The Expert Podcast

Many times in obtaining a new title for a vehicle, one of the obstacles that comes up for many clients is the fact that there's no VIN number on the vehicle. So, if you have a vehicle that's maybe an older car that the VIN number has been damaged or wasn't part of the assemblage, or maybe you purchased a vehicle that you can't find the VIN number. A lot of times, this happens on a trailer or maybe it was an import car that has no VIN number. What do you do? How do you get a title?
Because in order to have a title for a vehicle, that vehicle has to be identified as a specific car. And that's the word the letter I in VIN stands for identification. A vehicle identification number is the unique qualifier that makes that car unique to one particular identity and not comingled with something else. So, if you have a vehicle without a VIN, you can't start working on getting a title until you get that VIN number.
How do you do it? Well, you can't just assign a VIN or you can't buy a VIN from another car and slap it on your car. That's actually VIN tampering and that's a federal crime. What you have to do is you have to submit to the government an application to have the vehicle assigned a VIN number. And in most states, that's called an assembled vehicle or a kit car or some type of constructed vehicle. Here's an example of one of those forms. This happens to be from Nevada. And they have a certificate of inspection, affidavit of vehicle construction. And this is a way to have that vehicle be declared a legal vehicle and have a VIN number assigned.
Now, when that happens, the government is going to assign a VIN number. They're going to create a VIN plate and they're going to attach it to the vehicle and they're going to use very special tamperproof rivets. So, you can't just slap it on another car. It has to go on that car. The first thing they want to do is make sure the vehicle is safe for the road. And you see these check boxes down here. Has to have a windshield, glass, mirrors, steering, headlights, tail lights, the things that make it safe for the road. And some of these requirements vary by what year it is or what type of vehicle it is.
Now, the one thing you can't do is you can't use this to make a vehicle to go on the road that's not supposed to be on the road. And you can see they have a big red letters. A vehicle label for off-road use only may not be converted for on-road use with this form, right? You have to have a legal street vehicle. So, you have to make sure that your vehicle is eligible for a title in your state. Like sometimes these Japanese mini trucks or army surplus military surplus vehicles, they're not allowed for the road and they're going to look into that when you do this application.
But if you have a vehicle you've purchased, maybe an older barn find that the VIN is missing, this is a way to have a new VIN number issued to have that vehicle be legal, usable, and be able to put back on the road. There's more information on this at our website if you want to click the link below.
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