The Department of Motor Vehicles is the one facility that people dislike visiting perhaps even more than their dentist. Few enjoy waiting in a long line just to find out they didn’t bring the right document to register their car or update their license [Ed note: Do you enjoy this? We want to hear from you! – Pete]. And somehow, the driver’s license camera never gets your good side. Let’s talk about your worst day at the DMV: Have you ever bought a car that the DMV refused to register?
Now, some of our lovely readers are probably getting ready to point out that the DMV isn’t always known as the DMV. Indeed, some states get all fancy with it and trade “Department” for “Bureau” or “Registry,” or just call it something different entirely. Still, the concept is basically the same. If you buy a car, change your name, or move, a trip to the DMV is in order.
Most of the time, my DMV trips reach completion without any sort of hiccup. I walk in, present a signed title to a car I want to register, brandish a check to pay for taxes, and leave with a license plate and the feeling that, gee, I wish I didn’t have to pay $416 to register a car I bought for $1,000.
But there is one car that, no matter how many times I visited the DMV, I couldn’t walk out with license plates. That car is my 2012 Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI. I bought this car in early 2020, while I was still relatively fresh to buying used cars on Facebook and Craigslist.
Tomorrow, I will write a story about how I finally triumphed in transferring the title to this car, so I’ll keep it short for this Autopian Asks. Due to a problem with the title that I did not notice when I bought the car, Illinois wouldn’t touch it. I went to over a half-dozen DMVs and all of them turned me away. I even went to some currency exchange stores, which Illinois allows to do basic DMV work, and none of them would touch the title.
Vermont, which still had its famous loophole going, wasn’t willing to transfer the title either, but, confusingly, did give me a registration. So, I sort of ignored the issue until about last fall when I decided that I wanted to sell the car. It took me the entire summer, but I finally triumphed.
Amusingly, a part of me now doesn’t want to sell the Volkswagen after finally beating the title issue. I might just drive the car for a few months, enjoy my win, and then sell it.
The one other time I almost found the wrong end of the DMV was when I turned in a title for a 2005 Volkswagen Passat TDI wagon that the seller signed in the wrong place. Thankfully, the seller had one of those nifty eraser pens, so he corrected the issue. The DMV worker saw the faint remnants of the seller’s old signature and was about to deny me, and then the system crashed. Apparently, this was such a big deal that the worker just put the application through anyway, and sent me on my way with license plates.
How about you? Have you ever gone to the DMV to register a car only to be turned away? What was the trouble?
Top graphic image: Volkswagen
I’ve owned over fifty cars and never had a problem registering any of them. The one and only camper I’ve purchased gave me problems. I purchased a casita camper from someone in a state that didn’t require titles on recreational vehicles so obviously I didn’t get a title with it. Just a bill of sale. The state I live in also didn’t require a title for recreational vehicles, just a bill of sale. So I ASSUMED everything would go smoothly. I was mistaken. When I get to the window the first thing the lady asks for was a title. I said “It’s a camper”. Her reply was “You still need a title”. I said “not in this state” I then had to literally show her the dmv laws of the state on my phone to get her to believe me. I also told her the state I purchased it from didn’t require a title either and that’s why I don’t have one. She finally relented and said “Well I guess since it’s over 25 years old we can let it slide.” I said “You mean since it’s a camper and I don’t need a title anyway?” She just rolls her and says “whatever”. Some of you may find it harrd to believe that someone working at the dmv counter may not know the dmv laws of their state but I swear EVERY WORD OF THIS IS TRUE. And disappointing.
I had a VT registration/paperwork for a 74 CB360. I live in NY. The dmv person refused to let me get a ny title, then didnt get why i didnt have a vermont previous address. I played dumb that its what the seller/dmv gave me when i went there for a day. I think i just wore them down with my ‘Homer is a submarine captain’ mindset and she sent me on my way with paperwork.
Thank Lob, no. My Saab is a car I imported from Canada myself and even that was a piece of cake.
