My title has a typo, HELP

Lukesportsman · 10-12-2009, 04:39 PM

I just had the local law officer out to verify my VIN. I had done this in the past when I received the car "of course". WELL, now looking at it after the fact, they DON'T match. No, not the wrong or stolen car but just a typo.

The last owner had the car for over 6 years, and it likely never came up. I need to change state title so now it's going to be an issue.

Car VIN number reads 912xxx1023
AR title reads erroneously 912xxx123

Common sense suggests that its probably unlike that I have this by chance some 34 years later that just happen to be that exact number of cars off. Common sense would tell you that with Mustangs, XKE, MGB, and 2 911's I'm probably not trying to pull a fake 912E off. Reality is the law doesn't use common sense.

What should/could I do? Feel free to PM responses if you don't feel that your answer should be public

Any ideas before I just walk into license bureau and plead my case? THANKS!

DUK · 10-12-2009, 04:52 PM

Any ideas before I just walk into license bureau and plead my case? THANKS!

That's exactly what I had to do in NC. I had to take the car to the officer's office and he verified the vin. Then he issued some form for me to take to the dmv and then they had to call and verify with the state title agency and then after about an hour of me standing there sweating it all got straightened out. I hate having to deal with any title discrepency they always think your trying to pull something over on them. Hope this helps. Oh, I called one of my buddys, who's a cop, and asked him what to do, originally.

Lukesportsman · 10-12-2009, 05:49 PM

Thanks, I'll do the call a friend thing first also.

Any and all other ideas welcome.

kidrock · 10-12-2009, 06:13 PM

If it's a 912 with a typo on the registration papers, put it up for sale and list it as a 911 in South Carolina. There's a guy out there named Playa who'll snatch it up in a heartbeat.

jonesb930 · jonesb930's Garage

I had an issue with my 1977. They titled it a 1984 when I purchased it. The old title was clearly a 1977. It took some doing to get things straitened out.

Matt Monson · 10-13-2009, 05:18 AM

I had this problem with a title here in Colorado. I went to the DMV, after getting a vin verification on the car from an authorized repair center. I signed some sort of affadavit that stated how the title showed the vin and what the vin really should be. I paid a $15 processing fee and then they printed me a new title with the correct vin on it. Took less than an hour of my life. It really was that easy.

dmcummins · 10-13-2009, 08:26 AM

I had a typo on a motorcycle title. The vin was 2AXXXX and the title said AAxxxx. One DMV said I needed to go to the police and go thru them to get it taken care of. I went to another one and they just put the correct number on the paperwork and it came back fine.

Grady Clay · 10-13-2009, 08:58 AM

I have a ’67 912 with the same issue. I’ll take it to my Colorado State Patrol VIN inspection station and report back.

The issue is someone previously didn’t hit ‘tab’ between the VIN and mileage on a Wisconsin title processing. No one (but me) caught it. The actual VIN is 437990. All the VIN agree, even the hidden ones. The title shows 43799073133. The mileage at that transfer was 73,133 miles. What a coincidence. It now has about 90K mi.

I can get a Colorado ‘Assigned VIN’ with a title bond but I want to correct the error and maintain the provenance of the original VIN – in spite of some incompetent Wisconsin data entry person.

There has to be a way. I’ll find it or get the Colorado Legislature to create it. You can do the same. There is no reason bureaucratic incompetence should cause US problems. The DMV (and State) works for us.

The good news is; I’m not in a hurry. It is just storage cost / aggravation. I’ll get it done, one way or another legally.

Best,
Grady

DUK · 10-13-2009, 04:15 PM

Grady I don't know the laws in CO, but I was told I had 90 days to remedy the fault. The thing was my car was being restored at the time. So I had to get a written letter stating that it was non road worthy and then everything was good. Just my helping you this time, maybe.

fastfredracing · 10-13-2009, 04:23 PM

I figure I have the worlds most valuable 1980 Euro SC. It is titled and registered as a 1940. Should my area ever get emissions testing, I better be exempt.

jimbauman · 10-14-2009, 06:59 PM

A 1940? Not only smog exempt, but if you advertise it, be sure to mention "Once owned by Hermann Göring..."

Lukesportsman · 10-15-2009, 05:47 PM

We'll see how this pans out. The lady at the local bureau took it all in stride as I explained that all Porsches these years should and must have a 10 digit VIN. Her super agreed and processed the paperwork. So if no one at the state level flags it, I guess its a go! Maybe I sweated over nothing. Thanks for the thoughts and ideas.