Has anyone dealt with an out of state bike? Somewhat complicated...

I have a clean CO titled bike in my name that I'm trying to sell in CA. It's a 49-state bike with 4500 miles.

From what I gathered, 49 state bikes cannot be registered in CA with less than 7500 miles. So I thought it would save me a lot of grief if I just sold it to a dealership. The salesperson told me that any used vehicle, even though it's a 49-state, can be sold and reg'd in CA. That's conflicting info.

I called a different dealership and this time the salesperson told me that they cannot accept 49-state vehicles with less than 7500 miles. That's more in line with the info I found. But now he says if I can somehow get it titled in CA first, they will accept it. It seems there's an exception for the 7500 mile rule which says I can reg it in CA if I'm moving here. Thing is, I'm not *actually* moving here since I already live here. I just happened to buy this while I was in CO and it was titled there initially. But as far as the DMV is concerned, the CO title has my name on it and I'll be applying for a CA title with my own name on it.

Has anyone deal with this kind of situation before? I'm coming across too many conflicting information that it all gets pretty confusing. I'm waiting in line for the DMV to call me back but I wanted to get some more clarification from someone who may be knowledgeable on this topic.

A long time ago I bought a Sportster through the HD concession in Subic Bay. The salesman recommend that I take delivery in Oregon for sales tax avoidance. I picked up the sporty in Klamath Falls and rode to my new California duty station. California DMV demand that I pay California sales tax. Might be outdated info, but that is my contribution.

There are exceptions for when you are moving to the state, not sure what sort of documentation they ask for in this case. I brought several vehicles when I moved a couple years ago and they didn’t ask for anything, but they where all over the mileage limit.

Aside from that it can’t be sold into California without more miles on it. Once it’s got a CA title you should be all good.

Doesn't sound complicated at all. You're a Californian. You bought an out-of-state bike with 4500 miles on it. You're screwed.

However, if it's a 50-state bike--i.e., in spite of the CO title, it has a CA emissions sticker--you can register it easily.

Also, if you owned it for more than a year you won’t owe sales tax when you bring it in. Less than a year you owe sales tax (minus whatever you already paid in CO)

Just ride the bike back to California with a quick stop in Virginia.

Well, to be exact, it had about 3000 miles on it when I bought it.

Just got off the phone with the DMV. As long as it has a US emissions sticker on it, I am allowed to title and register it in California. I stressed to the DMV person that the sticker DOES NOT specifically say anything about CA. It is a single sentence that says "This vehicle conforms to U.S. EPA regulations applicable to 2018 model year new motorcycles." That's it. And I was told again that yes, bring the bike to the DMV, they will do an emissions verification by confirming the sticker, and I'll be able to get a title. And once I receive a CA title, I am then allowed to sell it to anyone within the state with no limits even though it is still a 49-state bike.

I'm a little skeptical but this is the information that came directly from a DMV person, so I'll be heading over to my local DMV to go through the steps and see if it's actually true.

Keep us updated. My guess is since you titled it in your name in CO, it's your bike and you can register it here, I'm guessing that's the logic. As opposed to going out of state, buying a bike and transferring the title here.

Can you not register it with an out of state title? My car has a CA title and an NV registration. I'd imagine that anyone moving in from out of state with a car loan wouldn't have the title in their possession but could still register and plate a vehicle.

newtobikes said:

Well, to be exact, it had about 3000 miles on it when I bought it.

Just got off the phone with the DMV. As long as it has a US emissions sticker on it, I am allowed to title and register it in California. I stressed to the DMV person that the sticker DOES NOT specifically say anything about CA. It is a single sentence that says "This vehicle conforms to U.S. EPA regulations applicable to 2018 model year new motorcycles." That's it. And I was told again that yes, bring the bike to the DMV, they will do an emissions verification by confirming the sticker, and I'll be able to get a title. And once I receive a CA title, I am then allowed to sell it to anyone within the state with no limits even though it is still a 49-state bike.

I'm a little skeptical but this is the information that came directly from a DMV person, so I'll be heading over to my local DMV to go through the steps and see if it's actually true.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's right. If it's your bike (ie already titled in your name), they can't stop you from bringing it into state, as long as it meets federal emissions regs. It's no different than you moving here and bringing it in with you - just say you moved here previously but kept the bike at your other house, and are now moving it here.

Once you have it titled in CA in your name, then you can sell it with no issues, since it's no longer an out-of-state bike. You would (or rather, the buyer would) only run into issues if you sold it with the out-of-state title, since to the DMV that would look like them trying to import a 49-state bike that they just bought.

