CA Non-op fees

spmdr

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Before paying CA DMV Non-Op fees, check the DMV code!

Sunbeams are exempt!:)

or use to be...

From my weak memory...

The car had to meet 1 of 3 requirements.

1) less than 2500 built in a year.

2) more than 25 years old.

3) Manufacture out of business.

Tiger are 3 for 3... :)

Don't pay... :rolleyes:

DW
 
Worth the risk?

To no op a car? , I thought there were only cheaper guys than me in the small motorcycle world. Having had up to 7 motorcycles it really became a pricey figure.

Would you also cancel your insurance on the car? Still most home fires start in the kitchen or garage. As a agent I was able to write comprehensive only but companies have not allowed this lately. You cancel the insurance they send out the cancel registration letter even if the car was late or unregistered, go figure.

I tried to get a white Historical plate and was turned away more than one time. I am guessing that asking for a supervisor may get a better result.

It is 90 bucks a year to register a anything with a motor anymore, if you do not file the non op before the fees become late they get a bigger late fee that a F ing credit card company.

If you have a black plate on your car you'd be wise even if moving out of Cali to file the non op so that if the car ever returns the plate # will be available. Even though you can go YOM, year of manufacture.

If it was over 20 bucks I would consider fighting city hall or Ca DMV same thing.

Use em or loose em applies in all things mechanical hard to do without your own road.

Sorry I ranted a bit but OMG how many cars/vehicles that are out there that owe hundreds to CA DMV waiting for someone to Barn find and get a rude awakening when applying for title in Cali.

Think twice before opening this can o worms.
 
I Got Cheaper

Years ago I discovered NH has a limited use agriculture plate ($10). No inspections, no real restrictions, so I grabbed an application and found no hoops or hurdles other than having a garden. The "assumed" use is for utility vehicles (tractor?) crossing the roads and going to the grange for feed, etc. BUT, there are no restrictions in legal printed mandate, sooooooo, I'm cheap!
Any victory over bureaucracy is a smile moment.
 
I'm not suggesting one attempts to get out of the late Reg fees of not paying on time, etc.

BUT, If your car has been off the road for YEARS or you buy a car without current Reg, and THEY try to hit you up for Non-Op fees, point out the fact that there are exemptions....the ones they may not want to admit.

The Money you save will be yours...

You STILL have to do the Non-Op paperwork... that can be a pain.

DW
 
Not living in CA, I had to look this one up. You pay an annual registration fee to own a non-operational vehicle? I have a few friends who would go broke if they had to do that here, due to their large "fleet".
 
CA Vehicle Registration

In California, they view vehicles as taxable property. Part of the registration fee is just that, and that part is tax deductable, just like property tax. So they want their money, even if you are not driving in on the roads.

David
 
Correction

In years past every year you were required to pay and re up a non op. Not any more it is a one time fee. I do not remember but it is under 20 bucks. Look guys you do not know what cheap is all about.

I have had clients non op then use a valid plate "hot plate" their small motorcycles.

Mostly their logic is at 90 bucks a year in 3 years it is nearly the value of the bike, or what they would pay to get the bike vehicle back after being towed.

Yes it takes all kinds.

I advised do not go with out insurance as that fine was over a grand, but I hear the politically correct have lowered the fine to under 500 bucks for driving without insurance.

Boy I don't miss the insurance biz
 
This might be old info, but 25 years ago I let my registration lapse. A few years later when I went to get it registered the DMV gave me a hard time with lots of inspections. I was told if I had gotten a non-op, the car would still be in the system, and their would not have been any problems re-registering it. Things might have changed since then, but is it worth the hassle of trying to prove your vin and cars authenticy. If its in the system leave it in, I think its worth a few bucks NOT to have the DMV screw with my car. Just like insurance.
 
Inspection

By the way when a car cycle or whatever falls off DMV computer it will require inspection. AAA does not do vehicle inspections per the DMV rules.

Too many have fooled the clerks there.

I too have a car that has nearly 15 years off road. It did fall off computer and it will require a DMV and a CHP inspection. It did have the forced annually renewal NON OP that is no longer issued, in favor of the one time fee I mentioned earlier. The real bummer is they DMV DON'T issue a one day moving permit for those needing to get to the CHP for inspection, can you say P.I.A. ?

My black plate 64 VW Conv will have to be flat bed carried for inspection, "unless showing up with the old pink slip" and a nice clerk gives me a pass at DMV which is a total crap shoot depending on the attitude of the DMV employee. For them without a pink slip or old regis. you will have to go thru the wringer with all the salvage rebuilt vehicles all those "public servants" are way worn out and not happy to be there.

