Turk, you're killin' me....great synopsis of your quest for the holy VIN....
It just proves one thing to me....civil servants and bureacracy are the same everywhere...
I got the same kind of run around here in FL three years ago when I was titling my car. Tried to arm myself with all the right info before I dove in, but that was just wishfull thinking.
I was first told that someone from FHP would come to inspect the vehicle where I kept the car. The FHP did in fact perform that service for a buddy of mine several months earlier, I was not so fortunate (where is the consistency?). Next, I was told that I had to bring my car to the only FL DMV inspection post that was authorized to do the inspection. It's in Jacksonville, approx. 35 miles from where I live, and in a different county!!
I attained a temp plate (good for 10 days) and drove my unpainted car to the inspection post. I was extra careful to make sure that everything on the car functioned properly. The highly inept folks who came out to inspect the car had no idea what to look at, nor did they care that the brakes or lights even worked. all they cared about were 4 receipts with serial numbers for the body, chassis, engine, and tranny. They wouldn't even look for the serial numbers themselves, I had to do that for them. Unfortunately, I couldn't produce the tranny receipt, so they deferred it to the guy in charge who, in his infinite wisdom, decreed that if I couldn't provide a receipt, I'd have to replace the tranny with one that I could show a receipt for. He also didn't think he had to honor the pre-established MSO VIN, which is issued by the state of FL and is actually printed on FL title paper. He was insistent that he had to issue an indepenent VIN, oblivious to the fact that EM had already gone the distance with the state and preinstalled the matching VIN plate on the fenderwell. I left with my tail between my legs
I wasn't willing to be bent over the pommel horse that easily, so I called the central DMV office in Tallahassee. Luckily I spoke to a very understanding and sensible person who understood what was going on. She called the individual at the inspection station and told him to accept the MSO VIN. She also said that if I couldn't get a receipt for the tranny, I would have to sign an afidavit stating where I purchased the tranny, how much I paid for it, and why I didn't have a receipt for it....that's it!! Luckily, my tranny guy from NY was still in business, remembered me and sent me a replacement receipt (I had purchased the tranny several years earlier).
This is the part that really gets me whenever I think back about how the inspection guy tried to make me jump through hoops. When I called him to let him know that I now had the receipt and needed to set another appointment, he told me, "just go to the local DMV office and tell them you talked to me and I said okay"....that was it, didn't want to see the receipt or anything else.....if I could have reached through the phone, I would have choked the $hit out of him....
In the final analysis, there was/is no iota of concern about safety...it's all about collecting revenue and exercising power.
Mike
