CA DMV success story...$655 in registration back fees and penalties reduced to $129!

[sly409]

I recently purchased my xs400 motorcycle for $700. Little did I know that it also came with $655 in registration back fees and penalties! I went to the DMV twice to see if any of the clerks would hear my case. No luck whatsoever. I finally came home and searched online for ways around this. Came up upon a few forums referring to VC9562. I read more into it and it basically states that the DMV *may* waive the penalties from the prior owner if you were unaware of them and led to believe that there were non or that the vehicle was already put in non-op(which I was). So anyways I print this out and bring it to the DMV and show them this then tell them my story. They had me fill out a statement of facts describing the circumstances that led me to believe that my vehicle was free of fees and penalties. They told me to give as much detail as possible so I did, basically wrote a paragraph. They then had a supervisor look over it to see if he could approve it. Voila! it worked! They eliminated the CHP penalties for the past 3 years..$360 bucks! They couldnt eliminate the registration fees for the past 2 years but the guy that helped me instead changed them all to non-op for the past 3 years lowering my reg fees significantly. I had to pay taxes $51, transfer $15, plus 3 years of non-op and various fees with a grand total of $129! It went from $655 to $129! I said fuck it, cash in hand, done deal! Thats my success story from the DMV. That's actually the only good thing to happen to me in the past 3-4 weeks so it makes me super stoked! haha

Ok as for the late registration fees you guys may be wondering if there is a way to waive prior years also. There is. If the previous seller sells you a vehicle and it has the plates AND current years tags on it then you just show that to the DMV. Basically you were tricked into buying a vehicle that obviously shows current tags. The DMV will then waive all the registration fees and you'd only pay tax, transfer fee and current registration..usually less than $100.

Hopefully no one else gets stuck with back fees but if you do, definitely use VC9562 to your advantage!

link: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d03/vc9562.htm

 

[the_guerrero]

Thank you so much!...I looked up the registration for an xs400 my friend gave me (said it was on non-op) and it was $648 to register!

 

[the_guerrero]

So what forms should I fill out? I'm going to call the DMV tomorrow to confirm, but basically heres how it goes. My friend gives me this bike for free because it needs work and he doesn't want it. He doesn't have keys or title/pink slip and says its hasn't been registered for a while and is on non-op. I get it and it has no tags on it at all. I run the VIN and license plate number and to get it registered, $648! Would this be grounds for waiving fees? I'll call to make sure and see what forms I need I just don't want my summer dream project to be ruined because of unknown info and poor communication.

 

[sly409]

Hey there,

All the info about getting the fees waived are in the link above. Its at the DMV's discretion though. Every employee will give you a different answer. I would try to find someone who looks nice lol. It took me 2 tries. The first try was a lady and she would not budge at all. She didnt even know what VC9562 was and said it didnt matter because california doesnt waive fees. So I went back to the DMV another day and ended up with this younger guy who was probably my age. I told him I bought the bike and had no idea it had fees until I got it and then referred to vc9562. I brought a print out of the page so he could look it over and he did. He also brought it over to his supervisor who allowed him to give me the form which is a statement of facts form. You fill it out telling them you had no idea it had fees and was under the impression that it was non-op by the previous owner.

Anyways it helps to be nice, ask how the persons day is going and what not. Try to strike up a conversation that will get their mind off the DMV and work for just a little bit. I talked to the guy for a few mins about my project and he seemed interested in the story so I think it helped.

Good luck! if it doesnt work try again and make sure you get a different person each time you try! I read a handful of stories online of this working and so I tried it and it worked for me too.