TheSamba.com :: View topic - Year of Registration! as opposed to First Year Sold..

Sat Dec 03, 2016 8:38 pm

Hi Guys, In desperate need of help please. I am exporting from the US to my country a 1968 Beetle. It has a California Certificate of title. On this certificate of title it indicates first year sold : 1968, but it does not appear to show the day or month? 2 previous registration dates are in 2000 & 2001. I had the beetle restored i guess it wasnt registered.

The problem statement is that the customs in my country are insisting on a document indicating Year and Month of first registration. I need your help, i am not american so need either some help to understand better the certificate or another source i can use to convincr customs. I realise the VIN will prove its age and month of manufacture (checked the tables already) any official docs on this. Sorry long one and lots of questions, i live in a country that is a bit backwards so i need to help justifu.

Thanks
Paul.

Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:15 pm

To add. The last listed registration dates for 2000 & 2001 are Oct & Sept. Is it an accurate assessment therefore to say that the car was first registered in Oct 1968 and these are the annual anniversary dates? (is that how it works?) thanks again.

Sat Dec 03, 2016 10:53 pm

Only if the original owner has been renewing their registration every single month since 1968 could you assume it's first registration was in October of 1968.

Sat Dec 03, 2016 11:34 pm

Each state in the USA does vehicle titling and registration a little differently. Since cars can be sold freely across state lines we get into some interesting situations within the country.

If the car lived its whole life in California some members from that state should be able to guide you. I don't know if the day of first sale is a record kept by the state. The USA generally requires compliance with the standards in effect as of the day of manufacturer, not sale.

Sun Dec 04, 2016 3:43 am

I'm in California. The problem you face is that the car will at some point, fall out of the dmv's computer system and the date of last registration will no longer be trackable. You said that the last time it appeared to be registered was in 2001, if it hasn't been registered since then, it is most likely out of the system. As was mentioned above, if the previous owners always registered on time annually, then it would be safe to assume, notice I said assume, that the month first sold matched the license plate sticker and the registration. But if the car was sold mid year, it's possible that the month could change on the registration. The Title is not always accurate as each time a car gets sold in California, a completely new Title certificate is printed up and issued.

Sun Dec 04, 2016 6:31 am

As stated above, you may never know unless the original VW service record/ warranty came with the car; in which the date sold is indicated on the back.

When ever a car is sold or re-registered in California, the month of when the new transaction took place is what they record and indicate on the paperwork. That's because annual registration fees are due a year after that new starting point. The original year of manufacture is only given as a reference to age of vehicle. Nuances like month, day and time the vehicle was first sold is not a factor.

If they just want a month for their records, I'd tell them you were told that it was first sold in the month of...(give them a month), if they are insistent on seeing some official document to prove it, then you'll have to appeal to their sense of compassion and beg for mercy. :cry:

Hopefully someone else has an idea to help.

Hope it works out for you.

Sun Dec 04, 2016 11:01 am

The "date first sold" field in the Cali DMV database was never used well.

Whenever I bought a used VW, the new pink indicated 00/00/XX, where XX was the model year. Obviously a computer-generated default when they didn't know the right date.

You may be able to look up the VIN in here on the Samba and deduce the month it was built, then add a month or two for the first sale date. Or maybe use the build date itself and present the VIN/date table to your authorities, so they have some documentation of the date you give.

Sun Dec 04, 2016 11:02 am

Guys,

Thank you all for your help & support on this one. This really helps & in fact reinforces some of the ambiguity that I had. I feel more confident informing the local authorities of these details.

Thanks again & I will let you know how it goes.

thanks
paul.

Sun Dec 04, 2016 3:21 pm

Just to add,

I just checked the pink slip (CA title) for both my cars and they both only state the year they were first sold. Not the month.

Sun Dec 04, 2016 5:06 pm

Before 1976, every car in California needed to have the registration renewed in December, no matter what month it was purchased in.

Sun Dec 04, 2016 6:31 pm

Bunting wrote:

I will let you know how it goes.

paul.

Please do. I hope all goes well in the UK.

Sun Dec 04, 2016 6:38 pm

A VW Birth Certificate might help. It's a document direct from VW. Your authorities might like it. I've used similar ones here in California at our Department of Motor Vehicles to straighten out problems in the past.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3...;start=800

Sun Dec 04, 2016 9:25 pm

KTPhil wrote: The "date first sold" field in the Cali DMV database was never used well.

Whenever I bought a used VW, the new pink indicated 00/00/XX, where XX was the model year. Obviously a computer-generated default when they didn't know the right date.

You may be able to look up the VIN in here on the Samba and deduce the month it was built, then add a month or two for the first sale date. Or maybe use the build date itself and present the VIN/date table to your authorities, so they have some documentation of the date you give. To help clarify this the "Date First Sold", having an asterisk (*) with no explanation, can indicate the first year the car was registered in California. Used car pinks can have dates there that vary from date of manufacture, being brought in from other states within the country, or even from foreign countries. For instance, a '76 car could have a '75 date, or even a '80 date, depending on when the car was "imported" to California. All this nonsense became important to Cal authorities in the '70s, when Cal established their own emission standards, stricter than Federal standards, but they were forced to allow "used" federal approved cars to be brought in, having different emission equipment. Prior to all this, Cal pink slips did not have a "Date First Sold" on the pink slips.

Sun Dec 04, 2016 9:55 pm

Jacks wrote: Before 1976, every car in California needed to have the registration renewed in December, no matter what month it was purchased in.
Wow, that was the same year that Washington went to month stickers and registrations switched from end of year to end of sales month. It was years later before we went to specific day of sale for registration expiration.