The first time it was my Be-1, because the Secretary of State website was really bad at telling me what documents I needed to register an imported car. It only took 2 trips though, and quite a while at the desk trying to find the MSRP anywhere on the internet, because they couldn’t figure out how much to make me pay for my plate without it. At least I learned from this experience, and when I imported my Alto Works, it was a single-trip process.
The second one was a 2014 Fiesta that had a lien on the title, and I had no proof that it was released. Based on my only other lien experience, where my proof was a piece of paper that was clearly a copy, maybe even a fake, lien release, and they took it no problem. This time, they wouldn’t do anything without one, which led to a multi-week ordeal of calling Captial One and getting them to fax the paperwork to the SoS, which never actually happened, so after 3 or 4 useless visits, I just had them mail me the release, and that worked.
Why did I buy something with a lien with no proof of release to begin with? The loan had been taken out 6 or 7 years earlier, for such a small sum that there was no way it wasn’t paid off. Still a little risky, but it was a sub-$3000 car, too.
When I bought my truck from Oregon, the title wasn’t in the name if the seller, they wrote in the back where there are lines for seller/buyer NC dmv wouldn’t accept it because they said the seller needs to be the name on the front, basically to prevent flipping cars without paying taxes or something. Like this is from out of state, it shouldn’t matter! Thankfully the seller was understanding and got it redone but just stupid bs like that, a million stupid bs things like that is why the dmv needs to be redone.
I came close once, but my “frequent flier miles” paid off as I happened to draw the window with the long time employee who recognized me from frequent visits and she just “forced it through” somehow.
I had purchased a car from my state’s online auctions. When reviewing the records I did notice and entry where it had the “confidential plates” removed and standard state owned registration issued.
It’s first vocation was as a deep under cover car for the DOC or Department of Corrections. That was why it was initially registered with the confidential plate. A confidential plate is one where the vehicle is registered to a fictitious person at a fictitious address. That way when the police run the plates or a private citizen does an information request no one can find out it is a state owned vehicle.
Well the problem was when its relatively short deep undercover life was over and it went into the pool someone did put the exempt plate on the vehicle but failed to put the new title in the file. When I threw down my credit card to pay for it I didn’t pay that close of attention to the title. I was buying it from the state after all so I didn’t expect any shenanigans.
Well the wife and I get to the license agency and when the lady starts in she gets a strange look on her face and says something to the effect that this is strange. She was being very careful as to what she was saying until I said “well I know it originally had a confidential plate”. That and the fact that she recognized me and I had always treated her nicely (unlike some customers) and she said I’ll just force it through, she completed the paper work, handed me new plates and the title showed up in the mail as normal.
DMV or SOS in Michigan will register everything as long you have a title and insurance, doesnt matter the car runs or not, has rust holes, it no longer exists, etc. My car “totaled”, insurance paid off the car and sent me a check, then the car sent to Copart that I bought back from them for way cheaper, came with a clean title. Not even the insurance said something when I added it back.
Friend of mine ran into some trouble getting title in NC for a RV that was sold at auction in MI. Turns out that even though it was advertised as having a clean title, it in fact had a salvage title, which was only discovered when he was trying to sell it in NC.
My god, do I have an annoying one:
I bought a car on BaT from a dealer in MO. I’m in Denver, CO. No issues, really. The dealer was professional, everything was docusigned, car was shipped to me without a hitch. Title fedexed to me since I paid cash. All smooth until I tried getting the goddamn thing titled in my name.
The car had a CA title and was transferred from the previous owner to Carvana. Then Carvana sold the car to the MO dealer I bought the car from. He transferred the title to me properly, but Carvana cocked up the transfer from the first owner to themselves.
My first trip to the Denver DMV resulted in rejection because the transfer was signed on the wrong line and used the wrong form (thanks Carvana). The Denver DMV is notorious for being hardasses with paperwork. Had to send the title back to the dealer to clear that up. They were, however, happy to give me a temp registration if I paid my sales tax and fees.
