99% sure I'm going to pull the trigger and get a local '74 914 that has not been registered in 4 to 5 years.

If I do the California DMV calculator correctly I am looking at $501 based on a $2000 purchase price.

If I read the documents correctly the late fee is 160% of the Vehicle License Fee which according to the online cal. is only $5, so $40 in fees?

Any current real world experience in this?

Thanks,

Mike

Yes. It's random. Some justignore it. Others...

You should buy that soda blasted roller Mark and I have. Blank canvas, titled from out of state so no hassles other than a VIN inspection. Have Mark put a coat of epoxy primer on it and raid his spare Parts!

I did two cars and the back fees were more than I paid for the cars (almost).

That one is on my small list...the wife likes the price!

I'll have to look at the pics again Mark sent me... I have 0 spare 914 parts these days...and I like it!

I registered a '77 Jaguar about eight months ago that hadn't been registered in about five years. There were $660 in fees, the current registration and taxes but most of that was for back fees and sales tax according to their book, not the actual sales price. If I recall correctly as more time passes the percentage of penalty for back fees goes up. Go online with the VIN and you should be able to check what's actually due for that particular car. Do that now and not after you buy it.

After seven years, it falls out of the system. If you restore it for 2 years before registering, you may avoid the fees altogether.

Yes on the 7 yrs thing, but that can be hit and miss...

I recently went though this with two motorcycles I'd had since my teens that were titled in my mom's name and had sat unregistered in her garage for years...

The DMV, they wanted something like $600ish to bring the registration up to date on one and the other had fallen out of the system so it would only require an inspection by the CHP and then normal registration fees.

They're pretty firm with their stance on this now, it used to be that it all went into a black hole if there was a transfer of ownership but CA realized how much money was being lost by title transfers so now we have this...

Tell the dmv it's a rolling shell project that's going to be fully restored as you only want to place it non op and that you paid 500.00 not 2k for the obvious throw the money out the window tax reasons......it should fall off like monkey said.....

You need to know what it is prior to buying the car. I registered DADs car after being off the grid for 5-6 years and got slapped Hard. No forgiveness these days. If you want a clean title, the PO needs to settle fees. I use AAA to get it done all at once.

Make the seller clear it up as part of the deal.

Doesn't work that way. They don't really care what you paid for it, it's worth what their book says it is. They don't care if you're not gonna drive it until it falls off the books, either. You can't put it on a non-op until the fees are caught up. They gotcha, and they've already heard every story there is ...

The Cap'n

And you don't think people would donate parts to get you back in the World? Oh yes of little faith!

Be careful with the non op, my Cali car was a non op or junk title and when I transferred the title to Washington State it came back as a repaired title. I had no way of fighting it so I have lost value in my car.

That's funny as mine had back fees on it, and they let me put in non op pending the fees and/or a form I would need to fill out asking for amnesty (which they would most likely say no) I'm going to do mine very soon to get back on road and will let you know how it goes. It IS in my name, I DO have a clean title and only had to pay non-op fees. They will NOT pull a blue book on that old of a car and come up with a figure with a car with no known history for the last 4-5 years, I've yet to see that happen on older cars especially if you tell then it's a basket case/roller. Go here to see: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/FeeCalculatorWeb/usedVehicleForm.do

What a rip for you CA guys. No - non op fees in PA. We pay 6% sales tax on purchase price, so for me, that is usually $36/car - since I always pay $500 for any 914 I purchase. $75 for lifetime antique registration- no inspection ever, and I'm set.

Well GFY! Seriously, CA sucks.

In CA, always, always, always file a Non-Op cert for any vehicle going into storage. It costs nothing and can save big $$$ on the exit end. It's regrettable this didn't happen in this case.

The state is doing anything they can to raise revenue (or tax).

For example, I got my 914 renewal notice and went into AAA to pay it. The clerk said I had to WAIT until 60 days due as the system wouldn't let it take the payment. Why? He said so that people try, fail, forget, and then have penalties. Another trick is that we have a 99 Ford Expedition. We are getting smog notices annually now even though we pass with flying colors. Why? CA wants you to think you have a gross poluter and buy a new car. You can appeal having annual smogs (I'm sure for a fee)...

Title it in Oregon. Wait a few months then title it down there. Guess it might be counter productive as cost wise Oregon would still need to see the car for a Vin inspection. I've "heard" it done once or twice for friends before. Then sending them the title when it came. Again probably to much hassle. Unless no matter what those fee's stay in their system even if it goes out of state. So when you went back to title it in CA they would still be waiting

UK has it even better than Mark (almost) - no sales tax, no transfer or registration fees

Pre 1972 cars even get free road tax and there is talk of making that rolling date year on year

Once your car is on the road and you decide that you want to store it, just declare a statutory off road notice (SORN) on line (which is free) and your done, the owner just needs to renew the SORN each year either on line, at a post office or via post

If you buy a car that has not been SORN'd correctly, yes there is a fine, but that's the PO's issue, not yours

For cars like my spitfire which has been off the road for 20+ years, when (if) it ever gets on the road again all I would need is an MOT (roadworthy check), road tax as she was registered in 1978 and insurance. If you really wanted to be sneaky buy a cheap pre 72 scrap spitfire and swap the pop riveted vin plates. For the record, I have not done this in the past

Your car is your car, that's that and government cannot take jack apart from road tax (if applicable) and the MOT of which the most of the 75buck fee actually goes to the independent garage that tested it for you

If you have been taking your cars to the same garage for years, like me, even if you get a minor fail and they know for sure you will fix it, 90% of the time they will give you a pass anyway

Some of my best friends are American and the more I learn about the system I cannot help think you guys get skinned in any which way they can squeeze you for $

Don't take this the wrong way, but the land of the free? I think not

How could we possibly take that any way but wrong every time I have sold something in Canada or the UK the buyer has tried to get me to falsify things for their tax purposes. More than once, I've just sold it to someone else. So you're getting squeezed too...

