Post by thedragonfly on Mar 29, 2018 9:16:53 GMT -8
Hi all,
I'm so glad that I've found you! Thanks to Mobiltec for constantly pushing membership with this forum. Anyhow, I was one of those silly newbies who bought a travel trailer....on Craigslist...from a weird and/or shady person...at night... (Mobiltec, I know you are shaking your head right now, but I didn't find you until after this debacle).
The guy didn't have a title (of course) and it had been sitting on his property for several years. I did get a bill of sale and have a notebook from the original owner with many years of registration cards in it which was handy because I cannot for the life of me find a VIN on this thing. Also, no license plates...
The comedy of errors/stupidity continues:
I went to AAA to see if I could slip through the registration process. They were able to find the VIN (stated on the registration cards) in the system and said I would likely have to pay $600+ in back registration and fees, but I would have to go to the DMV to finish the process.
Just went to the DMV with all my documentation and was told that the person on the bill of sale is not the actual owner of the trailer and that he (the shady guy who sold me the trailer) would have to do a lien sale. Obviously that is not going to happen since I have no inclination to work with that guy again and I don't have his number anymore.
This trailer will likely need to be a frame up rebuild (something I was planning on when we went to buy the thing and a project I'm looking forward to). I'm very nervous about going through this lien sale process because of the potential for a distant owner or the shady guy's friend who potentially does own it showing up to take it away. I just tried to do a VIN search through a few sites suggested by the CA DMV, but nothing is coming back.
I'm looking for a lifeline, suggestions, and sanity from someone here on the best pathway to take toward getting the trailer properly registered. I'm contemplating a Home Made Specially Constructed path, but don't know how ethical that is and kind of want to keep the original year and model. The trailer is a 17.5 ft 1971 Nomad. I am in California.
In unrelated but equally ridiculous sibebar: Less than 20 minutes after hooking the trailer up to take it home the trailer and truck were T-boned by a drunk/high driver. Driver was caught, thank goodness. CHP ran the plates and VIN from the registration cards on the trailer and didn't raise any red flags about it being reported stolen. So there's one tiny positive thing!
I'm so glad that I've found you! Thanks to Mobiltec for constantly pushing membership with this forum. Anyhow, I was one of those silly newbies who bought a travel trailer....on Craigslist...from a weird and/or shady person...at night... (Mobiltec, I know you are shaking your head right now, but I didn't find you until after this debacle).
The guy didn't have a title (of course) and it had been sitting on his property for several years. I did get a bill of sale and have a notebook from the original owner with many years of registration cards in it which was handy because I cannot for the life of me find a VIN on this thing. Also, no license plates...
The comedy of errors/stupidity continues:
I went to AAA to see if I could slip through the registration process. They were able to find the VIN (stated on the registration cards) in the system and said I would likely have to pay $600+ in back registration and fees, but I would have to go to the DMV to finish the process.
Just went to the DMV with all my documentation and was told that the person on the bill of sale is not the actual owner of the trailer and that he (the shady guy who sold me the trailer) would have to do a lien sale. Obviously that is not going to happen since I have no inclination to work with that guy again and I don't have his number anymore.
This trailer will likely need to be a frame up rebuild (something I was planning on when we went to buy the thing and a project I'm looking forward to). I'm very nervous about going through this lien sale process because of the potential for a distant owner or the shady guy's friend who potentially does own it showing up to take it away. I just tried to do a VIN search through a few sites suggested by the CA DMV, but nothing is coming back.
I'm looking for a lifeline, suggestions, and sanity from someone here on the best pathway to take toward getting the trailer properly registered. I'm contemplating a Home Made Specially Constructed path, but don't know how ethical that is and kind of want to keep the original year and model. The trailer is a 17.5 ft 1971 Nomad. I am in California.
In unrelated but equally ridiculous sibebar: Less than 20 minutes after hooking the trailer up to take it home the trailer and truck were T-boned by a drunk/high driver. Driver was caught, thank goodness. CHP ran the plates and VIN from the registration cards on the trailer and didn't raise any red flags about it being reported stolen. So there's one tiny positive thing!