Two weeks later I’m back at the DMV and everything seems fine, paperwork is scanned and sent to the State of CO to process the title, which was a little odd because only 6 months prior I had done the same process and they printed out my CO title on the spot Welp, the state sends a letter a month later (they claim, but I never received it) denying the title because it needed another signature.
I finally unravel why I haven’t received my title in the mail, go back to the DMV (which incidentally had to be the same DMV who originally processed my title work) and they are all confused. Finally find the hardcopy of my paperwork in their archives, see it needs one more signature, then scan it again and send back to the state.
2 months go by, no title in the mail. I finally follow up again and the state has rejected the title paperwork for no apparent reason. Go back to the DMV a fourth time now. They see nothing wrong and just literally re-upload the files to the state, saying this happens sometimes and they have to just bury them in new paperwork to get the thing unstuck.
I finally have my title. The last visit to the DMV worked, but it took literally 6 months to get a clean title in my name on what was a cash transaction and through no fault of my own.
1989 Honda VFR400R NC30 in NY State. In the end this was a success story that started out with sorting the insurance,,, Progressive’s computers apparently couldn’t handle anything but a standard 17-digit VIN number (the bike has an 11 digit Japanese frame number). I filled out a form for an online quote from Geico and within an hour I got a phone call expecting to have the same conversation. The rep pointed out that the VIN was incomplete, but immediately accepted my explanation, so that was a pleasant surprise. It had an Utah title when I purchased it so I foolishly thought that with all the standard documentation in hand that all the major hurdles had been overcome. My wife made one trip to the DMV while I was out of town, but was in no position to explain a discrepancies and they turned her away. The next time I went with copies of the information section of the service manual that showed the location and description of the frame number, some import documentation from the seller and some historical information that the model was never produced in the US so the VIN had not in fact been defaced or anything. After speaking with several confused DMV employees and at least one supervisor they told me they could take all the documentation and send it to the one person in Albany who apparently has a preternatural ability to divine foreign VIN numbers and wait. To my surprise, without any further contact in only a couple weeks a NYS title and registration arrived in the mail. I also tell people now that I think Geico will insure anything, basically no questions asked..
My only issue has been a buyer of one of my cars having trouble registering it. It was because our DMV (or SOS as it is in Michigan), wouldn’t just accept the bank signing off on the release of lien line on the title. They made me get a letter too. It had been paid off for like 5 years, so it was a bit of a hassle for me and my buyer.
Other odd DMV experiences for me include:
Michigan is also nice enough to sell all your info nearly instantly to every shady extended warranty company. Every time I register a car I start getting junk mail about it before I even get the title sent out to me.
I’ve learned it’s not about the paperwork, but the location, in many instances.
The Waukegan DMV (Secretary of State in Illinois terms) has repeatedly rejected me for minor issues, including once on a potential discrepancy in mileage in the ones place of the mileage. At most it could have impacted the miles by less than 10. All because an 8 could have been a 3, or vice versa. In that case, I had to get the seller to fill out an additional form confirming mileage was as written.
Went to the Lake Zurich DMV and they processed the paperwork without a hitch, without needing that extra form I had the poor remote seller have to print, sign and scan for me.
I’ve since learned the joys of going to the Woodstock DMV instead and have been in and out quickly. My RealID license renewal took me minutes… minutes!
I’ve had excellent luck with Woodstock! They’re happy to register anything I bring in. The one time they didn’t is with this VW, so you have an idea of how jacked up its title was.
I recently bought a one ton truck from out of state. The dealer did the paperwork, but still waiting on plates. I’m 100% convinced the paperwork wasn’t done right as the registration values didn’t line up so I’m anticipating a fight at the DMV at some point. Woodstock is where I’ll be aiming to go!
I wish I knew now what I knew when we first moved here… I had SOOOO many failed trips to Waukegan trying to register our leased cars. Every time with another new form to fill out…
With my Marea, I didn’t even try going to the local DMV satellite office or the main DMV. I just emailed the state department of transportation and explained I was importing a UK car, had all of the documents in line, did a little backflip ahead of time to make the VIN inspection work, and set up a meeting at their office to hand over the paperwork. We don’t have inspections or emissions here so that wasn’t a worry either. But, the big caveat is this all hinged on “knowing a guy.” The car is perfectly legal to import, being a ’99, but this would have been waaaay more of a hassle and I would have been turned away if I tried to go through the normal channels.
