[Zeke]

Last I knew the folks at the CA DMV had a booklet with the procedures of every state in the union so they could tell if you were legitimate. to have one state want to usurp the former state in which the car was titled is pretty Planet Stupid to me.

But here's one for the discussion: I bought my truck in CA new. I moved to AL for one year and had the truck registered there. AL is funny about older cars, they give registration, but no title (as in a pink slip). I still owed money on the truck. I paid it off while in AL, so the CA pink was available to me from the lender, but useless as a state document. When I got back to CA, I had a truck and registration with plates, that's it. Fortunately, that little book I mentioned saved the day and a new title was created for the truck that was once titled in CA.

Now, to the satisfy the requirements for a NEW title, I had to have the truck state inspected and weighed. Guess what? I now pay an annual weight fee I never paid in the several years that the truck was titled here by the original selling dealer. AND, if it didn't have CA smog on it, I was going to have to pay a one time $300 entrance fee.

Then, it suffered $4000 worth of front end damage which is not much these days. If it were newer, this would not be a problem. But, as an older vehicle not being worth that much, it now has a third title as salvaged. Four years newer and that wouldn't have been the case. Almost new, it could have suffered nearly $20K worth of damage and been fixed w/o salvage. Which would you rather buy, a truck with 20K worth of damage and a clear title, or an older truck with minor damage and a salvage title? This hypothetical question assumes both in excellent, low mileage condition and priced accordingly.

This was all the DMVs doing. As Seahawk says, the irony is not lost on me. It's the inequities like this in life that keep me on the edge all the time. I've always been more than fair, be fair with me. Government, ...not!