If you move from Cali. Non op the car so you can reserve reactivate your black plate.

Of course , "Your results may vary" just my exp. on my fun with non op off record vehicles.

If you buy a car vehicle that has old fees due why should you be responsible for their sin? If you take the car out of state you don't have to pay. I have never bought a vehicle that has the 3 back doors you mention 25 years old, mfg out of biz. or less than 2500 made.
BTW Chrysler should be out of biz, but is not, so 2 out of 3 might fly.
 
Nope

They do not offer 1 day permit for the ride to CHP .
Off record vehicles are not presumed to be safe and are hazardous until inspected.
A bad attitude officer once asked me how I got a motorcycle there.
Maybe the motor was still warm but it rode in the back of my E150 van.
The not so kind officer told me they would impound it if I wheeled it on the street.
When you show up on a trailer,either they pass it on the spot or make you leave it.
They kept the 1965 Honda S90 Domestic market bike for 3 weeks.
I made the mistake of calling after 1 week and they said don't call us we will call you.

If you buy any vehicle call AAA or DMV before purchase to check for back fees and at least figure onto your price the time $ and effort to drag it to them for inspection. There are a couple insurance co. sites for vin check but nothing better than checking the DMV.
A slightly O/T horror story, just make sure you get non op.
 
I thought they don't "fall" off anymore? I know a non op doesn't, I have had a car on one for about 16 yrs and I keep getting the letter every year stating to do nothing if still the same.
 
Couple years back I got a permit to move a M/C at AAA which was good for several days. They told me if I couldn't get it moved in that time frame to come back and they would adjust the dates for another go.

I mentioned in another recent thread I had to pay all back years and penalties for when Tiger wasn't registered to get it on the street again. At the time when the car was first stored there was no such thing as a non-op fee and I didn't see the sense of paying full reg. fees if it wasn't being used so just didn't pay anything. I pointed out that the non-op fees didn't exist for at least some period of time while stored but in end had to pay the full fees for the entire length of storage time.
 
Fall off

I have heard that they do not fall off any more.

Bruce you have the newer form of non op, what I was commenting on was the old policy.

Justin what I said, or meant to say, was they do not give the moving permits anymore for a off record vehicle. CHP inspection, and the whole off record is a MAJOR PIA to be avoided. Falling off record may not be possible now as they are said to not let vehicles escape back fees cause they have moved from microfilm to old computers to much better ones with much more memory.

Lost revenue is the reason they do not want to let vehicles go off record.

They also had a rather harsh policy of sending out the renewal/late penalty notice all in one, one time, if you moved or did not get mail too bad. Now they even threaten to send to collection agencies. I only know this as my deceased brother's late registration showed up with a collection letter, and I had another bike I sold get the same letter.

"Yes I did do the release of liability." It seems the new owner(s) did not register them after purchase.

As I said before "your results may vary," or in your case may have.

Over the years AAA and DMV clerks are allowed to do to do much less especially with all the fraud theft etc.
 
Yep, results may vary. Temp. permit was for M/C stored for 30 years and off the books. Permit allowed me to ride bike to CHP for inspection.
 
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Questions

Yep, results may vary. Temp. permit was for M/C stored for 30 years and off the books. Permit allowed me to ride bike to DMV for inspection.

I've had some nasty experiences with "inspections" as the current generation of those in charge try to deal with antique tecnologies. A couple of times the minions have damaged rear brake drums trying inspect the brake shoes without removing the securing screw. A four-jaw puller ain't kind! Never so much as apology, but more along the lines of "since it won't pass safety now, you must bring it back fully repaired".
 
WHY CHP?

In the last 5 years I have had to get two (2) cars inspected for CA. registration. Both times the CHP had nothing to do with getting my cars registered. My buick was a salvage returning to the road. Brake and headlight inspections were done at a licenced inspection station. Smog was done at licened smog station. VIN was done at the DMV. The truck that I bought on E-Bay, and came from Oregon went thru the same procedure.
 
The last car I bought out of state was my Cobra R. All I had to do was have the vin# verified by a law enforcement officer (pays to have friends) and then take all that to the DMV. Actually pretty easy.
When I picked up the car at the shippers there was a CHP officer there, he asked how I was geting the car home--I said driving it. He told me to leave when he was not there so he wouldn't have to pul me over. haha
 
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