Guidance DMV California

[chrispe]

Hello everyone,

Not sure where the best place would be to post this, but now that we are finally close to have our new Globetrotter in our hands, I checked here with the DMV in CA to see what would be needed to get the trailer properly registered. I didn’t really find a good documentation on the DMV website as to what exact documents and forms would be needed and on my first attempt at a local field office I was told no more entries after 4pm even though they were open until 5pm. Today then made it on time and (after more than an hour wait) they seemed to be unsure if a brand new trailer from out of state needs to have the VIN verified on-site there or not, which would really be a pain given the right parking with a like 50ft rig...they said I better get the VIN verified...

Did anyone go through this already in CA with a new trailer from out of state?
Ours is from a dealer out of state and wasn’t titled so far.

Any advice would be highly appreciated, especially also if the VIN really needs to be verified on a new trailer...so frustrating...

Cheers,
Chris

[rmkrum]

I had to get the VIN verification when we transferred the title for our Airstream from Washington state to California. There are services that are certified to do VIN verifications that will come to you.

Found one and only had to fill out the verification form for my name and address info, the service guy came to the place I had the trailer parked, verified, and signed off on the form. I don’t remember what it cost, but it was way easier than dragging my trailer to our local DMV and waiting for them to do it. I then took the form to the DMV, part the charges, and left with an appropriate plate and tags. Official title arrived in the mail in a couple weeks if I remember correctly.

Search online for a California VIN verification service.

Admittedly the DMV clerks can be a bit confused by trailer titles. They don’t do them that often apparently.

[bweybright]

My experience from past times is avoid CA DMV offices at all costs....it is well worth the money to hire verified agencies that can keep you from going to there office. I once had to stand in line and state I would not leave until they got their sorry butt out of their chair to check my trailer vin. When they tried to get me ousted by calling a supervisor...it backfired as they were told they had to get out of their fat chair and walk to do the check.
CA DMV is even worse than dealing with NY DMV.
So bottom line if you can find an agency that can do the deal for you for some bucks it is a good option to consider.

[Goin camping]

Hi Chris,

You will need the VIN verified because it is coming from out of state.

You can get that VIN verification done at the DMV, Highway Patrol, (Call and get an appointment) and in smaller cities there are approved privately run DMV service centers.

The private DMV service place will do the VIN verification and issue registration and pink slip.

When I did my last one at the service center the paperwork had to go to the DMV (sent by service center) as some Airstream VINs are nor recognized by the DMV computer.

All in all the service center was fast and easy. BTW, AAA does not do VIN verification so you could have CHP do the Vin and AAA the registration. Either is a lot less waiting time than DMV.

Best to you.

[chrispe]

That helps a lot everyone!
For whatever reason I didn’t find those services when first casually surfing and looking around...

Will do that right now

[SilverWind]

We use AAA for almost everything that the DMV can do. Much quicker.

[chrispe]

Interesting, AAA is just the automobile club, kind of a roadside assistance, is that right?
In that case, is AAA better than GoodSam roadside for example?
(just curious, I do not have either one...)