Clean It Time

I have a car that was in an accident and declared totaled. It currently does not run, but the damage is minimal. I want to sell the car to someone else for them to repair and re-register. The DMV says I cannot do this without a smog certificate. How do people do this?
oaklatom, thanks for the long answer, but how do people transfer title WITHOUT smoging the car. eg. donating to a charity, selling to a dealer to fixup, etc. There has to be a way…

If it was declared a total loss by the insurance company, they own the car unless you bought it back for salvage value. If you did that, you now have a salvage title on the car. You transfer the title by signing where it says ‘seller’ and getting your signature notarized if the state requires that. As the seller to a California resident, regardless of the condition of the car, you are responsible to supply them with a current smog inspection, which you get by having the car tested at the nearest smog testing station.

Requirements after selling a vehicle.
When selling a California registered vehicle, the registered owner of record must:

Release ownership by signing on line one of the title.
If the vehicle is, or was financed, the lienholder’s name appears in the legal owner section and their release with counter signature is required on line two.
Provide the purchaser with evidence of a valid smog certification, if applicable.
Smog certificates are good for 90 days from the date of inspection. The smog certification is not required if the owner or buyer signs a statement that smog certification was submitted with renewal fees within 90 days prior to the transfer date (a vehicle inspection report may be required for proof of certification).

Recent legislation changed the requirements for vehicle transfers occurring on or after January 1, 2005. When you transfer a vehicle that is four or less model years old a smog certification will not be required. A smog transfer fee will be collected from the new owner. When a vehicle is more than four model years old, evidence of a current smog certification must be provided by a seller except when the following occurs:
The transfer occurs between a spouse, domestic partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, or grandchild.
A biennial smog certification was submitted to DMV within 90 days prior to the vehicle transfer date (a vehicle inspection report may be required for proof of certification).
Provide the odometer mileage if the vehicle is less than 10 years old (Vehicle/Vessel Transfer and Reassignment Form, REG 262). If the title does not have a designated space for this information, a REG 262 reporting the odometer mileage must be signed by both the seller and buyer. The REG 262 cannot be copied. An original must be submitted. To obtain a form by mail, call DMV’s automated phone service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-777-0133. To speak to an operator call between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday – Friday, Pacific Standard Time, or pick one up from your local DMV.
Protect Your Liability. Complete a Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability. The seller is responsible for reporting the change of ownership to DMV within 5 days from the date of sale. After DMV updates the information from the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability, you will be cleared from future liability on the vehicle. The purchaser is responsible for reporting the change of ownership to DMV within 10 days from the date of purchase.

My M reg granada was recently written off because of a dent in the wing and a crack in the bumper, thanks to an idiot reversing into me at a junction….. I retained the salvage and was wondering what I have to do to get it back on the road?
p.s, it was a cat D write off for uneconomical repair, nothing dangerous.

If the salvage is owned by you (i.e not the insurance company) then all you have to do is get the damage repaired – a dent in the wing and a cracked bumper is not a big job for a garage (chassis damage would be an instant write off). Firstly register your car as ‘off the road’ i.e you do not have to pay the car tax, secondly recover any remaining car tax on the car (contact the DVLA – information about doing this is on the back of the disc), thirdly park your car off road or at the garage that will be doing the repairs. Personally I wouldn’t bother with the wing damage unless it has affected the electrics. Then get the garage that has done the repairs to give the car an MOT, contact the DVLA with the MOT certificate and they will either (usually the case) re-issue your registration or issue another one. Re-tax the car (main post offices can supply a form to do this). And last, but not least, pursue the prat that damaged your car. Many insurance companies give DAS as standard on their policies and they will do most of the work for you. Hope this helps – a git hit my car and drove off (I was fully comprehensive and DAS sorted the majority out but I still lost a lot of my no claims discount). Good luck !

I am buying a vehicle in Florida from a private seller that is 2 hours away. When I get there, it will be too late in the day to register the vehicle and get a tag and I don’t want to get a ticket or any other trouble for it. I already added it to my insurance. I will be registering the vehicle the very next day.

So I guess my real question is, will I be okay driving it for one day without a tag and not getting a ticket if the police pull me over? Thanks all!

It really depends on the officer, if you happen to get pulled over. But, I personally wouldn’t worry about it. I would just make sure you take any supporting documents along with you. For instance, the title for the vehicle with a signature and date of transfer. You say you have contacted your insurance company, so if neccesary he/she can verify that as well.

Since you’ll now be a proud owner of a "new" car, a good place to know about is: http://www.autorepairinflorida.com/Category/Auto-Repair/ Although, hopefully you won’t have any car troubles for some time to come!

Congrats on your car!

The other party accepted full liability for the accident, as she pulled out of junction slamming in to passenger side of car. The car cost £500 to buy. We have never been involved in an accident before so we are stumbling around in the dark as to what to expect from her insurance company.

you will get the auction price not much.DON’T ACCEPT THE FIRST OFFER. tell them it is not enough.

So I did a lil research and there are alot of things to do when buying a salvaged bike, to ride legally on the streets of california. I will be buying a r6 in the near future and might buy a salvaged bike and i was wondering how much of a struggle do i have to go through to legalize, to ride the bike after i bought it?

any past experiences or similar ones?

DO you know what you are doing? if you do not know how much repair that bike needs, or you do not have a machine shop and a shop full of tools, and everything from a frame jig to a welder, to spare parts, you can easily pay more for fixing it than you could have bought a good running bike that has a straight frame. Salvage bikes are no deal for the uninitiated, You need to know exactly what you are doing before buying, and there have been several horror stories in terms of people who buy salvage and cannot get the paperwork ligit. meanwhile the bike has been totaled by an insurance company for ever. Do you know what this means? it means that if you put 10 grand into it, and some old man runs you over, the insurance will not pay full price for a salvage rebuild, you may get 25 percent of value, if you are lucky. good luck,personally, I would not bet my life on a salvage bike being sound, unless I took it apart and checked every weld on that bike for cracks, I do not want a half cracked weld to come the rest of the way apart at 90 mph on the freeway someday.

what if after a few yrs able to get car repaired, can it be reposessed, at the time finance co stated they didn’t want the car back because it was wrecked, lost my job and have lots of unpaid med bills
the finance co never mailed salvage title and my tags have expired, have moved to another state and need to register the car and get new tags. what r my options. i am really nervous as this is my only transportation.

If the finance company didn’t want the car back & your insurance didn’t take the vehicle either- then your finance company should have had the title transferred over to a salvage title & mailed it to you since both agencies are allowing you to keep the totaled vehicle. Then the car would then legally be yours- your insurance company (or the insurance company of the person that hit you) should have paid off the fiance company & there is most likely no longer a lien on the car.

Vehicles with salvage titles can be repaired & made road legal again, but the process to jump through all of the hoops and red tape to get the salvage title cleared is a huge mountain of frustration & pain in the rear.