April 2014 Archives

Scooterlounge is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and thus, we have a deep and abiding interest (some could call it a hatred) of the California DMV.  Paying the registration fees on a fleet of scooters really adds up.  So we are really keen to figure out ways to pay less, or at least, not pay any unnecessary fees to the Man.

We already gave you, gentle reader, the tools with which to fight any back registration fees on your classic vehicle.  If you forgot, go here and read....

Now, we have become privy to a new online resource to find out in advance whether you'll need to pre-arm yourself for battle.  We give you, the online registration calculator.  You can use it to find out if your chosen vehicle owes back registration fees and penalties. 

Thusly forewarned, you can go to the DMV with the correct law provisions at your fingertips with which to dazzle and delight the clerk opposite you in the window.  You'll be in for a fight, that's for sure.  However, with the law on your side, you should come out victorious.

Warning - below is a legal description of the California law as it pertains to vehicle registrations. Ignore if you don't want to dork-out.

I did a bit of research into the issue of paying back registration on a vehicle that hadn't been registered in awhile.  This comes up often with scooters, because people just don't pay the reg, and then sell them.  So when you buy the bike and change the title, you have to pay all the past registrations.  I read on an online forum that it was possible to get out of having to pay the back reg for a vintage vehicle, but that most people (and most DMV employees) didn't know about the law.  So that got me on the road of doing some legal research into the guts of the California vehcle code...