motor vehicles was able to find find a record of my BMW title (at first they said it didn’t exist) and remove the brand. Once I got the document in my hands I brought it to Colorado motor vehicles (after a very long wait in line) and presented all my documentation. I also showed them letters from my insurance company that other than a couple of windshields I’ve never had a claim and it certainly hasn’t been stolen.

The unbranded title showed up in the mail the other day. The gal at Colorado DMV said it was very unusual and most of the time very difficult to un-brand a title. It was a pain but worth it.

[KNS]

A picture of the car - It’ in too nice of shape to have a salvage title stuck to it. At 238,000 miles it’s been fantastic.

[WPOZZZ]

Good job! I've seen E36s get totaled due to a scraped fender and busted headlight.

[Scott Douglas]

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

my 1980 sc has been titled ,and registered as a 1940.
It will always pass emissions testing !!!

ha !