Quote:
Originally Posted by C5GTO
So my Cobra was first registered in mid-90s and so that's the model year currently on the title. It is exempted from emissions testing in CA but shows the newer model year so CA could maximize the license fees collected. I also have a home built 1962 Ferrari tribute car that was first titled in 2000s so I've got to get this figured out as it isn't a single car issue for me.
It would be great if someone had transferred title for their Cobra into AZ and can speak to how it worked for them. If so, I'd really appreciate the insight.
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If you do a simple, $12 title document transfer from CA to Az, then yes, the model year on the California title will transfer over (because they are simply copying the information from one legal document over to another), and you will be subject to the same emissions laws for that model year in Arizona (Az emission laws vary county by county). However, there will be no inspections, and minimal hassle if you perform the simple document transfer.
If you want to change/revise the model year on the car's title, then your other legal option is to completely re-title the car in Arizona as a specialty/custom vehicle, after you have completely re-located here.
This process requires some very specific actions that you must take, and some specific legal language that you must use, and these are trade-secrets that I'm not going to divulge in a public forum. PM me if you need more details.
The process is time consuming (you will need to present the car for inspection), legal (you will have to write, sign and notarize a legal affidavit expressing your claim of ownership to the car) and expensive (you have to purchase a surety bond which indemnifies the state of Arizona from any liability for the car's new title); but once you do the bonded title process, Arizona will attach a new VIN tag to the car, and will title the car using this new VIN number, and will apply the "spcon" model designation (special construction) and will title it as the model year which it replicates (usually 1965 for Cobras), and voila! Your car will now only have to be compliant with 1965 or older emissions laws (meaning: no emissions test anywhere in the state of Az)
The bonded title route works best if you know that you are going to hang onto the car for a minimum of 3 years from the date that the bond is purchased. After 3 years have passed, the bond drops off the title, and the title becomes "clean"
You can still sell the car and transfer the title to a new owner during the 3 year bonded period, but the buyer has to be willing to accept the legal surety (validity) of the existing bond (unless they are out of state, in which case they won't even know that the bond exists; so it's really no big deal, to be honest)
I've titled (and re-titled) a lot of old, abandoned, unique, and custom cars in the state of Arizona over the past 30 years. I've seen all the ins and outs of the process. I can state (as a matter of fact) that the process is agonizingly painful, not fun, and very time consuming ( towing the car down for inspection, then running back and forth from the DMV office, to the Surety bond place, back to the DMV, etc...)
Yuck.
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