Great day for a Blat

[yellowss7]

Just got in from a nice two hour long Blat. Perfect weather, no leaves on the ground, very little traffic and no school buses. I highly recommend taking advantage of this great weather here in the east.

 

Hey EvilRome0, has your new 7 been delivered yet?? Let see some pics, and hear your impression of your first drive. And bring it out to the Autox at ripken next Saturday. Tom

 

 

[xflow7]

Sounds great, and agreed about enjoying the weather.

 

I did a nice blat out to Watkins Glen last Sunday (as in 10 days ago; before I knew about the Lotus trip this past weekend).

 

75 miles out, a nice walk up along the gorge and back down, a couple of laps around the historic GP circuit, dinner down at the lake and 75 miles back. Excellent. :hurray:

[Boxologist]

dave, any luck with the NYDMV?

[xflow7]

I went through the VIN inspection 2 weeks ago which seemed to go pretty smoothly; the inspector informing me that they would be able to use the Ohio-assigned VIN from when it was built. Of course the Ohio-assigned VIN is just the Caterham VIN that Albany told me couldn't be used, but on an Ohio sticker. :crazy:

 

I also finally sent all my pictures, documentation and stuff off to the Technical Services Bureau about a week ago for them to pore over

 

Haven't heard back from either department yet, so not really sure what the status is.

[scannon]

the inspector informing me that they would be able to use the Ohio-assigned VIN from when it was built. Of course the Ohio-assigned VIN is just the Caterham VIN that Albany told me couldn't be used, but on an Ohio sticker. :crazy:

I had a similar experience with the Colorado DMV on my '04 Caterham. They said the Caterham VIN wasn't acceptable, assigned me a Colorado VIN (six digits on a plastic label secured to the front of the pedal box with 2 pop rivets) and then put the original Caterham VIN on the title! The Colorado VIN does not appear on the title or registration. The car is titled as a 2007 CAT.

 

:crazy: for sure.

[slngsht]

I had a similar experience with the Colorado DMV on my '04 Caterham. They said the Caterham VIN wasn't acceptable, assigned me a Colorado VIN (six digits on a plastic label secured to the front of the pedal box with 2 pop rivets) and then put the original Caterham VIN on the title! The Colorado VIN does not appear on the title or registration. The car is titled as a 2007 CAT.

 

:crazy: for sure.

 

heh, your tax dollars at work

[Boxologist]

I went through the VIN inspection 2 weeks ago which seemed to go pretty smoothly; the inspector informing me that they would be able to use the Ohio-assigned VIN from when it was built. Of course the Ohio-assigned VIN is just the Caterham VIN that Albany told me couldn't be used, but on an Ohio sticker. :crazy:

 

I also finally sent all my pictures, documentation and stuff off to the Technical Services Bureau about a week ago for them to pore over

 

Haven't heard back from either department yet, so not really sure what the status is.

 

i nearly went thru the same thing last year. My 7 has the caterham vin witha delaware label. it was fine for massachusetts, so when NY started to rais objection i started a fit, invoke the 9th amendment. eventuallly they accepted the Caterham # in all its forms.

[xflow7]

Breaking News!!!

 

Got a call today from Tech Services saying everything passed for roadworthiness, so I'm covered there. Now it's just a matter of sorting out what's going on with the VIN. They didn't give me any paperwork when I left the VIN inspection since the fellow told me they could use the Ohio VIN, but usually they give you paperwork that gets stamped by Tech Services to let you go register your car.

 

So, without that VIN paperwork things are still kind of in limbo. The guy at tech services is a champ, though, and offered (unsolicited!) to go upstairs and rattle cages among the VIN folks to see what's going on. So, hopefully he'll be able to find out where things stand.

 

Fingers crossed I'm on my way, though. :hurray:

[slngsht]

Breaking News!!!

 

Got a call today from Tech Services saying everything passed for roadworthiness, so I'm covered there. Now it's just a matter of sorting out what's going on with the VIN. They didn't give me any paperwork when I left the VIN inspection since the fellow told me they could use the Ohio VIN, but usually they give you paperwork that gets stamped by Tech Services to let you go register your car.

 

So, without that VIN paperwork things are still kind of in limbo. The guy at tech services is a champ, though, and offered (unsolicited!) to go upstairs and rattle cages among the VIN folks to see what's going on. So, hopefully he'll be able to find out where things stand.

 

Fingers crossed I'm on my way, though. :hurray:

 

congrats mang

[xflow7]

 

i nearly went thru the same thing last year. My 7 has the caterham vin witha delaware label. it was fine for massachusetts, so when NY started to rais objection i started a fit, invoke the 9th amendment. eventuallly they accepted the Caterham # in all its forms.

 

Well, between you and Skip, at least I don't feel alone in enduring arbitrary DMV inconsistencies.

[scannon]

Since it has already been registered under the VIN in another state and they are saying that is acceptable, I'm thinking all you need is a peace officer's verification that the VIN matches the title.

 

Most states have a simple form for that and any peace officer can do it for you. Some states even allow smog inspection stations to do the verification.

 

Keep calling and politely asking if there is a problem or if there is anything you can do to speed along the process. That worked for me. The lady at the county DMV gave me names and numbers of people in the state DMV to call and although it took awhile and a trip to Denver, it finally happened.

 

I think I got off relatively easy. The physical inspection consisded of the highway patrol officer checking the VIN, a very quick look at the car and only asking me to start the engine to see how loud it was. He thought the 3" exhaust system was going to be too loud but said it was no problem. He never looked for DOT logos on the glass or lights (there weren't any) and didn't check the horn or lights or signals.

[xflow7]

For the most part I would have thought that as well. The stumbling block originally seemed to be a discrepancy about whether the existing number was acceptable. There's an additional nuance here, though, which is that one of the outcomes of the VIN inspection process needs to be a formal categorization of my car as a homebuilt/custom. This is what allows me to do state inspection without needing to plug into OBD-II, etc, etc. That normally occurs at the VIN inspection when they assign a NY VIN. However, in my case they didn't end up doing that, so it's unclear how things will proceed. I pressed the inspector about what should I expect to receive and he couldn't really tell me since in my situation they had:

 

- already titled my car with that VIN,

- then determined that they didn't like the number so sent me to VIN inspection,

- then VIN inspection determined it WAS okay so didn't do anything.

 

So, in principle I already have a title with the right VIN on it, but I don't know (and nobody seems to be able to tell me) how the car gets migrated into the Homebuilt category in the DMV's records.

 

This appears to be a case where their system is set up fine to deal with a car built in NY, but is not good at dealing with a properly titled/registered homebuilt coming in from out of state.

 

Since the fellow at Tech Services offered to try to run things down for me, I'll give him a couple of days, then I'll call the title people myself.

 

Your inspection sounds very much like Ohio's. One inspection process to handle VIN and cursory check of the car; no inspection of DOT markings, etc.

 

Here, you need to send in a form with all the markings on it, and what equipment it has and they may or may not demand an inspection of the DOT/safety equipment. In my case they haven't.