Title issue, year missing.

[Martin]

So the fun begins, I went to register my newly purchased 2003 Caterham here in Georgia and I realized something quite odd. I do not have a year registered to my title and make is listed as “SP CONSTR”. So I am told by the DMV that I will need to be filing for a rebuilt/salvage title.

My title is from Pennsylvania, not sure that they ever leave the year off of anything, I am assuming it was an error and SP CONSTR seems understandable if they don’t have Caterham in their database and they can’t enter a custom field in the system.

Does anyone here have a “salvage” title for their perfectly working, never totaled, Seven? How common is that and is that going to hurt the value of the car one day? Last question, anyone ever seen a title without a year?

[xcarguy]

My first thought is to contact PA DMV and see if they can assist with the missing year; maybe a replacement title with the year which can then be used in GA? Previous owner also may be of assistance . . . Just a thought.

[mrmustang]

So the fun begins, I went to register my newly purchased 2003 Caterham here in Georgia and I realized something quite odd. I do not have a year registered to my title and make is listed as “SP CONSTR”. So I am told by the DMV that I will need to be filing for a rebuilt/salvage title.

My title is from Pennsylvania, not sure that they ever leave the year off of anything, I am assuming it was an error and SP CONSTR seems understandable if they don’t have Caterham in their database and they can’t enter a custom field in the system.

Does anyone here have a “salvage” title for their perfectly working, never totaled, Seven? How common is that and is that going to hurt the value of the car one day? Last question, anyone ever seen a title without a year?

 

For several years PA DMV issued their SP Constr titles without a year, it should also include a state issued VIN with a VIN plate from the state of PA on the passenger side of the firewall, as you found out, this causes issues with many other states. Contact the PA DMV at 800-932-4600. You may have to send the title to them to have them reissue with a year (tell them the year you want on it).....

 

 

Bill S.

[Croc]

Does anyone here have a “salvage” title for their perfectly working, never totaled, Seven? How common is that and is that going to hurt the value of the car one day? Last question, anyone ever seen a title without a year?

 

 

NJ mandate by law all sevens (unless they are original 1950/60/70 Lotus) are kit cars and treat them as salvage needing special inspection. PA is similar. So my 2004 Caterham SV was on a NJ salvage title. Some people manage to sneak through in NJ on a regular title but that is an oversight and not the legally correct answer. It should not hurt the value of the car - at least it did not for me. A seven is pretty transparent for its accident history anyway - you can see very easily if a chassis repair was made. Quite a few other states are similar to NJ.

 

However, missing a year is a little strange to me. I would go back to PA DMV and see what you can do to fix it.

 

ETA - Kaching! Bill was quick off the mark and beat me!

[Martin]

Great advice. Only issue right now is that the PA DMV is apparently having technical issues and I cannot speak with anyone there.....ugh. I'll try next week.

[athens7]

Doesn't your Seven have a factory VIN on the right side of the engine bay where the bonnet meets the body? Georgia should recognize the 10th digit as the year, as the 17 digit VIN should be US compliant (it was on my car). The title you want to get in GA is an "assembled vehicle" title, as opposed to a salvage or rebuilt title. The titling mechanism is the same and is performed through the salvage division of the Motor Vehicles Division, but salvage or rebuilt indicates prior damage while assembled does not, so it's an important distinction.

 

Here is a starting place, if you haven't already found it:

http://motor.etax.dor.ga.gov/motor/TitleSection/ts_Assembled.aspx

[Martin]

Brad, that sounds way better than salvage title. Leave it to driver services to never mention that of course.

I have a police officer neighbor that should be able to help out on the official certification of the VIN, so hopefully that part should work to my advantage as I would really rather not have to put a cat on the car.

I will follow the assembled vehicle route and keep you all posted.

[breezy7]

Martin; here is a link to the Lotus Seven Club in the UK that decodes the Caterham VIN, maybe some documentation like this could help. Good luck. http://7faq.com/owbase/ow.asp?ChassisNumbers

Mike

[Martin]

Thanks for the link! According to this the chassis is from 2001 even though it is a "2003" model and was advertised as such in Car And Driver, Automobile and Autoweek magazine within that year.

[scannon]

Thanks for the link! According to this the chassis is from 2001 even though it is a "2003" model and was advertised as such in Car And Driver, Automobile and Autoweek magazine within that year.

 

My Caterham has a build date of 12/03, the MSO listed it as a 2004 and the state registered it as a 2007 as that was the year it was first registered for the road. They get more property tax that way.

[tikijose]

Keep pushing up the ladder at DMV. I went through the California SB-100 process last year on a car from PA that actually had a year on the title. My local DMV had no clue what they were doing, and it wasn't until I pushed up the chain and got in touch with the special build guru in Sacramento that things started to get cleared up. He helped immensely, and then got me talking to the smog engineer to go through the real smog requirements and what would satisfy them. In the end, we were able to push through and get the local DMV and smog referee on the right track. Familiarize yourself with your state vehicle code as it pertains to "special build" or kit cars, so you can walk the local DMV through the process. In California, they allow 500 special build cars per year, and there are 9000 DMV employees meaning that there's a 5% chance that the first person you talk to at the local DMV has had a special build car in the last year. If you have the correct information, you can walk them through their own process and steer them back when they make a wrong turn. You may have to call different offices and find someone familiar with process. As someone else said earlier, they really do want the taxes, so in the end, they want to register the car. The trick is to do it right and preserve your resale value.

[Martin]

According to the state of GA, I currently own a 1967 Lotus 7!

 

My neighbor who is a police officer ran the VIN and even sent it off to an expert who couldn't find anything on it so at the end of it he filled out a form verifying the vehicle to be a 1967 Lotus 7. He said the reason he preferred to follow what the car was replicating as opposed to calling it a Caterham is that it is easier on their systems and people who inspect to get it through on anything pre 1981 since that was before VIN standards.

All I know is, it feels great and I don't have to worry about emissions!

Thanks for suggesting not to follow the original advice of the DMV....what was I thinking listening to them?

[coffee break]

What form was that?

[Martin]

T-22B

 

Here is a link: http://motor.etax.dor.ga.gov/forms/pdf/motor/t-22b.pdf