If you're a California resident, you have 20 days to register your vehicle in California. LEO will ask you how long you've lived in California if you present an out of state registration in your name and you have a Ca drivers license.

dravnx said:

If you're a California resident, you have 20 days to register your vehicle in California. LEO will ask you how long you've lived in California if you present an out of state registration in your name and you have a Ca drivers license.

Click to expand...

That's if your vehicle is in-state. As far as the DMV is concerned, it's been at his other house this entire time, and he just brought it here, and is doing the reg-and-title dance within the allotted 20 days.

Well the truth is that the bike really was outside of CA and only entered the state like 2 days ago. I bounce around a lot but retain residency in CA. I'm doing all this because I'm trying to sell it while I'm here, but if it cannot be titled then I'll just bring it back to CO or sell it out of state. In line at the dmv right now to confirm everything in person. Will keep updating.

Be careful with this one.
If its registered in CO and you sell it to a buyer here and its not titled here you will have screwed the new owner.
If you are able to reg and title it here in you should be just fine.
I use the terms loosely.
Not all DMV people know what the hell they are talking about.
You can get information over the phone and walk into a DMV and have your bike banned in a heartbeat.

The left.. no pun intended doesn't know what the right one is doing here in the great state of confusion.

Best bet... you reg and title it here and then sell it.
The DMV then cant ban the bike period.
Id ask them I havent brought the bike yet but i have the paperwork.
Be aware they might want you to surrender the out of state plates too.
Can this all be done even though the bike is out of state currently.
Tell them you want to get this done before you bring it. Play Ignorant.

Don't get it blackballed for 36 months

Wait, what's this about getting blacklisted?

newtobikes said:

Wait, what's this about getting blacklisted?

Click to expand...

If you were to sell it to someone with the CO title, and they take it to the DMV to reg it and inspection shows it is a 49-state bike with less than 7500 miles, they (supposedly) black-list it in their system so it can no longer be registered at all. This is to prevent the owner from just riding it illegally until it has 7500 miles, and then going back to register it then. Note that I've never heard of a story, first-hand or otherwise, where someone went to register a 49-state bike with over 7500 miles and was told they could not because it was black-listed previously.

You don't have to worry about this because it's a bike you already own, not something that you just purchased from out-of-state.

newtobikes said:

Wait, what's this about getting blacklisted?

Click to expand...

If you try to register it in California and they determine that it can't be registered in California because it is a 49-state bike with less than 7500 miles on it, they'll remember and NOBODY will be able to register it in California for the next three years.

Data Dan has the correct answer. Sell the bike in Colorado and next time you buy a bike in another state, intending to register it or sell it in California, make sure you're following the rules.

Don't pay attention to the theories of how you might bend the rules and somehow magically get it registered, The bike needs to go back to another state.

ScottRNelson said:

Data Dan has the correct answer. Sell the bike in Colorado and next time you buy a bike in another state, intending to register it or sell it in California, make sure you're following the rules.

Don't pay attention to the theories of how you might bend the rules and somehow magically get it registered, The bike needs to go back to another state.

Click to expand...

I don't care where I sell it in. It was bought and titled in CO because that's where I was at the time, but who knows where it was going to end up. The intent was to keep it until I wanted to sell it. Now is that time and I happen to be in CA, the one state where the rules are different, so I'm trying to sort it all out. I don't think it's unreasonable for me to want to sell in CA given that. It could've easily been TN or TX (bike and I were in both those places as well) but it had more utility in those places so I held onto it. Now it doesn't. I'm not sure why some of you think I'm trying to sneak one into the state. It gives me no added benefit -- in fact it's already more of a headache than trying to sell it elsewhere.

For those of you wanting an update, I ended up not waiting much longer at the dmv. Part of it was getting a little spooked by the blacklist talk, part of it was me wanting to actually sit down and evaluate if it's worth titling it in CA (if I even can) just to turn around and try to sell it right after vs. just sell it out of state. I'll probably do much more research tonight and return to the dmv tomorrow if I decide to plate it here.

Nothing wrong with getting spooked and not doing it today.
Better safe than sorry.

What Whammy knows the law to be is 49 state bike cant be registered until they have 7500 miles on them..
I bought a 49 state bike with 7501 miles on it , no California emissions decal.
All I had to do is show the vin and engine number so it could be documented for the new CA title.
Whammy did use a DMV broker which is an agent for the dmv, and they know the laws . The one I used has never had a bike come back as banned, and wont try to register it if it doesn’t meet the requirements.
They will get it done for you for a small admin fee, no BS from the DMV and the lack of knowledge the monkeys there don’t possess .

I cant speak to your changing residency and such, if you can reg it legally then do it.