You can’t transfer title without NEW smog test? But you can drive it till plates expire. Can you insure it for the next 6months? Most ins cos seem to be a little lax at first. You tell them you bought car and they may run vin and see it is still titled to former owner but they assume you are in process of transferring title. Or they might not even insure it till you prove title transfer IS in process.
Like I said before, it may be a quick and easy fix. Can you post the test report? How does the car run?
Look for a Mexican driving home for Christmas…They have a completely different viewpoint about titles and smog tests…
Look for a Mexican driving home for Christmas…They have a completely different viewpoint about titles and smog tests…
Funny @Caddyman . When I was a young man in Los Angeles, I bought a car and needed to sell my old one. It was a decent car, had a few dents, put it on the street with a For Sale sign, first guy to stop and look at it was a Mexican, he looked at it, asked if the car would make it to Fresno that night, and when I said “sure” he handed me money, threw the pink slip in the glove box, and took off.
Yeah… @ all of those Mexican jokes: F**K YOU. I happen to be Mexican born, U.S. raised.
Thank you posters with the replies that actually helped. The rest of you please jump off a bridge, you’d be doing mankind a favor.
@ asemaster
I actually threw the invoice away in a fit. The smog check guy did a check only. The car failed with something like a 1100 something HC. The mechanic guy next door told me the car needed something done to the engine because most likely the rings had worn out, or something like that. I do remember he said that compression was low on a cylinder and he did some shit with a gauge and turning over the engine without spark plugs. He said the plugs and wires were ok, and there didnt seem to be vacuum problems.
c’mon jo. I don t think anyone said anything derogatory about Mexicans…
maybe the Mexican vehicle standards, which many of us really wish were ours. especially us hillbillies…
how much does a 92 accord cost in LA? sure you paid something for it so you want it to work. i think there are 3 or 4 92 accords in mn right now. they all rusted out long ago
Mr. JoHerman has not received advice or responses to their satisfaction. This is to inform you your refund is in the mail.
OK. Hydrocarbon readings over 1000 parts per million indicates a cylinder not firing. Often it’s as simple as a fouled out $3 spark plug. Sounds like that’s not the case here. Sounds like your mechanic friend was doing a compression test and found a mechanical problem, low compression. If you’re living just right and the gods are smiling upon you the problem could be as simple as a valve out of adjustment and your mechanic friend can fix it in half an hour. But that’s a very long shot. You’re likely looking at a valve job or engine repair/replacement.
It’s been 20 years since I’ve worked in CA, but go back to the smog station or do some research with BAR. I believe there is a waiver program and state funded customer assistance program to help you smog and register your car.
“You need to call the DMV and find out what you need to do. Asking amateurs across the country will not get you a definitive answer. It has only gotten you several plausible guesses.”
+++++
It always amazes me when people ask anonymous strangers–with unknown agendas and unknown locations–to provide advice of a legal nature, despite the fact that there are official sources for that type of vital information.
What no longer amazes me, unfortunately, is when people don’t like the advice that they were given, and choose to insult and/or curse at the folks providing that–admittedly–non-expert advice.
As the old saying goes…The more people I encounter, the more I like my dog.
;-))
Don’t let the door hit ya…
Nobody made any ethnic slurs. To the contrary, they tried to HELP you unload a car!
Come back once you’ve grown some thicker skin.
@meanjoe75fan
I’m laitno and I ive in Los Angeles. How thick do you think my skin is? I’m bulletproof homie. IF you turn out the lights, I’ll glow!
ANYWAY… all that other BS aside… Man this sucks. I payed a grand for the car. I am NOT willing or, honestly, able to afford another grand on my part-time job. This was supposed to be my xmas gift for myself, LOL.
Thank you for all the helpful replies, merry xmas to all of you, even the a-holes, god still loves you… I don’t, but he does.
You have title. Car fails smog. What does DMV say your options are? Do you have to pay XX dollars in attempt to fix car? I think it is up to $750? Many have said it here. What does DMV tell you? DMV sez you have car but cannot transfer title, so your out of luck?
If the person who sold you the car cannot be found and is not cooperative, about the only option I can see as to clearing up the registration is to try and hunt down the person named on the title as the owner.
Maybe the listed owner will be cooperative in helping get the title into your name.
The other side of the coin is that if there are any shenanigans involved in that car’s history the listed owner may become a problem.
If an internet search doesn’t produce a valid address/phone number for the listed owner you might consider talking to a private detective agency and see how much it would cost to run a skip trace on them.
It’s not a registration issue. He has title. Car must pass smog to transfer title. My kid just bought a car in Utah. They had to smog test it for title transfer.
^How do they handle “parts cars?” I always thought title=ownership.
Question remains-how do you have title and not transfer it? Maybe have the piece of paper but transaction is not complete until legal transfer takes place.
At any rate I suspect the guy got sold a bill of goods with a bad engine and disappeared. Really not much else to do if you can’t get the money back except take the loss and junk it, or fix it.
In the old days, less scrupulous dealers used to put saw dust in transmissions and engines to make them quieter until sold.
Why are you reluctant to go to the DMV though to try and track the owner down?
I understand that the OP has the title. However, a title that has not been signed off on and/or notarized may not be worth the paper it’s printed on.
If someone walked into any DMV here with an incomplete or non-notarized title the DMV agent would not allow that title to advance one inch in the process.
I’m curious about what blanks are empty on the form and whether or not the person who sold this car can even be contacted now.
I am on your side Jo hopefully since it passed 4 months ago and does not pass now it is a legal issue aor a part that failed in the meantime. Sorry if I missed it, did you ever pull the codes?