Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 22:43:41 EST
Reply-To: DAVIDTHEKM@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Hunt <DAVIDTHEKM@AOL.COM>
Subject: A Cautionary Tale of Titles - Part 3 - The Conclusion
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As promised, I'm reporting back with the final chapter in this saga. If you
missed the first two installments, here's a brief summary. I bought a non-op
'82 air-cooled Vanagon AdventureWagen in July to restore. After 2 months of
trying to get the seller to produce a title, plus finally threatening him
through my lawyer, he admitted that he had not registered the vehicle when he
bought it, when it was running. It not running now, after he got through
working on the engine, and under Texas law, you have to have an inspection
before getting a title, and the vehicle has to be running to get an
inspection. Catch 22. He offered to register it AFTER I repaired it. After
posting this problem, someone suggested I contact International Title Service
at www.its-titles.com. My great thanks to whoever that was.
To use International Title Service, you "sell" the vehicle to them (no money
changes hand), and they register it in their name in New Hampshire. For
vehicles over 10 years old, NH requires only a Bill of Sale. As part of the
ITS package you have to submit a notarized statement that you do really own
the vehicle and aren't trying to commit fraud, so you can't try this on your
neighbor's new Porsche.
I down-loaded the papers from the ITS site and sent them in along with a $120
fee (cheaper than my lawyer) to ITS. Within a week (miracle in itself) I had
a valid New Hampshire registration, a Bill of Sale selling it back to me and
an official to whom it may concern letter from the State of New Hampshire
explaining that they did not issue titles on vehicles over 10 years old. I
took this to the local DMV. The ladies looked at the papers, then looked in
a thick reference book, called their supervisor and had a conference, but
then they all agreed that my papers were in order and sufficient. The only
problem was since this transaction didn't fit the input form on their
computer, they had to fill out a paper form manually. The supervisor warned
that might delay getting the title. Today a little over 5 weeks later I
received an official State of Texas title, and I am now completely legal and
documented.
FWIW I also learned that beginning in September Texas now has a non-op title
available for $15. This will give you an official title but no registration
sticker and no license plate. Once your vehicle is running, you can get an
inspection. The good news is you don't have to pay sales tax when you apply
for a non-op title, only when you register it.
Now that I have the title, the AdventureWagen is up for sale - see my
separate post. Hope this helps someone who has been tempted to restore a
vehicle but has had doubts about getting a clean title.
David Hunt '75 Westy '74 Thing N*ss*n transportation
appliance
'68 Double Cab with New Air Conditioning (For Sale)
'82 Vanagon AdventureWagen (For Sale)
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