VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 Illinois took my title

Hey Guys and Gals

bought a car in Ohio took it home to Chicago transferred title 4 months later Illinois secretary of state Police contacted me and confiscated my title , car 1923, and insists that I pay all fees again and get a title issued by them with new VIN as mine has no numbers. I had a Ohio title Illinois has it now I have nothing.
Looks like its gonna cost me 5-800 and have to go thru a long process of inspections and new VIN install process.
I see in a prior post that California is a pain comments please.

Gettin out my checkbook

Ken 45145

Is this a case of them saying you didn't read the fine print that was not printed anywhere? When I went to register mine here in Ontario, they get all the way through, charge my credit card and then ask me for the official appraisal. I say, what appraisal and was told that it is required for cars over 20 yrs old. I tell them I read every page on the website and it's not listed. The answer was, ya, the website is incomplete, sorry, so where is the appraisal? You would think that with all the crap our governments print, they could actually print some guidelines that are useful.

Sorry to hear about your problems with the local "strong arms" where you live. As a TA I hear horror stories fairly often from dudes that purchased cars to restore with either no title or the numbers are missing on the vehicle. Many states are very sticky about a valid title or a vehicle with the serial number plate missing....especially if the car is out of state, while other states could care less.

My advice is to check with your local DMV before purchasing a car out of state to see what they require to get it registered. Also, it is probably a good idea to never purchase a car to restore without a valid title or with the serial number plate missing. Depending upon the state, it could be very difficult, if not impossible, to get the vehicle registered. If a car is purchased with a valid title and all of the numbers are there the car should be registered immediately to avoid any problems down the road.

Here in Oregon, if a car is purchased within the state and it has a valid title then the paperwork to get the car registered is no problem. However, if the car is purchased from out of state then the vehicle must be taken to the local DMV for inspection to see if the numbers on the title match what is on the vehicle. If the title is missing, or the numbers are missing, or if the numbers don't match what is in the title then it is going to be a nightmare to get the car registered.

And the government "officials" want us to believe that all the crooks are in jail. If someone did that to them they would call the Sheriff. So who do we call? Local legislator? Don't laugh too hard or cry either. Doesn't do much good.

You might consider going through one of the automotive title companies. Could be cheaper and easier that doing it the right way.

The shame -- or is it the sham ?? -- of this lousy situation is the folks who work for the State are supposed to be working for us. Aren't they?? And yet somehow many of them seem to see us like the "eneny" or some dang thing.

Well, sorry to hear about your hassles, Ken. Wishing you good luck in getting thru all this successfully.