Reply to "Registration in California"

Here's another CA registration experience, for anyone it may help:

Purchased an out-of-state Speedster in late August 2020. Due to COVID, not only could we not go to the DMV to register the car, we couldn't even talk to anyone on the phone. CA's rule is any out-of-state vehicle purchase requires an in-person VIN check. CA also has requirements for this: at least 2 VIN tags, emissions stickers, etc. We ran around like crazy people trying to hunt all this down. AAA turned it down. Reached out to a couple smaller VIN check companies who come out to you, all of whom turned it down as well, stating the car no longer looked like a VW, and could not legally be titled as a VW in CA.

We could have continued down this road until we found someone with poor enough eyesight, or some other ailment (physical, moral, or otherwise)  willing to complete the VIN check. I ended up reaching out to Ken Leek, son of Donna Leek, who's been well known for years in here in the CA car scene as the fixer for serious VIN issues. They're both the nicest people one could hope to work with. And the older I get, the more I appreciate the people who are willing to come along and help you with some heavy lifting. If I were them, I would turn people like me away on the spot. There's certainly easier money to be made.

Ken was confident we could get the car through the SB100 (Specially Constructed Vehicle No Smog) process. The problem is this: in order to qualify for this title, you need, at minimum, receipts for all the major components of your build, and most likely pictures of the build process. Which, of course, we have none, and they don't exist. So the danger with this route is, if we abandon the VW title route, and notify the DMV that this is a custom build, we can never again register the car as a VW. So, if they reject our SB100 application due to lack of required documents, we now have a Speedster that can never be titled in CA, and no title to sell the vehicle either.

After a long discussion, we decided to go for it. This is early September, 2020. Ken took us by the hand and walked us through the entire process. After every appointment, the paperwork was mailed back and forth so he could handle the interaction with the DMV. Everything went pretty smooth for the first 6 months, until we had our interaction with the BAR (Bureau of Automotive Repair), who handle the final in-person inspection of the vehicle. Again, due to COVID, this required us to scan and email all of our documents for approval before we could be granted the in-person inspection. We sent everything off, and watched two months go by. At this point, I knew someone wasn't going to let this slide.

Sure enough, after a few phone calls, we were notified they were denying our application due to lack of evidence as to where the major components originated, and who built the car. I can't even describe where I was at at this point. I reached out to Ken, who, as he put it, "talked me down from the ledge". He told me to reach out again and explain our situation. I reached out to the person from the BAR who I had spoke with earlier, and really just laid everything on the table. It was really just a cry for mercy. After a couple days, he came back and told me they had made an exception, and were going to let us move forward. I've since learned this gentleman really went to bat for us.

Two weeks later, we had our in-person inspection. Based off of how things had gone thus far, I knew we still weren't out of the woods. Sure enough, although the technician handling our car was very nice, he got on the phone with someone who was far from happy that they were allowing us to move forward. We sat there listening to this back-and-forth with our stomachs sinking, thinking this was going to be the end of the line. Again, somehow, this kind gentleman stuck up for us, and managed to get the car through and approved.

I really share all this as a warning: if purchasing an out-of-state Speedster for which you do not have receipts for the engine, transmission, pan, and body, at least, don't even think about trying to get it through the SB100 process. It was 100% the grace of God that allowed us to complete this, and there was a 99.999% chance the car was going to be essentially worthless.

Although our story has a happy ending, take caution: yours very well may not.