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Dealer won't buy car unless it's registered?

39,439 5,562 July 9, 2018 at 12:04 PM in Autos
My mother passed a few months ago and as executor I am going through her things and fulfilling her will which will mean basically everything she owned is sold. I checked for a rough idea of the value of her car (2011 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS w/ 45k miles) online and KBB (I think) had the option to have local dealers buy the car. OK fine. The issue is the car is unregistered (I didn't want to keep paying insurance on it for it to sit in a garage) and this is a no-go for every dealer that's called. I thought it would only be an issue if they needed to test drive the car (but again it's a dealer so.... dealer plates?) but a few of them have said they don't buy unregistered vehicles period. Odd.

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Original Poster
Dr. J
07-10-2018 at 05:22 AM.
07-10-2018 at 05:22 AM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
That doesn't answer the frog's question if you just told the dealer it was unregistered.

Is turning in the plates some sort of requirement in your state? Whenever I want to drop the insurance on a car I am still keeping I just drop the insurance. The plates are paid for and are mine to keep. None of the state's damned business if I have insurance on it as long as I'm not driving it on the streets.
This is NY btw. I actually called NY DMV, explained the situation and they said that I couldn't drop insurance without first dropping the registration, because it's a requirement to have insurance for the car to be registered, so that's what I did.
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Iaaaiws
07-10-2018 at 09:50 AM.
07-10-2018 at 09:50 AM.
Quote from Dr. J :
This is NY btw. I actually called NY DMV, explained the situation and they said that I couldn't drop insurance without first dropping the registration, because it's a requirement to have insurance for the car to be registered, so that's what I did.
You can't register a car here (Michigan) without insurance either, but it doesn't say anywhere that you can't drop the insurance whenever you want. You just can't drive it without insurance. When I park a car for winter storage I take the insurance off of it but the registration stays in place.

The places that seem strange to me are when the license plate stays with the car when it is sold. In some ways that probably makes sense but it just seem strange. laugh out loud
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BostonGirl
07-10-2018 at 12:55 PM.
07-10-2018 at 12:55 PM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
You can't register a car here (Michigan) without insurance either, but it doesn't say anywhere that you can't drop the insurance whenever you want. You just can't drive it without insurance. When I park a car for winter storage I take the insurance off of it but the registration stays in place.

The places that seem strange to me are when the license plate stays with the car when it is sold. In some ways that probably makes sense but it just seem strange. laugh out loud
In MA you can't cancel insurance until you give them a receipt from the RMV showing you cancelled the plates too. As far I recall anyways.
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Iaaaiws
07-10-2018 at 02:17 PM.
07-10-2018 at 02:17 PM.
Quote from BostonGirl :
In MA you can't cancel insurance until you give them a receipt from the RMV showing you cancelled the plates too. As far I recall anyways.
I hope they at least prorate the remaining life of the plate until expiration and give you the money back. I don't do it so much any more but I used to shuffle vehicles around all the time--park some for a few months and then put them back on the road. I would have been pissed if I had to keep canceling registrations and getting new ones. laugh out loud

I've even been thinking about dropping all of the insurance except comprehensive on my truck for the summer and parking it until late fall. None of the state's damned business if I have insurance on it parked on my property.
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Original Poster
Dr. J
07-10-2018 at 06:04 PM.
07-10-2018 at 06:04 PM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
You can't register a car here (Michigan) without insurance either, but it doesn't say anywhere that you can't drop the insurance whenever you want. You just can't drive it without insurance. When I park a car for winter storage I take the insurance off of it but the registration stays in place.

The places that seem strange to me are when the license plate stays with the car when it is sold. In some ways that probably makes sense but it just seem strange. laugh out loud
Quote from BostonGirl :
In MA you can't cancel insurance until you give them a receipt from the RMV showing you cancelled the plates too. As far I recall anyways.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
I hope they at least prorate the remaining life of the plate until expiration and give you the money back. I don't do it so much any more but I used to shuffle vehicles around all the time--park some for a few months and then put them back on the road. I would have been pissed if I had to keep canceling registrations and getting new ones. laugh out loud

I've even been thinking about dropping all of the insurance except comprehensive on my truck for the summer and parking it until late fall. None of the state's damned business if I have insurance on it parked on my property.
- yes they prorate the registration and send you a balance
- the same law applies in CT
- I did have to give the insurance a plate redemption receipt
- The fact that my mother had passed (I was her PoA but that didn't matter) but hadn't yet been named executor was an issue. At first the insurance didn't want to cancel, but the lapse date was 5/21 so I was just going to not pay the re-up. Then the atty convinced me to go after the prorated insurance amount (whopping $29!) so I had to provide all the documents.
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Dr. J
07-10-2018 at 06:07 PM.
07-10-2018 at 06:07 PM.
Quote from weapologize4any... :
It's at your dead mom's house, 5 hrs away from your residence? Why not (1) register vehicle; (2) obtain temporary insurance; (3) drive vehicle to your place & (4) then sell vehicle in your area?
Not sure if I could register a car in NY with CT license?

At any rate, what you propose IS an option however I'd have to transfer the title to CT - and probably put it in my name/the estate's in order to do so. Sounds like a huge PITA.

