Thread: New Virginia replicar registration.

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Since the SEMA-like replicar registration laws is effective on 01 JUL, I thought I'd contact VA DOT and see how to register my car. The response:

Dear Mr. Cox,
Thank you for visiting www.dmvnow.com.
There have been no announcements within DMV regarding the new procedures and/or forms for the new legislation for replicars. You may want to check back with us around the end of the month for more information.

Eighteen working days until the law goes into effect, and they don't have any info yet. Typical.

Bureaucrats, what a pain in the butt.

Henry/Jack Keep me posted. I consulted a lawyer regarding my original title with frame number tapped into the Brookville frame and he advised me to just consider the numbers to be my own personal ID number, surrender the old title and go the way for a new replicar title as you are doing. It will cost me taxes on all the equipment but may be the best thing to do. No real worry here since I am at least a year away from a running car but I am keeping all the receipts so I can go through the replicar procedure. By then you should be able to tell me/us the procedure for VA and the DMV folks may have it figured out. Probably I could get an inspection with the plates and title I have with little problem but if I have a fender bender I'm sure some other lawyer would have fun with my title since the only thing Ford on the whole car is the '74 Maverick rear and that is not '29!

Don Shillady
Retired (?) Scientist/Teen Rodder

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Since the SEMA-like replicar registration laws is effective on 01 JUL, I thought I'd contact VA DOT and see how to register my car. The response: Eighteen working days until the law goes into effect, and they don't have any info yet. Typical.

.....and what's worse is 18 days AFTER the law goes into effect they STILL won't have any info!

Having been a bureaucrat for 35 years, I can tell you that I am not surprised by their response. It takes a year or more to get regulations written and implemented. If the new registration process was passed recently then it may be a while before you see something. If they were smart they would have had the regulations ready to go as soon as the law was passed. Seems like a lot of states are changing the rules on registration for new or reconstructed vehicles. Pennsylvania revamped theirs in 2001 and are in the process of doing it again. Beginning to think they are trying to make streetrods and customs go away.

Define replicar?

Is that only for reproduction glass/aluminum cars, or original all steel cars that have been modified/streetrodded?

Jack

Jack,

§ 46.2-100. Definitions.
"Replica vehicle" means every vehicle of a type required to be registered under this title not fully constructed by a licensed manufacturer but either constructed or assembled from components. Such components may be from a single vehicle, multiple vehicles, a kit, parts, or fabricated components. The kit may be made up of "major components" as defined in § 46.2-1600, a full body, or a full chassis, or a combination of these parts. The vehicle shall resemble a vehicle of distinctive name, line-make, model, or type as produced by a licensed manufacturer or manufacturer no longer in business and is not a reconstructed or specially constructed vehicle as herein defined.

Here's the original thread from when I found out about the new law:

http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/sho...eplica+vehicle

Don,

In my original contacts with VA DMV, they told me I needed receipts for the body, engine, frame and transmission. I am definitely NOT going to present them with ALL the receipts from day one.

This has got my knickers in a twist, because I will be ready to license by the end of June. I don't want to register as a "specially constructed vehicle" or some other bogus method because I know it will be impossible to change later on.

I'm going to call my representatives in the Virginia House and Senate, as well as the originators of the bill.

I sent an email to the main sponsor of the bill in the VA house of delegates. His reply:

As you note, the new law does not go into effect until July 1, so I would expect DMV will have additional information about its implementation at the end of this month (June). The General Assembly usually does not get involved in the implementation of a new law unless the agency charged with its implementation has not properly implemented the law or is delinquent in implementing it. At this point, DMV still has another month before they have to begin the new registration process.

I'm encouraged by the words in bold.

Go register it now, and do it for 2 years. The law doesn't become effective until 7/01/2007, so you will not be affected. That's what I did with my DeSoto. I did it thru the mail, and went thru without a problem.

Jack

Does Virginia require you to have the car inspected to see if it meets code prior to registration? or can you get it registered first, inspected second? PA has changed theirs to require that a station licensed to do reconstructed or new assembled vehicles, do an inspection prior to applying for registration. Once registered they have to be reinspected for licensing. The initial inspection can cost any where from $20 to $500 depending upon the station. The second inspection would be the regular annual inspection rate of $20 to $70 again depending upon inspection facility.

Just another way to make money. The more they take from you, the less you have to spend on gas.


______________________
Bob

Places to go, people to annoy!

Jack,

How is your car registered? Specially constructed? Antique? Other?

Mine is not an original '34. It's a Gibbon body (sigh) on a P&J frame. I absolutely do not want to register it as a specially constructed vehicle. The replicar status is much more favorable to me.

I just registered as a 48 DeSoto. My car is a factory 48 car, not a new hot rod, so I am sure that makes a difference. I had a WV title with my car, so I guess we are talking about two seperate situations.
You must have a serial/manufactures number, so I would register it as the body style it is, give them the manufactures number and tell them title was lost.
You just never know, may not be a problem. The worst that could happen is that they are unable to register.
Whatever you decide, I would do something before July 01.

Jack

Thanks for the input, but I'm not going to try register it as a real '34 Ford. There is not a single original '34 part on the whole car. I have a MSO from Gibbon, and no VIN. Without buying a title and trying to cheat the system, which is a felony in VA, I have no chance to register it that way. I received a letter from the Governor's office saying that the process was good to go, and none of the up-front requirments have changed. All I need to do is get a VIN based on my MSO, then get a title, then insurance and registration, in that order. I actually see an advantage in registering it as a replica vehicle, so that's how I'm proceeding.

Sounds good. I think you are going about it the right way, and I hope you don't encounter any complications.

Jack

Jack, sounds as if your plan is the right course of action for you. No need to burden down the process any more than the State has already made it.

I had a different situation in PA when I went to register mine with what seemed like a valid title and registration from another state. It nearly turned into a nightmare. I thought I had done everything necessary to avoid complications and found out the hard way that the DOT is not there as a friendly resource.

Hope everything works in your favor.