Moved to NC and brought along a 95 Neon SCR? Title and release from a previous marriage. Became a hairball, but clerk said if I deleted my ex’s name from the document, she could except it. Walked across the street to a copy place. White out her name and made a copy. Clerk then excepted it. Never figured that out…
I’ve twice been turned away on title transfer and registration, both times coincidentally on Jeeps. They were both over a decade old at the time of purchase, but the titles the seller had still indicated that their was a lien on the vehicle, even thought that clearly is preposterous. The first one was a local bank and I Was able to walk into a branch and get a release of lien letter in ten minutes; the second was a national bank that had been sold off and rebranded several times, and it took the seller almost two months to sort the mess out, fortunately they were friends and it had a plate and registration already on it, so I wasn’t stuck with a driveway ornament.
No car issue, but I bought back my ’02 WRX from the friend I sold it to, and tried to reuse the plate it had before. Ohio said sorry it’s been more than a year since registered, so you’re stuck with the ugly new plate that everyone hates.
I was glad I got to transfer the plate from my BRZ when I bought the GR-C.
Around here in NE Ohio (though probably also most places in the US) you have to shop around to find a good DMV when registering an imported vehicle. Registering my Crown was relatively painless and took maybe an hour, registering my Suzuki Carry took multiple trips to 3 different branches until I found someone who would accept my documents. There is zero standardization, it’s completely up to who’s working the counter when you arrive.
Only something that ended up not passing emissions.
You all need a better DMV. I can set an appointment online, show up at the designated time at a nice, new, well ventilated building with lots of windows that have a nice view. Much of the time my ass doesn’t even get to the chair before my number is called.
In and out is less than 15 minutes.
That is very location dependent in my state, and when I’ve been able to do that it’s been a breeze.
Where is this nirvana, may I ask? Because Denver DMVs all suck ass very very hard.
Just next door in Utah.
I was trying to get new tags for a car that had been parked a long time, so the previous tags were very expired. No change in title, just a car that had been garaged at mom and dad’s for too long. Because Denver now wants nearly everything done at a kiosk in the grocery store (they’re great for non-problem tags, but not for oddball cases), and no longer takes appointments for tag renewals, it took me visits to three different DMV locations only to find out that I needed to call somebody at an unpublished number within the DMV to find out how much I needed to pay, then drop an envelope with my paperwork and a check into a box at the local DMV branch (Five Points’ DMV isn’t bad, actually), and wait. I then received my tags in the mail a few days later.
As a counterpoint, when my partner’s renewal card for her tags showed up in the mail, I used one of the kiosks at the grocery store to renew her tag. Five minutes with the machine and one credit card charge later, I had a freshly printed tag and registration document for her.
The moral of this story? Try not to be an edge case.
In the dozen (or two) vehicles I’ve registered I’ve had two where DMV rejected me.
The first was a 70s Honda CB125. When I bought it the husband signed the title over but – oops – it turns out his wife was the person on it. They were moving out of state (military) right after I got it for cheap (because they were moving…) and by the time DMV rejected me they were in Texas already. Called the seller, however, and we sorted it out through the mail without worry.
The second was much more annoying. My dad passed last September and left my sister an I his excellent Honda Ridgeline. It fell on me to get the title transferred (he owned it outright) and in the stress of the moment I gave them a significantly lower mileage than it had. CRAP. Next day I caught the error and went back only to be told that it couldn’t be changed at the window and instead had to go to the mysterious Title Department “Upstairs” if I could provide multiple inspections, each showing the mileage. Keep in mind this was a relatively new truck…
We needed to sell the truck which required fixing the title and nothing – and I mean nothing – worked. I gave them all the requested documentation at different DMVs, begging and pleading my case. The workers at the window had never come across the problem so took an hour each time before a manager rejected me out to the curb. Failure.
