In a pickle need advice relating to vin and title

jfar5

I recently purchased a 181 thing.
I bought it from a good guy who was very open and transparent. Met him at his house, picked up the car from his office, have all of his info.
With that said I went to the DMV to register the vehicle only to realize the VIN on Title did not match the VIN or Chassis No. on car.
His title is from Arizona, I am trying to register it in California. Before him, the previous owner had the car registered in California, and that showed up in the DMV system.
The dmv said I have to go to California Highway Patrol in order to get this cleared up.
What are my options and has anyone had this issue beofore?
Did I get duped? In other words am I screwed. All advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm a bit nervous and also sad because the car is beautiful and runs great. I thought I would be dealing with different issues relating to an old car, not something like this.
Thanks

additionally the numbers under the hood and on chasis under rear seats match... Question

[email protected] · Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 11:51 pm Post subject:

Wonder if it is stolen? I would think the DMV would have been much more aggressive at acquiring the car from you if the car had shown up as stolen.

How about contact the Highway Patrol as suggested. The sooner the better so you don't spend a lot of effort worrying about all the what-ifs.

Semper_Dad · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 6:48 am Post subject:

Are the numbers way out in left field or just some transposed numbers? Does title match either body or chassis numbers?
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Wildthings · Samba Member Joined: March 13, 2005 Posts: 50337

Semper_Dad · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:58 am Post subject:

Sometimes (especially during transfers), numbers get transposed or entered wrong. Mostly human error. An "8" becomes a "6", or a "3" ect, "W"s become "V V" there's a whole lot that can go wrong.

Should be all easy to straighten out just as long as body and chassis numbers jibe.
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63ziggy · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:15 am Post subject:

rip the band-aid off

go to proper authorities to get cleared.

you will anguish over it until then.

I went through situation not quite same. bought vehicle with out of state title. local courthouse made me go back to seller and get them to transfer to state of Tx then to me. not real scary except it had been a couple years since I bought and was road worthy and ready to title. worked out ok. paid seller for his troubles though. next time, i will do it right then.

keep us posted

GI Joe · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:36 pm Post subject:

Contact the PO... Maybe he grabbed the wrong title when ya'll did the deal.?? Long shot, but get his take on the situation...❓

Always a kick in the pants to feel so good about a deal/seller, and then hit a snag like this.....

Good advice on "how far off" are the numbers....

Good luck... Wink

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Captain Spalding · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 11:21 pm Post subject:

The same thing happened to me. My car was from Minnesota and the numbers on the title didn't match the VIN, and CA DMV gave me grief. I called the Motor Vehicle Dept. in Minnesota and they sent me a revised title in a few days. I know, living in California, that the idea of calling the DMV is counter intuitive, but not all motor vehicle departments are as lame as ours. When I called Minnesota someone answered the phone in a couple of rings, and the same person that answered the phone took care of my problem.

Here's something else to consider. The VIN appears in three places on the Thing. On a placard under the hood, on top of the tunnel under the rear seat, and on a sticker on the inside pillar between the doors on the driver's side. (Sometimes this is removed during repainting. If it's only been painted over, it may still be legible.) It could be that the body was put on a different pan, so compare the VIN at all three locations to the title.

Finally, it's so much nicer to take care of these things at AAA than at the DMV.

jfar5 · Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:40 am Post subject: thanks

thanks for all the advice.
I'm going to try and see if Arizona will revise the title to reflect what is actually on the car.
I think it will be sorted out one way or another.

Shoyrtt · Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 11:18 am Post subject:

The CA DMV has law enforcement officers/investigators at all of their field offices. If you bring a stolen vehicle, the car doesn't leave. If you bring in a bill of sale for a stolen vehicle, they immediately take action.

25 years ago, my dad bought my brother a Honda scooter at the swap meet. The seller used the DMV forms for a lost title and the bill of sale. Dad was busy, so he asked me to go to the DMV to register it. I only brought the paperwork in, not the scooter. As soon as the vin came back, the clerk said to me "just a moment" and 30 seconds later these two investigators took me into a back room. They heard my side of the story and then drove me to the house where a tow truck took the scooter. Luckily they believed me and my dad and we were not arrested.

I had flashbacks of this event in 2013 when I bought a 67, 13 window deluxe (in my avitar) without a title. I took pictures of the seller's CDL, the license plates on her car etc and immediately went to the CA DMV. Luckily, the vin was clean, but the clerk confirmed their policy has not changed. If the vin comes back stolen, they take action right then.


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