Date:         Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:42:31 -0800
Reply-To:     Robert Fisher <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Fisher <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
Subject:      Re: 86 Vanagon for sale in SF $200
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=response

I was told recently by the CA DMV that the fees/penalties are now capped at
three years.
The DMV won't record your release of liability until they have registration
from a new owner or the salvage paperwork- this also according to the local
DMV office. Also, they may mention due fees on vehicles you have when you're
in there trying to do something else, but they won't hold a new registration
or what-have-you hostage to get the fees. There seems to be no enforcement
whatsoever as long as the car isn't on the road.
My experience with junking/parting is that you turn the title over to the
junkyard when you give them the car and they 'take care of it', meaning they
turn the title in with whatever paperwork they generate to show that it's
been salvaged. It's a good idea to follow up on them, IMO.
What most folks do is either non-op the car (ten bucks) and part it and try
to talk a yard into taking the carcass, or if the reg is current, just do
the same thing and turn over the title to the yard with the car. If the yard
doesn't want it, it becomes a yard sculpture or a target. I don't know what
the legalities are on that, but when's the last time you heard of anybody
getting busted for parting out a car?
We don't have to use a notary for a car sale- what a PITA that must be.

Cya,
Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "jbange" <hfinn@INGRATES.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2005 1:59 PM
Subject: Re: 86 Vanagon for sale in SF $200


> At 01:28 PM 2/20/2005, you wrote:
>>What about the slip the previous owner tears off the title and sends
>>to Sacramento when they sell the Vanagon?
>>
>>Doesn't that remove registration liability for next year?
>
> It must, because I sold a barely-running '82 Oldsmobile for $100 and
> didn't
> hear from the DMV about it ever again. I also know that the guy who bought
> it never registered it in his name because TWO years after he bought it I
> started getting letters from the city informing me that it had been
> abandoned on the street and, as the DMV's owner of record, I'd have to pay
> impound fees if I wanted it back and they'd auction it in 60 days if I
> didn't respond. I got a couple letters like that and never heard from them
> again. For basic registration stuff the California DMV doesn't have the
> power to send you a bill and make you pay. All they can really do is
> withhold registration papers on the vehicle in question until the
> additional levies are paid. If you fail to declare a car non-op and it
> sits
> in your back yard for ten years before you fix it and try to register it,
> you won't see squat from the DMV after the first couple renewal notices;
> but when you go to re-register it after those 10 years, they'll want the
> reg fee plus 9 years worth of "failure to declare" penalties.
>
> John Bange
> '90 Vanagon "Geldsauger"