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Wrong Number

Kenyon Sayler

WE BOUGHT A SAILBOAT and trailer in 2008 for our son for his 15th birthday. At the time, he was too young to own a boat, so I registered it in my name.

Fast forward 15 years, and we finally got around to transferring the title to our son. Transferring the boat was quick and easy. Transferring the trailer was not.

Cars, trucks, boats and trailers all have unique vehicle identification numbers, or VINs. In this case, it’s a 17-digit number.

The first number of the VIN engraved on the trailer is a five. The seller sent in the title transfer paperwork, which included the VIN number and which I signed. Two weeks later, I got the title from the state. Everything was correct, except the VIN started with a four—something I didn’t notice at the time.

When we tried to transfer the title to our son 15 years later, we discovered the state had ownership records for the various VINs—but I wasn’t listed as the owner of any of them. Compounding the confusion, the state upgraded its computer system in 2008, and it’s now difficult to get information from that time.

Fortunately, I still had the original bill of sale, the original title transfer, and the title that I’d received from the state. The state asked me to produce:

  • A photo of the trailer’s VIN
  • A photo of the license plate
  • Photos of each side of the trailer, both a hard copy and a digital file
  • A statement of how I came to own a trailer with no previous transfer of title on record, with the statement also signed by the original seller

Fortunately, I’d purchased the boat on consignment from a well-known boat dealer that’s still in business. When I showed the boat dealership all of the photos and original paperwork, an employee had no problem signing the statement. 

I took all of this information to the license center. After about an hour consulting with the department of motor vehicles, calling the seller and running a background check on me, the license center was able to give me clear title to the trailer. All told, I spent about six hours cleaning up the mess.

If I had to do all of this for a trailer, I can’t imagine what an ordeal it would have been for an automobile. Needless to say, I’ll be double checking the VIN on any future purchases.

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Winston Smith
8 months ago

It must be great to be young Kenyon and still believe that government workers actually care about honest, taxpaying citizens.

Didn’t someone famous say that ‘That the nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”’?

OldITGuy
8 months ago
Reply to  Winston Smith

More than 75% of government workers are teachers, police, firemen, and the military. I think most of the folks in each of these groups do care about the citizens they serve.

GaryW
8 months ago

In the 1970s, the title for my new car had one digit missing in the VIN. Luckily, I checked it as soon as I got my title, and the dealer took care of getting it fixed. It was complicated somewhat because the dealer was just over the border in an adjacent state. A few months later, I moved to a third state, I don’t know what problems that would have created if I hadn’t found the error. Since then, I’ve always checked the title for errors.

John Redfield
8 months ago

My grandfather (an attorney) filled out paperwork in VA to transfer trailer ownership to my father circa 1968. For the year of manufacture, he filled in ‘circa 1962’. The application was denied because they had no record of the manufacturer ‘Circa.’

Linda Grady
8 months ago

So fortunate that you kept all the original paperwork. In my old neighborhood in Queens, someone had an ancient (1930s), unrestored car on their property. The owner of the house told me he couldn’t get rid of it because there was no paperwork. Likewise, when buying our first home, my mom told me to forget the unoccupied house that had an old truck parked in the driveway: “You’ll have trouble getting rid of it – don’t put in an offer.”

OldITGuy
8 months ago

I had a similar problem with a used dirt bike motorcycle I bought from a private party. The title I received had a vin that was 1 number different from what was on the bike. What I did at the time (over 50 years ago) was rather than try to “fix it”, i went through the process for a lost title. Basicly, I just sent them my bill of sale and they issued me a new title with a correct vin and my name on it. But then, that was 50 years ago so I doubt it’d be so easy today.

Nuke Ken
8 months ago

Seven years ago, I bought a 2005 Outback. Despite the pink slip being clearly written by the dealer, the title came back with ‘Culter’ as my last name. I went to AAA for advice and they filled out a correction form for me. The title was revised to read ‘Renneth Culter’. I couldn’t believe it. Sent another correction form with very explicit instructions to correct both names included. It came back ‘Kenneth Culter’ again. I ended up having to drive to DOT headquarters an hour away to resolve the issue in person.

Linda Grady
8 months ago
Reply to  Nuke Ken

Sorry to laugh at your expense, Ken, but this was so ridiculous that I spilled my coffee – the things we have to go through because of epic ineptitude! I just repeat after myself “It’s not life or death.” But SO frustrating!

Nuke Ken
8 months ago
Reply to  Linda Grady

Linda, no offense taken. I felt like I’d entered the Twilight Zone and had to laugh myself, despite the many hours of wasted time the bureaucratic bungling cost me. I’d even planned to write an article entitled “Our Competency Crisis”, with this as a prominent example.

Randy Dobkin
8 months ago
Reply to  Nuke Ken

And those are the workers getting the nice pensions.

Jonathan Clements
Admin
8 months ago
Reply to  Nuke Ken

Terrible experience — but it makes for a great story!

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