Croc

Hi Kiwi - Being located in Christchurch you have some of most magnificent roads and scenery to enjoy with this car. I had a blast touring around when I lived in NZ many years ago. My favorite road has to be the one from Te Anau to Milford Sound. Also you can stop quickly to avoid the sheep on the road

I passed NJ inspection yesterday - I am now road legal :hurray: More importantly I had the chance to spend time with the inspector hitting him with questions on how the registration process works in NJ for Sevens. I have reworked my earlier post to show the process from start to finish in case there are other NJers like me out there. I have talked with 2 other guys by phone from this site who are working through the NJ process and there may be others out there. I figure there is some benefit to someone out there from writing this down for posterity. Sorry in advance this post is so long. The process I am following right now works on the assumption you have a titled car in another state and you have bought it out of state and then re-title it in New Jersey. This also assumes it is assembled, registered and inspected in that state before bringing it to NJ: Title Gather together the following documents: (a) Form SS-7 "Application for Certificate of Ownership" (b) pencil trace of the VIN © picture of the vehicle (d) picture of the VIN plate (e) out of state title documents that have been signed over by the seller to you (the buyer) (f) bill of sale - what was bought, price paid, the seller (name & address), odometer reading, sign ed by the seller Once you have all this together you can send it to the address on the SS-7 (and wait several weeks) or turn up at the office in Trenton - no appointment needed. I went in since my VIN plate was not the same as the original title (number transposed). Office address is 225 East State Street, Trention NJ, hours M-F 8.30 to 3.30. Once there I had a discussion with the guys whether it was a classic vehicle or under the "special vehicles" category (reconstructed vehicles, dune buggies, kit cars, etc). I was not eligible for the classic designation because my car was less than 25 years old and it had been titled as a 2004 Caterham in the previous state. If the car has been titled as a 1968 Lotus Seven Replica in the previous state then NJ would have given it classic status on the title. The lesson here is check the title from an out of state car before you buy it. They also have a collector vehicle status which came in Sept 1, 2007. This allows vehicles less than 25 years to get a sort of classic designation and bypass the biannual inspection requirement. Like the classic designation you are limited to 3000miles per year. However, the law says that the vehicle cannot be a kit or a replica or be identified as a reconstructed vehicle which was a problem for me. I attached the MVC fact sheet for this category. It may be worth exploring for someone - I confirmed yesterday that some Cobra replicas are using this category. The third category Sevens fall under is Reconstructed vehicles and kit cars. This is where I ended up because thats how the previous title was interpreted by NJ NVC. Biannual inspections and no mileage limit are the features of this category. Once MVC have worked out your title category then they do paperwork, you pay 8% sales tax and get your title and move on. Registration With the title you head off to another window and complete form BA-49 New Jersey Registration Application. Get the check book out since there is a another fee here ($20 from memory). You show your new title, NJ license, proof of ID/residency, proof of NJ insurance and they register your car and give you plates and a pink temporary inspection sticker. With this you are on the road. Again this is a quick process. Inspection This is the "fun" bit. Within 2 weeks of getting the registration you need to get an inspection done. Because a Seven is not a normal car you have to go through one of 3 speciality inspection sites. They are by appointment only. This inspection is not the type of safety inspection that newly built Sevens without a previous state title have to go through but it was still pretty rigorous (and frustrating). For clarity - a newly built Seven being titled for the first time is required to go through the rigorous safety inspection b

This was one of the cars I checked out in person late last year when I was travelling around the US (FL, TX and IL) looking at cars. I thought it was a very clean car in nice condition. As an added bonus I found the owner a really nice guy to chat with. Echoing the comments above, at the new lower price I think this is great value - even better than when I looked at it. Only reason I did not end up buying it was I had 2 other cars to choose from with similar prices and competitive specs. It took quite a few beers to chew it over with my buddies to choose which one. It is a great time to be out there shopping for a car - some very nice ones to choose from.

The process I am following right now works on the assumption you have a titled car in another state and you have bought it out of state and then re-title it in New Jersey. This also assumes it is assembled, registered and inspected in that state before bringing it to NJ: Title Gather together the following documents: (a) Form SS-7 "Application for Certificate of Ownership" (b) pencil trace of the VIN © picture of the vehicle (d) picture of the VIN plate (e) out of state title documents that have been signed over by the seller to you (the buyer) (f) bill of sale - what was bought, price paid, the seller (name & address), odometer reading, sign ed by the seller Once you have all this together you can send it to the address on the SS-7 (and wait several weeks) or turn up at the office in Trenton - no appointment needed. I went in since my VIN plate was not the same as the original title (number transposed). Office address is 225 East State Street, Trention NJ, hours M-F 8.30 to 3.30. Once there I had a discussion with the guys whether it was a classic vehicle or under the "special vehicles" category (reconstructed vehicles, dune buggies, kit cars, etc). I was not eligible for the classic designation because my car was less than 25 years old and anyway they were planning to phase out that designation in 2009. That sounds like a looming problem for some classic-titled owners because then you have to do a full inspection. It took only 15 minutes to get a nice shiny new title....oh and pay the NJ sales tax for used vehicles....$1800 later....ouch. The guys at the MVC office were petrolheads - really good to deal with. During the course of chatting they did say that a new seven without a title already from another state is not eligible for classic collector vehicle status and has to be titled as a special vehicle since it will be less than 25 years old. There are real advantages to getting collector status since it bypasses the inspection ordeal. Registration With the title you head off to another window and complete form BA-49 New Jersey Registration Application. Get the check book out since there is a another fee here ($20 from memory). You show your new title, NJ license, proof of ID/residency, proof of NJ insurance and they register your car. With this you are on the road. Again this is a quick process. Inspection This is the "fun" bit. Within 2 weeks of getting the registration you need to get an inspection done. Because a Seven is not a normal car you have to go through one of 3 (or 4?) speciality inspection sites. They are by appointment only. I am in the middle of this process and to be honest I think I would prefer a colonoscopy. This inspection is required every 2 years although the first time is obviously the worst. I was unable to get an appointment within the 2 weeks as they were busy.....car is not allowed to be driven at that 2 week point and your insurance policy is technically invalid until you get your inspection. Sigh. The inspection does an OBD test for emissions and if the car does not have the OBD hookup then they put a sensor up your tailpipe. Personally I think that would be easier since the OBD readout not surprisingly shows faults in my car (e.g. my Zetec was originally an automatic with air con so thats 2 of my readout errors there I think....). From reading the helpful past posts of Al Navarro on this site plus my own practical lessons (phone calls, reading the inspection regs, getting slapped around by the MVC, etc.) the key problem areas for Sevens in passing inspection are: - NJ does not like aeroscreens or brooklands screens - real windscreen please with the DOT logo imprinted on the glass. - high mounted brake light needed - fuel tank needs shielding - they are not a fan of bare aluminium sadly - exhaust needs heat shielding for the full length where it is outside and able to be touched by kids, dogs, etc. - a new gear knob is needed to show the gear shift pattern I had a copy of the inspection regs and found that very helpful

Hi Jen - I am currently going through the process on a 2004 Caterham bought out of state. Titling was a dream (about 15 mins) in the MVC once I had the right documents (which is key!). I got it titled as a 2004 Caterham without an issue. Registering.....well.....the inspection process is driving me slightly nuts but I can finally see a way through that. If you are interested I have the inspection regs I can get scanned and email to you. Reading them you can get an idea what is likely to cause problems on your car. Strangely I am having most hassle with insurance.... I am happy to share experiences if you want to know more. cheers mike