Not sure what it's like where you live but I avoid the DMV like the plague. Last time I had to go there was to unregister (hand in plates) for a car I sold last fall. I figured... I'll get there early (30 mins before open) in the middle of the week and be in and out. Right? farkING WRONG. I got there, already 12 people in line. So when it opened, I had to take a number and wait. Handing in the plates took a total of 5 minutes but I spent nearly TWO HOURS there.
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ProfessorChaos
07-10-2018 at 07:03 PM.
07-10-2018 at 07:03 PM.
DMV in California has started to put machines in supermarkets, etc., where you can handle simple stuff like paying for renewal of registration and getting new stickers, etc. Hopefully other states will follow suit.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv.../fo/fo_sst

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv...sst/toc_fo
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Last edited by ProfessorChaos July 10, 2018 at 07:06 PM.

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shhaggy
07-11-2018 at 12:35 PM.
07-11-2018 at 12:35 PM.
Quote from Fallacy :
Ah, ok, I get it, you're talking out of your ass. Ever heard of a car title?

Now, if OP is trying to sell the car without a title or registration, than I side with the dealers. If he's trying to sell the car without a registration but with a free and clear title, then there should be no reason for the dealers to reject it based on your made up reasons.
Some states don't issue titles in all situations. Also you can hypothetically replace a title if it's lost (and having multiple outstanding titles that each seem legit could help someone commit fraud by selling a car twice).

It's probably just easiest if the car is registered.
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shhaggy
07-11-2018 at 12:44 PM.
07-11-2018 at 12:44 PM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
You can't register a car here (Michigan) without insurance either, but it doesn't say anywhere that you can't drop the insurance whenever you want. You just can't drive it without insurance. When I park a car for winter storage I take the insurance off of it but the registration stays in place.

The places that seem strange to me are when the license plate stays with the car when it is sold. In some ways that probably makes sense but it just seem strange. laugh out loud
In NY if you drop liability coverage they immediately cancel your registration. And if you reinstate the insurance but there was a gap in coverage, you need to pay for NEW registration.

This happened to me once when I sold a car and the insurance company canceled the insurance on the wrong car. A few days later I get a letter in the mail saying my insurance lapsed so they canceled my registration. Called the insurance who immediately reinstated the insurance, but then NYS DMV says I need new registration because of the gap. Yelled at someone at my insurance company until they finally provided documentation to the DMV that there was no lapse and they made a mistake, then the DMV agreed that my registration is fine.
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Iaaaiws
07-11-2018 at 12:54 PM.
07-11-2018 at 12:54 PM.
Quote from shhaggy :
In NY if you drop liability coverage they immediately cancel your registration. And if you reinstate the insurance but there was a gap in coverage, you need to pay for NEW registration.

This happened to me once when I sold a car and the insurance company canceled the insurance on the wrong car. A few days later I get a letter in the mail saying my insurance lapsed so they canceled my registration. Called the insurance who immediately reinstated the insurance, but then NYS DMV says I need new registration because of the gap. Yelled at someone at my insurance company until they finally provided documentation to the DMV that there was no lapse and they made a mistake, then the DMV agreed that my registration is fine.
The joys of everything being instantly available via electronics I guess.

And people seem to want the government involved in even more of our lives. Crazy
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shhaggy
07-11-2018 at 01:12 PM.
07-11-2018 at 01:12 PM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
The joys of everything being instantly available via electronics I guess.

And people seem to want the government involved in even more of our lives. Crazy
I honestly don't have a big problem with the policy, I just wish smarter people worked at these places.
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Fallacy
07-11-2018 at 01:28 PM.
07-11-2018 at 01:28 PM.
Quote from shhaggy :
I honestly don't have a big problem with the policy, I just wish smarter people worked at these places.
Replace them with robots.
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Iaaaiws
07-11-2018 at 01:39 PM.
07-11-2018 at 01:39 PM.
Quote from shhaggy :
I honestly don't have a big problem with the policy, I just wish smarter people worked at these places.
I like that it can be a hindrance to those who would scam the system and drive without insurance but I hate that it punishes the majority of people who are law-abiding people who play by the rules.

I'm not sure the workers there lack intelligence so much as they are locked into endless rules and don't have the freedom to use common sense to solve problems.
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ProfessorChaos
07-11-2018 at 02:06 PM.
07-11-2018 at 02:06 PM.
Quote from ProfessorChaos :
DMV in California has started to put machines in supermarkets, etc., where you can handle simple stuff like paying for renewal of registration and getting new stickers, etc. Hopefully other states will follow suit.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv.../fo/fo_sst

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv...sst/toc_fo
Quote from Fallacy :
Replace them with robots.
The future has begun.


Quote from Iaaaiws :

I'm not sure the workers there lack intelligence so much as they are locked into endless rules and don't have the freedom to use common sense to solve problems.
Workers at government agencies have very little incentive to be efficient. They can't lose their jobs unless they're grossly incompetent. Even then it's hard to fire them.
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Last edited by ProfessorChaos July 11, 2018 at 02:22 PM.

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Fallacy
07-11-2018 at 02:11 PM.
07-11-2018 at 02:11 PM.
Quote from ProfessorChaos :
Workers at government agencies have very little incentive to be efficient. They can't lose their hubs unless they're grossly incompetent. Even then it's hard to fire them.
Hey now, I resemble that remark!
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