Euro / Gray Market 911SC to California

[Myami]

Hi everyone,

My quest to locate the “right” SC has led me to a 1980 Euro 911SC that was originally imported to the US in 1985. To save the time, the car appears to be worth doing some legwork for, but I am trying to gauge the amount of legwork I can expect.

Here’s what I know:

The car: (a) has never been registered in CA; (b) is currently titled in another state, a smog exempt state to be specific; (c) at the time of import, the car was issued a smog exemption letter and form from the EPA.

I know others have gone through this in the past, and I’ve run a number of searches through the forum and found someinformation. But, some of it appears to be conflicting and/or outdated, hence the new thread.

Questions:

1. Am I able to register the car in CA if I bring it here and it passes smog (even if at a referee)?
2. Regardless of whether it passes smog, will the CA DMV first send me to the ARB “lab” to be gouged and saddled with a number of forced repairs?
3. Are there any tips/trick (or pitfalls/perils) that I should know ahead of time?

Thanks in advance!

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by Myami

Hi everyone,

My quest to locate the “right” SC has led me to a 1980 Euro 911SC that was originally imported to the US in 1985. To save the time, the car appears to be worth doing some legwork for, but I am trying to gauge the amount of legwork I can expect.

Here’s what I know:

The car: (a) has never been registered in CA; (b) is currently titled in another state, a smog exempt state to be specific; (c) at the time of import, the car was issued a smog exemption letter and form from the EPA.

I know others have gone through this in the past, and I’ve run a number of searches through the forum and found someinformation. But, some of it appears to be conflicting and/or outdated, hence the new thread.

Questions:

1. Am I able to register the car in CA if I bring it here and it passes smog (even if at a referee)?
2. Regardless of whether it passes smog, will the CA DMV first send me to the ARB “lab” to be gouged and saddled with a number of forced repairs?
3. Are there any tips/trick (or pitfalls/perils) that I should know ahead of time?

Thanks in advance!

Here's my understanding of this.

Having never been registered in Ca., your car must be referred to the testing lab. If someone at the DMV tells you to go to a referee for a smog check, that is an incorrect procedure and the ARB will not allow processing of your title or registration. The law, passed in 1988, is very clear--grey market cars not currently registered in CA at the time of the law's passage, must be tested (at the owner's expense) to receive a Certificate of Conformance. Keep in mind, the reason for the law was to get these cars off of the road through attrition so the ARB is not very sympathetic to exceptions to the process.

If you owned the car in another state where it was registered for more than 1 year, and can prove that fact, then you will be able to transfer title and register the car in CA without the lab test, but it will still have to be smog checked.

From what you've posted, IMO you will not be able to register the car in CA without the expense of the ARB lab testing. If you purchase the car in the state in which it is currently registered and you establish "residency" there and maintain that status for over a year, you may then bring it into CA and proceed.

Here is a link to a similar situation someone had back in 2009. Read the entire thread. Eventually, he got his car registered/titled because of a DMV (not ARB) error and also the fact that his car had previously been registered in CA during the time of the legislation being passed. Your car does not fit that situation so the outlook is dim for your success. https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/my-saga-of-dealing-with-the-ca-dmv-on-a-grey-market-bmw.4152/

Now, there is always the possibility of an exemption through declaration of the car being a "classic" or "collectable." I don't know the criteria for those classifications or whether or not this car would qualify. Others will expand on this if it's relevant to you.

[Tom F2]

Originally Posted by ossiblue

If you owned the car in another state where it was registered for more than 1 year, and can prove that fact, then you will be able to transfer title and register the car in CA without the lab test, but it will still have to be smog checked.

This would be very helpful to me. Can you tell me a source for this information, please? Transparency does not seem to be a part of CARB's game plan. Or I'm not good enough at searching the Internet.

[ClickClickBoom]

Originally Posted by Tom F2

This would be very helpful to me. Can you tell me a source for this information, please? Transparency does not seem to be a part of CARB's game plan. Or I'm not good enough at searching the Internet.

Codes: Codes Tree - Vehicle Code - VEH

This is where you will find what you seek. CARB is not where you look, it’s all in the Vehicle Code. Remember if you misstate/lie to the DMV it is a Felony. So if you claim to have owned the vehicle in another state, you probably should have residency or a very plausible reason as to why the vehicle was out of state. Just because someone else told the DMV a story, and got away with it doesn’t make it legal. The Statute of Limitations in California varies for different code sections. Anything you sign in a DMV is serious, it’s the paperwork that will get you, and the DMV has Investigators, who dive into this stuff, it their job.