A few days ago, I began the long and painful process of getting this bike registered again. (I have an old classic BMW car that sat in it's previous owners garage untouched for 30 years, but was luckily put in non-op before being put to bed. It took me 5 trips between going to AAA and the DMV to get the registration up to date!) It was fairly dizzing sorting through all my old DMV paperwork. It seems that at some point, I got a new license plate number for the original frame. And it looks like the bike was actually put into non-op back in 1994! (or at least I have paperwork (proof) from the DMV that I did change the status to non-op.) which is great news, considering that I shouldn't be responsible for back registration, although there might have been an old California DMV policy where the owner had to pay non-op fees every year. If that's the case, then I let it lapse. I'm counting on the fact that the DMV computers have lost all that information, so they will hopefully go off my paperwork and let me go on all past fees.
I have verified on the engine stamping and on the frame stamping that all the numbers match up with all the old registration paperwork. So that should help when it comes time to get the "vehicle" authenticated and verified by local LEO.
I made a couple of calls this morning, trying to get some insurance on the RD. I first tried American Collectors Insurance. Their online interface plain ol' sucks. It bonked out somewhere along the process and referred me to make a phone call to the office to finish the application process. So I made the phone call. They pretty much stated that since the bike was in boxes, the bike would not be insurable.
Next I tried to add the RD to my Geico Harley policy. Their web app also broke, so I called them up. After about 5 minutes, I had successfully acquired the insurance I needed to register the motorcycle! And it only cost me about $35 for the entire year! I printed up my proof of insurance and got all my paperwork together to get ready to do battle with the DMV.
I made my way down to my local AAA office to present my case. Immediately I was informed that if the papertrail went back beyond 10 years, I would have to go to the actual DMV office to deal with the registration.
I drove down to the closest DMV. The time was only 10:00a and the line was already 10 people out the door. After a quick calculation, I decided that I just wasn't that desperate to get this process rolling. I came back home to make some online appointments, hoping to find an early date with a DMV that's not too far away.
A quick trip to the California DMV website got me an appointment next week! Not too bad!
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