Colorado VIN Inspection

[ster1]

Thanks everyone for trying to answer. The DMV only parrots what the statues say, which is next to worthless. Same with the cops. That’s why I am looking to talk to someone with actual experience. I’m not looking for guesses, and I know how google works too. So please if you do not have actual personal experience in a VIN inspection, not VIN verification, on a classic (or rebuilt) car in Colorado, please don’t reply. Thank you.

[Texas Ag 93]

This is ringing a bell with me because my husband had to do something along these lines when we moved to CO in 2012 to register an early 1970s De Tomoso Pantera he had (and occasionally drove). Can't remember the specifics, but I believe it involved him having to schedule something with law enforcement and he said it was a PITA and registering it was also difficult since it was a pretty obscure car and the DMV had trouble trying to figure out the value.

I'll ask him and if he tells me anything helpful, I'll circle back here.

[TCHP]

I had a vin inspection done a '70 Plymouth builder I had purchased a few years ago. I bought it in Utah. I took the car on a trailer to the local inspection location for the State Patrol. They looked at the title, looked at the vin on the dash of the car, reviewed all my documents and then explained to me the options I had to get the title, which I'll explain below. At no point did they verify any other stamped vins on the body, the engine, or transmission, which all exist to prove what the vehicle is. Interestingly enough, because this was a collision rebuild, this particular vehicles had three separate partial vins on it as a result of the various panels that had been replaced on the car. This particular car has a half dozen different locations where partial vins are stamped into the sheet metal. It had no seat belts, no glass, and no other safety equipment that was on the vehicle, so no clue if those mattered to the inspector. Since CO does not have a safety inspection, I couldn't imagine those would get more than a cursory glance to verify they are present ad can be used. In my case, the vehicle was obviously not road worthy so I may have gotten a pass on those.

In my case, the car title was from Hawaii and was sold to a California buyer, who never changed the title before selling to a Utah buyer, who never changed the title, who sold it to me. Around 35 years had elapsed from the Hawaii sale to me. I had the options of either bonding the title at a potential market value of the car, or attempting contact to all previous listed owners. Because the restored value of this car was low to mid six figures, the bonding would have been expensive. So I chose the previous owner contact route. I had to send registered mail to every listed owner at their listed address requesting if they had previously released the title of the vehicle in question. I got exactly zero response back, even from the guy I bought the car from.

After a period of 30 days elapsed from signed receipt of the registered mail, I then took all the documents I got with the car, all the receipts for the registered mails, and the vin inspection paperwork to the DMV, where they issued a clear CO title in my name.

Kit cars, bodies in white, trailers, etc have a slightly different process to ASSIGN a vin where none existed before. Existing cars with a factory assigned vins is a simple verification to make sure documents match the body.

[ster1]

Originally Posted by TCHP

I had a vin inspection done a '70 Plymouth builder I had purchased a few years ago. I bought it in Utah. I took the car on a trailer to the local inspection location for the State Patrol. They looked at the title, looked at the vin on the dash of the car, reviewed all my documents and then explained to me the options I had to get the title, which I'll explain below. At no point did they verify any other stamped vins on the body, the engine, or transmission, which all exist to prove what the vehicle is. Interestingly enough, because this was a collision rebuild, this particular vehicles had three separate partial vins on it as a result of the various panels that had been replaced on the car. This particular car has a half dozen different locations where partial vins are stamped into the sheet metal. It had no seat belts, no glass, and no other safety equipment that was on the vehicle, so no clue if those mattered to the inspector. Since CO does not have a safety inspection, I couldn't imagine those would get more than a cursory glance to verify they are present ad can be used. In my case, the vehicle was obviously not road worthy so I may have gotten a pass on those.

In my case, the car title was from Hawaii and was sold to a California buyer, who never changed the title before selling to a Utah buyer, who never changed the title, who sold it to me. Around 35 years had elapsed from the Hawaii sale to me. I had the options of either bonding the title at a potential market value of the car, or attempting contact to all previous listed owners. Because the restored value of this car was low to mid six figures, the bonding would have been expensive. So I chose the previous owner contact route. I had to send registered mail to every listed owner at their listed address requesting if they had previously released the title of the vehicle in question. I got exactly zero response back, even from the guy I bought the car from.

After a period of 30 days elapsed from signed receipt of the registered mail, I then took all the documents I got with the car, all the receipts for the registered mails, and the vin inspection paperwork to the DMV, where they issued a clear CO title in my name.

Kit cars, bodies in white, trailers, etc have a slightly different process to ASSIGN a vin where none existed before. Existing cars with a factory assigned vins is a simple verification to make sure documents match the body.

This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you for responding! As I had mentioned before, I took a few motorcycles to get an inspection done. I took them on trailers down to Pueblo because that PD (or maybe CSP, I can't remember) was the only one around where I could get it scheduled in a reasonable time frame. Anyway, they looked at stuff like brake linings, the tires, any leaks, all lights, mirrors, etc. The guy actually got in there with flashlights and looked real closely at stuff. In other words, all the safety stuff, and then a brief look at the actual VIN and my paperwork. One was rebuilt from salvage, and the other was making an offroad only bike street legal, so maybe the process is a little different for that kind of thing. My fiat has a valid VIN and the body actually matches the paperwork. Like you, all I have is a bill of sale, but I'm going to go the title bond route, because it's not terribly expensive.

Anyhow, thanks again, this is exactly what I wanted to know!

[ster1]

Update:
I just did the VIN inspection today and passed just fine. All they checked was the lights and horn. That's it. Thankfully they all worked at that moment. So, now it's a myriad of paperwork for me, and I'll get a title and be off and running. Thanks all.

[Therblig]

Thanks for the update. For manufactured vehicles, it's pretty much a walkaround and a say-so, other than checking for an original VIN plate/stamp and verifying it against the paperwork.

It's a bit tougher for any kind of constructed vehicle. Ever accelerated to 30MPH and slammed on your brakes... inside a building? With straight pipes, to boot?