safulop

OK, I'm all in favor of the smog-check requirements here in the great state of CA, but I have now been introduced to one of the dumbest parts of the law. Did you know that when you buy a car, you cannot get your new title in your name until you pass smog (or get a waiver). I don't mean the registration, that would be fine, I mean the title. So then, in the event that your car gets totalled between when you bought it and when you were planning to smog it, or if it goes into limbo because it fails smog and has to be worked on, you actually have no title and cannot get a title. This becomes a problem when an insurance company wants to take what's left of your car for salvage. It is something of a legal snag.

Any fellow Californians here who agree that the state should always issue titles upon transfer of ownership? It just makes sense considering the legal meaning of the document, it is not an operating permit or registration.

-Sean

cali4sun

Uh, that's the way that it is whether you agree or not... Welcome to Cal....

'89 S4 GP White/Black
'76 912E Silver/Black

UncleMaz

I feel your pain brother.

mark kibort

Its all a bunch of crap. If the car smokes, you should get a ticket. thats it.

safulop

I take it you don't want your politicians to work for you, to devise laws you might actually support? Because if everyone just said "that's the way it is" no matter how it is, well I'll leave you to figure out how society would turn out.

bronto

One item you're missing is that on a sale, the seller is responsible for getting the smog cert. So with cert in hand, you shouldn't have any trouble getting a title and insurance. So the question is, did the seller provide you with a smog cert, and if not, why not?

I myself was theoretically in this position when I bought my '79, since the seller was out of state. I was on my own. But I passed. But wasn't your new 928 a California car already?

jeff spahn

Live somewhere else.

aaddpp

Like Florida...where they did away with inspections, and the kind lady prints up a title while you stand at the DMV counter.

Dave

Ducman82

+1, beautiful state but the rest about it sucks.

cali4sun

Well I've been to Washington D.C. a number of times and met w/my state representatives as well as at the state level, so unless you got a PAC (Political Action Commitee) with deep pockets good luck on that one! I did serve as a state association pres, with a good PAC and was able to get bills sponsored and signed into law on behalf of the industry that I represented.

You will need to find some classic car association or similar w/ a huge PAC and good legislative advocates to even attempt that one. Don't forget Cal is out of money and likes clear air so rolling back smog or exempting it is really not an option for any state representative who would be willing to support.

Also, this is clearly stated in the Cal DMV website.

http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr32.htm


'89 S4 GP White/black
'76 912E Silver/Black

safulop

Whoa now, who suggested rolling back smog laws? I'm all for it, it helps to diagnose stuff wrong with the car, for one thing. I just think that once somebody signs over his title to me and I show that to DMV, they should issue me a title no matter what happens on smog. I still wouldn't be able to operate the car without registration, and they can hold that up waiting for smog, that's fine with me.

Currently in order to sign this car over to the insurance company for salvage, I have to go back to the PO and get him to sign it over, even though the insurance company recognizes that I am the actual owner because I bought the car. So legally, I am the owner, while technically, the PO is still the owner. WTF?? This is ridiculous, they are using smog law to mess around with private property transfers. It's a good thing the PO is a friend of mine. What if I didn't know him and couldn't locate him? Then I would not be able to sign over the junked car and the insurance company would demand some money back. The whole thing is ridiculous.

I don't know about the PO being responsible for getting a car smogged prior to sale, I agreed to buy it while it was PNO so he could not have had it smogged because it was not legal to drive. This other car I just bought was smogged by the PO, but I thought he was just being a nice guy, and also he knows that ultimately he would be responsible if the car failed.

-Sean

jheis

Sorry, there isn't any wiggle room here.

In California the seller is REQUIRED to provide the buyer with a smog certificate. You cannot sell a car (absent certain exemptions which do not apply) that won't smog. No smog cert - no sale. No "as is," no if's, no and's or but's.

It may turn out that your only recourse is against the seller - even though he was not responsible for the fire that destroyed the car.

Legal responsibility can be a bitch.

James

bronto

Ahhh, it's the toasted one. Yeah, you're not likely to get that one to pass smog.

safulop

Hmm, yeah, I just read the helpful link to the DMV website, and I was completely unaware that the seller is supposed to provide a smog cert. You would think that they would enforce this requirement at DMV but they did not. When I first walked in with the title all signed, but no smog, they just ran it through no problem and even issued 3-month temp tags so I could drive it around. They told me I just needed to get a smog check and it would be good to go, there was no mention of how the sale was not strictly valid without the seller providing smog.

And even just yesterday at DMV, they informed me of the SNAFU, but still there was no mention of the PO's responsibility. They told me how to get the PO to sign off on a "title transfer with duplicate title" (a special form) to me, and then I would in turn sign off on a second such form to the insurance company. There was no mention of how the whole business was botched from square one. I now see that they should not have allowed me to buy this car without insisting the PO get it smogged, but this is not how they work it. They put it through as a "pending" title transfer instead, and it ended up in this legal limbo when it was destroyed in the fire.

-Sean

Charley B

That is exactly how they work it. They made it a law, and they left it up to you to handle your business.

I don't want to pay the taxes necessary to have the DMV investigate each title transfer to ascertain whether the buyer or the seller arranged for the smog inspection.

They came up with the law as a means to more efficiently ensure that transferred vehicles passed smog.

I hate to sound harsh, but upon learning that title transfers require smog certificates, and not all cars are able to clear smog tests, 2 and 2 should have immediately appeared to add up to 4. In other words, if your going to buy a used car in California, you better be clear on the smog cert. situation.