Back Registration Fees?
 

This is something I've always been curious about. What exactly happens when you purchase a car that has expired tags, not been renewed for quite some time, and never been registered inoperable?

I'm wondering in reference to California specifically - say someone has a car in their barn that was last registered in 1994. When you go to get it registered in your name, are you responsible for the back registration / fees / etc?

not as long as the car hasn't been driven without those tags (they take your word for it). You fill out a non-op slip, there may be a slight penalty, but I've been through this several times and never had a problem or huge amount of money to handle it. Also did not have to pay for yearly registrations while it was sitting. The problem comes if the guy had driven it and had any tickets, etc. and you try to say it was not operated........... :yes:

I have heard that after X amount of years, the car is out of the system and the fees are all clear ???????????

I ran into the same issue with my white '69 Camaro. The car had not been registered since 2000. There is a form that DMV carries that the seller would have to fill out stating that the time that the car's tags were expired it was not on a public roadway due to it not running for so and so reason.

and i'll add that the vehicle drops out after 5 years, you will have to get it verified either by DMV or a peace officer.
As long as you have the vehicle title, bill of sale and release of liability you should be ok.

You will need this form.
http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg31.pdf

From my experience it is easier to register a car that is out of the system then to register a currently registered car from out of state. That out of the system deal is funny, if it goes out of the system tomorrow and you call today to see if the vin is clear, it starts the waiting period over again.

actually I believe all of those laws changed Jan 1 of this year. My friends that restore old Mustangs bought one that hadn't been registered in like 18 years and found out the hard way they apparently assess fees back for 10 years now and you have to pay them.

I just bought a 66 Nova out there from a guy that bought it earlier this year and it had sat in a body shop for 12 years. I have the registration paperwork that shows he paid fees for 10 years and they set the date from Jan 2 2003 to Jan 2 2013, I am guessing that is because Jan 1 is a holiday ;) I bought the car and just had to pay transfer of title since he already dealt with that issue.

I think your best bet is to call the DMV and ask someone directly to be sure, but I have two data points that show it is 10 yrs back fees now, in both cases cars that sat non-op the whole time. I do NOT know however if either party made that clear or had some sort of signed paperwork as others have suggested, just know what they dealt with in terms of fees to register the vehicle when they transferred it.

I think a lot of this may vary from state to state. From what I've experienced in KS they only go by the sale date on the title or bill of sale. If you title it right away there are no fees or penalties to what the previous owner did with it. If you date the title then wait 10 years to title it they can go back 3 years and charge you for back taxes on it. They're pretty relaxed about it here. I think we're one of the few states you can still get an antique title with a bill of sale and a 50 state VIN search.

Vince is correct, except the vehicle drops out of the system after 4 years. You will need a vin verification completed and hopefully you have a title or it becomes even more of a pain in the ass. However, as someone else posted it is possible the laws have changed this year. The link Vince provided is the correct VIN verification form. Here is a link with some info you are looking for.

http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/howto/htvr14.htm

California overhead
 

Is living in California "worth" living in California??:rolleyes: