Registering a used car in Calif - is smog cert. always required?
 

If someone buys a used car here in California - the car is coming from out of state and hasn't been registered anywhere in years - is a smog certificate required, even if the buyer does a Certificate of Planned Nonoperation?

Seems to me the answer has to be no - what if you are buying a car that doesn't run and won't run until 6 months of work on it? It seems like you still have to be able to transfer title, and you obviously can't get a smog on a car that doesn't run.

Searched the DMV site, couldn't find the answer.

Anyone have any experience with this?

every other year

non-op = no smog

"Once a non-operational status is placed on a vehicle’s record, it remains until you decide to operate the vehicle and pay full registration renewal fees. You do not have to respond to the Non-operated Vehicle Notice that you will receive. However, if you have personalized plates on your vehicle, you must pay an annual retention fee to retain your priority to that plate configuration. If the DMV does not receive the retention fee, your priority to the plate configuration will be forfeited and it will be made available to someone else."


i found this on the DMV site. so i think once you put your car on PNO status you stay there until you pay full registration fees. i think you are free from smog hell too.

If it's 75(?) or newer, and you want to register it, then yes, you need a smog cert. If you can't get it registered right away, get a non-op on it, which will prevent the escalation of fees.

In real life, if you're buying a car that won't be on the road for 6 months, have the seller leave the date off the title when he signs it over to you, and then put the date on just before you trundle down to DMV.

nice! i like it widebody! i am doing the same thing right now, sorta. this month i am smog exempt so i am going to trundle (great word) down to the DMV. my car is from tex, and i already have a tx title in my name. i am just going to pretend it just got here. but Socal, i think you can fill out the form online and print it, attach a check for $15, and mail it off.

If a vehicle is a gift from a family member you don't have to smog it either. I found this out when my grandfather passed away.

California law requires that "registered" vehicles be smogged, with a few exceptions. A vehicle that has been issued a "certificate of non-operation" is not "registered" and therefore a smog certificate is not required.

Brian, give me a couple minutes and I'll get you an answer on that.

What are you going to replace that great looking SC with?

Brian,

Confirming that registration is not required:

VEH §4452. The department may issue a certificate of ownership to the legal owner of a vehicle without requiring registration, and may issue a facsimile copy of the certificate to the owner if there is no legal owner, the application is submitted in proper form, and one of the following conditions exist:
(a) The vehicle is registered pursuant to Section 5014.1.
(b) A certification has been filed with the department, pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 4604, that the vehicle has not been driven, moved, or left standing upon any highway so as to require payment of fees and that the owner will not thereafter permit that operation or movement of the vehicle or leave the vehicle standing on any highway without surrendering, or arranging to surrender, the certificate of ownership to the department and without first making an application for the regular registration of the vehicle and full payment of all fees required to be paid under this code and Part 5 (commencing with Section 10701) of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code. [Amended 2001 ch. 826.]

As for transfering title, there is a form,

www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg343.pdf

which may be used to have title issued in your name. However, you may have to have title transferred to you in the state in which it is currently titled and then work from there.

Your problem is too hard, its too late, and I don't know squat about DMV issues. Any other questions? How 'bout them Colts? Now, where's that beer . . .

I was in that position once....title was not in my name and needed to be transfered. It was not running, needed smog and DMV said tuff*****. No change of ownership until there is a smog.....

I have a different story from the DMV when I bought my GT4 from out of state 2 years ago. Back then, it was not yet exempted so it had to have a Smog cert before they do anything with it. They did not even issue a no-op, a registration, a title, or anything else. They did take my money though.

So, for the real story, call your DMV office, they will tell you the whole thing. Does anyone on this board work for the Cal DMV?

Would anyone admit it?????

I get enuff crap working for the Air Quality Board.

Mike, do you know Glenn Gazdecki?

Socal911sc,

That is just teasing us, another porsche or something else?

Yup.............

one time, i've found a interesting web site, www. skrewthedmv.com ?????
They gave great loop holes to register a car in CA with exemptions about smog certificate. One more thing, you didn't ear it from me, understood ????
Good luck, filou.

Just registered my '68 911 at AAA. Since it has been non-op by the previous owner for the last two years, I registered it as non-op and just paid the taxes on the purchase price. Also since the registration dated on the title was for April, I was told I'd have to pay the registration price for another year again in April. So I just went with the non-op for now. Also a note...if the car has been non registered for more than a year, you as the buyer has to pay the back registration fees that are due since the car was last registered.
My total yearly registration cost come April will be a whopping $39 a year. Can't complain about that too loudly!

Mikez is correct. They will not transfer title or register without a smog cert. My buddy just went through this after buying an 85 Carrera. He took it home and gutted it to turn into a dedicated race car. Attempted to register it as non-op and transfer title, DMV said no way without a smog cert. Guess he should have smogged it first!!!

Tinker

The DMV said to me: if you don't want to drive it, keep it off the road in your garage, keep the bill of sale, and the old non-transfered title, and don't lose the paper work because that is the only proof you have of your ownership. No need for Cal to issue a new title in your name. Sales tax, please !

Read a few of his dodges.....interesting but most are not workable.....I prefer to do most of my business with the Auto Club.

Here in CA they have DMV services. They are nice, have a brain you can actually reason with them and they don't cop an attitude like the drones at DMV.

One more thing, if you op to hang on to the car and not register it holding the previous owner's title with no sales date, make sure you can supply the DMV with paperwork that shows the car had benn deliered (NOT DRIVEN) to CA within 10 days of your attempt to title it. Otherwise, you will pay late penalties. Ask me how I know.

I'd like to know more about options to hold title for a vehicle not intended to be operated on the public roads ever (race car). Seems to me that if you are stopped by the CHP, you ought to have something to hand over to the officer for the tow vehicle, the trailer and what is on the trailer. Did someone say 'certificate of ownership?' What is that? How is a sand rail or dirt bike registered?

You would think that CA would have some type of offroad vehicle title....hey, another way to generate fees??????:D

Yelcab wrote "The DMV said to me: if you don't want to drive it, keep it off the road in your garage, keep the bill of sale, and the old non-transfered title, and don't lose the paper work because that is the only proof you have of your ownership. No need for Cal to issue a new title in your name. Sales tax, please"

So who are they going to mail the renewal notice?? Probably the old/current title holder.

I'd think you would want the car in your name to be safe.

Tinker

I don't THINK it's 10 OR 20 days. I remember only 2 time frames in dealing with the DMV which are 10 and 30 days. Most things fall into the 10 day catagorie.

BTW, there was an article in our local rag, the Press Telegram, yesterday about a luckless soul who sent his yearly tag money up to Sacramento and it was misplaced. He didn't get a smog which didn't help. By the time he got his notice of incomplete registration, he had the smog done and it was telecommunicated to the DMV. He kept copies of his canceled check and his smog work in the glove box. Didn't work. He was pulled over and towed. He couldn'g get his work van back for 2 weeks, thusly losing 2 weeks work. Had to go to court. At that point it came out that the DMV is so for behind posting data and that was the real reason he fell into his predicament. Basically he was cleared of all wrongdoing and penalties except for a $10 court fee. But, was he compensated? NFW!

When you deal with these *********s, be forewarned. It's the same in every department. Don't even think about filing a claim against your licensed contractor. They currently have a back log of 14,000 complaints according to their own newsletter they send me. It's like open season out there.