Interested in ppurchasing a turn key Austin Healey Replica but it seems to be very difficult to register replica cars in California, is there any help or advise
Take whatever paperwork the seller provides to DMV for an answer. Don’t buy it until you KNOW you can register it. Some states go back to the base car that the replica is built on and your Healey is registered as a Chevette for example.
States vary so much that you need to take the time to check this out yourself.
Is your perception of the difficulty based on having visited the DMV? Sometimes when we check something out we find out it’s simpler than we thought.
went to the DMV, since I’m interested in the Austin Healey as offered at http://www.healeyfactory.com/ it seems there is trouble since it is not build on an actual older chassis, CA seems to have had some trouble with the replicas and they changed the law, my DMV wants a report from the assembling company on the car and they need to be registered with the DMV for that and the other way would be register it in NV and then after 6 month move it to CA, I guess the later it will be because I do not want to pay another 5000 for an engineering company to recertify the car. There also seems to be need for a certificate from the Highway Patrol on the VIN, don’t really understand.
Did you ask Component Roadster Development about it? They may know what is required to pass muster in Cali, even though they are located in Florida. Email them and explain the situation. They may well have been this way before.
That’s a shame. You’d think the builders would apply for VIN numbers and titles as they complete vehicles.
I wouldn’t do the NV/CA thing, then it’s your problem if something messes up. As others said, CRD should make this easy for you. If they aren’t willing to do that, I’d skip it.