RCE wrote:

"s o" wrote in message
oups.com...

Hi all,

I planned on buying an old small fiberglass boat with an outboard on it
for about $400. The seller has no title or paperwork whatsoever. I
called dmv and they said bring in a bill of sale(like an invoice) and
they'll decide whether I could register it. Has anyone had similar
experience? how else can I get it registered? thanks.

s o



Don't know about California, but many states, including mine (MA) won't
allow registration or issuance of a title without a seller's title. True for
boats and autos/trucks. It used to be that if it was more than some
number of years old, you could register and title with a bill of sale. No
longer. No good reason for this, except it's another way to make sure
everybody has paid sales taxes, over and over and over.

It seems like there used to be a title requirement exception if the boat was
less than so many feet (11?) , but I think that rule has gone by the wayside
also.

RCE



Georgia is the revers - a bill of sale written on a napkin will do.

Capt Jack R..

wrote:
s o wrote:
Hi all,

I planned on buying an old small fiberglass boat with an outboard on it
for about $400. The seller has no title or paperwork whatsoever. I
called dmv and they said bring in a bill of sale(like an invoice) and
they'll decide whether I could register it. Has anyone had similar
experience? how else can I get it registered? thanks.

I have a buddy that years ago bought a boat in CA with the pink slip
promised later. The pink never showed and money was owed on the boat.
Someone suggested he collect receipts from hardware and lumber stores
and claim he built the boat to DMV. He did and it worked. They assigned
new CF numbers.

Just so we're clear, this is illegal. Any boat with an outboard
attached in CA must have CF numbers unless you have a lake on your
property. Good luck.

-phish

Hope your friend got a heck of a deal, as he participated in a scheme
to defraud the lienholder. If your friend knew there was money owed on
the boat, he undoubtedly knew to whom the money was owed. Even if he
didn't know money was owed on the day of the transaction, his status
changed from duped victim to deliberate crook when he discovered he
could never get legal title to the boat ( which was fallout from his
own mistake of paying for something wiithout getting title) and then
crafted an elaborate lie to trick the state into issuing a duplicate
title.

s o wrote:
Hi all,

I planned on buying an old small fiberglass boat with an outboard on it
for about $400. The seller has no title or paperwork whatsoever. I
called dmv and they said bring in a bill of sale(like an invoice) and
they'll decide whether I could register it. Has anyone had similar
experience? how else can I get it registered? thanks.

The DMV should be able to do a title search using the hull number
(HIN). If the boat doesn't have a hull number for whatever reason, it
was probably never titled in CA - and perhaps was never titled
anywhere. Depending on how old the boat is, the hull number should be
on the lower starboard side of the transom... unless it is really old,
then the hull number (or manufacturer's serail number if it is too old
to follow the HIN format) could be anywhere - an orignal title on an
old boat may have used the original engine serial number.

If no information can tracked down, you or the seller may simply need
to file affidavit to get it renumbered.

A note of trivia... CA doesn't "register" boats, they "number" boats.
The piece of paper issued by the DMV for your boat that looks similar
to an auto registration is a "certificate of number," not a
"registration." Additionally, the state does not issue "title" to a
boat owner. The multicolored paper stock used by the DMV is the same
used for an automobile "certificate of title," but you'll find that,
for a boat, it is called a "certificate of ownership." I believe there
are very subtle legal differences between the "title" and "ownership"
but I can't tell you exactly what they are.

thanks for everyone's comments. I guess I'm going pass on this one
it's just too many issues to deal with.