In the end a potential buyer found me and I told them the situation. They were game so we dutifully went to DMV for punishment. This time, however, the clerk simply glanced at the signed title and bill of sale (with the correct mileage on it, took his check, and issued the new title with the correct miles. So simple after being so hard!
The DMV has never approved a single registration for me, since I’m physically located in another country.
Thus, I have a 100% success rate with DMV registration failure.
I’ve never had any issues at Service Ontario. Well once I didn’t have all the pages of the safety with me but a trip to my car and problems solved within 2 minutes.
All of my problems with Service Ontario revolve around their insistence on getting a fucking appraisal for ANY car 25 years or older.
For the last few years the State of Washington has required a written appraisal from a licensed dealer for any vehicle that’s not in their standard reference guides. Since that policy went into effect none of my purchases have been in their standard reference guides.
Not having the time, space or energy for a project pays off I guess.
The SAAQ in Quebec is even worse. I swear it takes an act of Parliament AND Buckingham Palace to get anything registered there. Thank the Almighty Borg I moved out of there and to ON when I had a chance.
The big asterisk being so long as a car never goes unplated, you can just transfer it from owner to owner indefinitely
Also, it’s hilarious to think of QC respecting ANYTHING from Parliament.
Exactly. It’s impossible lol!
Not a car, but I bought a camper in a state that doesn’t issue titles for trailers under 2,000 lbs, and their registration cards dont have any spot for the buyer and seller to write in transaction details and sign.
It took me three trips to the DMV to get it titled. The first two times, the clerk pulled out the big reference book of different state regulations, read the part that applied to my case, but somehow misinterpreted it to mean that my trailer required a title, from a state that explicitly doesnt issue them, and that there was nothing they could do. Two different clerks, same roadblock, both consulted with managers, no dice. There was some either/or language in there that referenced commercial use trailers with multiple axles that could be titled under certain circumstances, which didn’t apply to my camper, but which they felt did.
Eventually, I went to a different, smaller DMV office, instead of their headquarters, got a really young clerk who looked like he was right out of high school. He checked the reference manual, read the rule on trailer titles, and processed my paperwork right away, I walked out with a title, registration card, and license plate in about 10 minutes. Should have just gone to that office in the first place
Just to confirm I wasn’t missing anything, after the second attempt, I had called the DMV in the state I bought it from, and the lady on the phone was very nice – she said her husband has a business selling used cars and trailers on the side and had run into that exact same issue with out of state buyers, she mentioned that the state has a recommended bill of sale template on their website that would have been helpful had I known about it, apparently they formatted it to look more like an official document so other states would be more likely to accept it in lieu of a title and signed transferrable registration card
Over the years I have learned if the transaction is not the most basic, I will probably have a significantly better outcome by heading straight to the smallest, most rural DMV office I can find.
I’ve purchased two lightweight trailers that were previously registered in states that never issued titles for them. The first wasn’t a problem but the second, a 1973 Cycle Burro, also didn’t have, and from what I can tell never had, a serial number. This required a trip to the State Patrol for inspection followed by the assignment of a state-issued VIN.
We are really bad with trailer VINs, if it doesnt have one, or its illegible, there’s absolutely no way to ever make it legal. You can dismantle it for parts and swap them onto another trailer’s frame or tongue that has a VIN plate/decal, or sell it out of state, those are the only two options. I had to walk away from a deal one time where the frame had been repainted and the VIN sticker had been completely covered up, was not going to get involved in that mess
That sounds like it might have been a problem for my first no-title trailer. It had been homemade in a different state in 1989 and that state had issued it a serial number (of a nonstandard format, despite being new enough to fall within the VIN era) which was on the registration but which I couldn’t find on the trailer itself. Fortunately Washington let me title and register it without requiring a State Patrol inspection. Months later I was working on it and found that the serial number had been stamped on the frame in an awkward spot with what looked to have been hand punches, then painted over. The characters were just barely visible through the paint and I don’t know that I would have found them via a normal search.
