Bringing an E-type in CA

[Sebring]

Hi all,
I'm purchasing a car from the East coast and bringing it back to California where it was a few years ago. The DMV says they have to see the emissions sticker on the car. I don't know where it is. Anybody can help me?
Thanks

[Moeregaard]

This is odd because the E-Type is of the age where it is no longer subject to smog inspections in California. What year is your car?

[Sebring]

The car is 1968. I've seen two conflicting informaitons. one is where if the car is 1966 or newer, you need to show picture of emissions cert/plaque on car. And the other is if the car is 39 years old, environmental is not a concern but, you need DMV and CHP to get involved in looking at the car and verifying ownership etc.

[nefematic]

You might be looking for one of these stickers in the US cars. They differed from model-year to model-year, and are available from the vendors, here fromm Terry'sJag. They're fitted in the bonnet farside wheel well.

Martin

[nefematic]

Upps. That means hood, right hand side wheelwell.

[Moeregaard]

The car is 1968. I've seen two conflicting informaitons. one is where if the car is 1966 or newer, you need to show picture of emissions cert/plaque on car. And the other is if the car is 39 years old, environmental is not a concern but, you need DMV and CHP to get involved in looking at the car and verifying ownership etc.

California actually did something intelligent some years ago, and exempted all cars 1974 and older from emissions testing. Previously, emissions testing was required for all cars 1966 and later, which meant that my '65 E-Type was exempt while my brother's '66 Porsche 911 had to get tested every two years. I can see the DMV wanting to verify title information, but emissions stuff shouldn't be on their radar now. Very strange.

[jeremybarnes]

Hope this tardy response is of value, as this is one I can actually help someone else on the board with...

I bought my '67 FHC in Canada in December of last year, and just finished the registration process. As I've been fiddling (and breaking) the car since I bought it, I wasn't in too much of a hurry to get the final reg done.

Anyway, right after the car arrived in California in January, I went to DMV to do all the paperwork and change of ownership. I had my import docs, receipt from the seller, insurance, etc. in-hand, wrote a (very) large check to the state for taxes and registration, and was told all I needed for my plates was to have the VIN verified. Because of the car's age, there is no smog inspection needed, either for reg or to renew (anything older than either '74 or '75 (can't remember which, offhand) is smog-exempt in California), so all they need to do is take your money and match the VIN to the paperwork, and you're done.

Drove the car to DMV this morning (which, by the way, is the first time I've had the car on the open road, and it was truly a magnificent feeling!), had the nice man match the VIN to the paperwork, stood in line for 45 minutes and walked out with my plates. That's it, no headaches at all.

Whatever the stickers you're being asked to show, for a '68 model-year car, is incorrect. You don't need anything other than to pay your taxes and reg fees, prove insurance and have the VIN verified by a DMV rep. I had a similar experience to the one I described above about 5 years ago too, when I registered my Bugeye which I bought in Arizona. This is one of the very few things that is easy in the state of California!

Hope this helps, PM me through the board if I can help you further on this. My experience was a very positive one.

Jeremy.

[Sebring]

Very Helpful Jeremy, Thanks

May I ask what was the % total for tax and registration?

Paul

[Sebring]

Jeremy,

Is the tax and registration because the car was from out of country. If I'm bringing a car in from Georgia, is the tax and Reg the same?

[jeremybarnes]

Sales tax in Orange County, California, where I live, is 8%, so I paid 8% of the purchase price of the car. The car was obviously sold in Canadian dollars, so I had a hand-written purchase receipt from the seller noting the Canadian dollars, I printed the screen from a foreign-exchange website noting the CA$-US$ conversion and DMV gladly accepted that and did the calculations from there. That one's easy...

California registration fees, however, appear to be a bit of a black art, as best as I can tell... I believe it's some percentage of the purchase price, the age of the car, the color of the sky, etc, and then the person behind the desk gives you the number and you write a check. In case you're interested, here's the California DMV's registration calculator: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detai ... culatorweb

Given that every state has different regs, I don't know whether this experience translates to anywhere else in the US, but I can say that, barring the need to prove the exchange rate and show import docs, bringing the Jag in from Canada was no harder than bringing the Bugeye in from Arizona.

Hope this helps,

Jeremy.

[jeremybarnes]

Sorry, one more after re-reading your post, Paul. The total I paid to DMV was about 9 1/2% of the total purchase price.

Jeremy.