I live in Nevada but work a couple hundred miles away in California. I think the good things about California far outweigh the costs.

In this instance, the responsibility does lay with the seller but I doubt the seller cares and I also doubt the seller will discount it accordingly. It is done all the time and there is no penalty.

I think the car is priced accordingly, nice car, tons of extra parts and I know the history of it since I've worked with him for 5 years and I can make payments if want...

Mueller's coming back! Bring a lathe and a mill!!

I don't know how it would all play out but it could "sell" it to someone in Nevada who "fixes" it up to flip and "sells" it to you in a few months. It doesn't need to be registered here to get a title.
It would need to be inspected, mostly vin check from my experience 5 years ago, to be registered here. Get a classic plate and you won't even need to smog it.

Otherwise, if it's priced accordingly then you're not really losing anything by paying the fees.

Get my message?...I called you a few weeks ago...left a long rambling message....I would have deleted it myself

Mueller is back!

I bought my '75 after it sat in a garage for 14 years. Though the original owner had the pink, the title was off the DMV books. Title and registration was all I paid. Did the entire transaction through Auto Club.

Andys

Whatever you need, send a list, I will ship you a box of parts...
No money allowed.

Good to have you back.

If you have the license plate number and vin you can check the actual back fees here-

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/FeeCalculatorWeb/renewalForm.do

Goodluck!

I sold one car into Nevada. In order for me to do it, it had to have the CA Title. Wound up that between the actual cost of the car and the back fees, I lost money on the deal.

Is there any way you could have the car "appraised" for $500 and pay the taxes on that amount instead? I may or may not have heard of that being done before in Texas.

Read my earlier post. The DMV uses a book to calculate the value. It's their book, and they pretty much don't care what you actually paid for it. It's a "use tax", not a sales tax, although the rate is the same.


The Cap'n

I paid just over $400 to register mine, it was a title transfer, purchase price $1500 and out of registration for a year and a half.

I think if it's off DMV records, they still charge 2 years back fees but it's allways changing. I also wouldn't count on them "falling off of DMV records" after 7 years, that's not so true anymore...also if someone inquires about the car at the DMV, that resets the time line.

I beleive that you can only get a non op once the car is registered so you will have to pay all fees prior to the non op.

Hmmm Just took my old out dated since 2000 registration in to the a CA. DMV as I wanted to know what it would cost me to register this 1970 914. The clerk said it was off the record, as he looked it up. I told him I was restoring the car and it wouldn't be drivable for "awhile"... He said since there was no record on it it would only cost 1 year of registration fees. He said to bring the car in when I registered it so they could look at it. Sounds too good to be true... I probably should have had him put that in writing Ha... how discretionary can the CA DMV be?

That has something unique to do with you. I can drive to CA, buy a car with title in hand, title and reg in Nevada for normal NV fees and have nothing to do with the CA back fees BS.
Given that CA has no idea how long I've owned the car or how much it's changed hands it should nullify back fees if I were to sell the car to a different CA person.
Not that I'm offering, that's a lot of work to save a couple hundred.

Here in Delaware, I've registered one with a dealer invoice of $2000 and only had to pay taxes on the $2000. The next one was bought from someone directly and I had to pay taxes based on the Blue Book value - somewhere in the $15k range even though I had a receipt from the seller saying I only paid $2000. They told me if I had my car appraised by a dealer that they would base the taxes on that value.

I've done a couple like this recently - have the owner sign a "statement of facts" (you can download it from the DMV website) that it hasn't been operated in the past 5 years. It works as a back dated no -op. You pay the fees but not the penalties.

I agree with Scott (Boogie Man,) I registered mine at the California DMV with no issues. I stated I bought it for $500. I really paid more, but I don't like to give those thieves anything more than they deserve. It was cheap, fast, and I really couldn't believe it when he handed me all of the paperwork, registration stickers, and new plates. It had been sitting for 8 years and I was all geared up for a big fight with them over it. I think that sometimes it depends on which clerk you happen to get. This guy was cool, a few keystrokes on his magic keyboard, and I was out of there. The worst part about the whole ordeal was standing in line with all of the foreign nationals. It felt like being at a U.N. convention. NOBODY speaks english in Kalifornia any more.

Glad to see you back! In Illinois, we don't have to pay 'catch-up' fees, but they try to rape you on anything they can get away with.

After reading all the posts... I am sure glad I don't live in California. Sounds like they have quite a racket going on vehicle registrations.

Don't forget our earthquakes, drought, traffic, smog laws, hippies, commies, out-of-control Hollywood personalities, and illegals. All the more reasons for the rest of you to stay away.

The Cap'n

Ha ha ha. Yeah, you others stay away, but you commies, hippies and vegetarians? We got EARTHQUAKES!

Oops! Sorry, I forgot the vegetarians and the religious cults ... They'll probably picket my house later today.

The Cap'n

Genau, finde ich auch komisch ...

Just got it this morning... if that tells ya anything!

All good. Welcome back.