I hate the California DMV. More than once, after getting shot down by one DMV officer – it was resolved simply by trying another office or coming back another day to the same damn office and trying again with someone else.
Maddening how one would tell me “you need to go get this form signed by the previous owner”, spending a bunch of time to get it done and coming back a week later to hearing “why did you do this – you don’t need this at all…” from another employee.
I bought a project bike for $500. An unsupervised teenager with a set of wrenches had had his way with it and it wasn’t anywhere near running or rideable yet but I wanted proof I owned it so I went downtown to the tax office to get the title transferred.
First, they set the registration value based on bluebook value for the bike which was $2500 and didn’t reflect the basketcase condition of my bike.
Second, they insisted that I have a current inspection sticker before they would register it. This thing had no blinkers, no lights, no horns, no brakes, cut wires all over the place, and a freaking lampcord running from a Yamaha ignition switch to the Honda coils and CDI. It wasn’t about to pass any inspections. I tried insisting that it’s a project and I just need a title and they refused. I asked for a supervisor and she agreed, no title for me.
So I went home with no reg and no title and started undoing the damage and scouring eBay and the local junk yards for parts to get it back on the road. A year later I went back to the tax office to register it and they told me I should have reged it when I bought it!!! The freaking government man, I swear.
Oh, I ran into something like that with a rust bucket ’61 Rambler, was told they wouldnt even title it – not register it, just title it – without a valid inspection. Just seemed like a really weird system to me, since plenty of people have non-operable cars stashed in barns that are titled in their name, but dont have valid registrations for the road, title and registration seem like two totally separate things, I get why the latter requires an inspection, but dont understand why the former should.
Anyway, one ball joint and some brake lines later, I was somehow able to miraculously slide the thing through a successful inspection, allowing me to get it in my name so I could cut my losses and dump it as quickly as possible, biggest mistake of a car I’ve ever bought
So my state (NC) wouldn’t title my 69 Mustang (bought from my great uncle in FL) until they did a personal inspection on it, which was mainly then checking the VIN in a couple of locations to make sure it’s OK. Lady came to my house and was really nice, and excited to see the car even, took some pics for the records.
But while she was there…I was also working on a Jeep (76-CJ-7) I’d been the owner of for 20 years. I started a project to put some 3 point belts in it and discovered the entire back end of the tub was rusted out. So I found a fiberglass body for it and started the swap. When I took the old tub off, I discovered the frame had a different VIN than the body – and the title I had was for the body (which was getting scrapped.) So I asked her what to do about the situation. Turns out I needed to get a bonded title for the frame, and then since I was sticking on a fiberglass body it was becoming a Jeep replica so I got a state issued VIN and VIN sticker for the frame, and the title was stamped as a non-operating vehicle.
I got side tracked with a house purchase, but recently started working on it, it’s running now and I’m fixing various minor things but it no longer has the fiberglass body as I found a Wrangler body that required a lot less work to make fit. I do have the title to the steel body, but it’s going to be interesting to see what happens and what hoops I’m going to have to jump through. Will it stay a Jeep replica, or will it become a 92 Wrangler sitting in a CJ frame?
Yeah, I think it’s that “we’re always right even when we’re wrong” effect where a frazzled/grumpy clerk makes a snap declaration based on a misunderstanding and just wants to move on to the next customer, and the supervisor feels they have to back them up no matter what.
Hence the “try another location or another day” approach.
Michigan calls it the Secretary of State, which is stupid.
Illinois does too.
My bus.
Because the peoples republic of Texas deleted their registration manual mid-2020 without a replacement or guidance. Each county tax assessor made their own decisions on how to register and my county refused to register any vehicle they considered modified, and wouldn’t register it as a bus because the paperwork had already been submitted to change its vehicle type to a motorhome. I ended up having to go to the state dmv headquarters in Austin to get guidance directed to the county tax assessor and then registered. It was a nightmare.
But I did get to declare my own GVWR, so that worked out.