Re: [VACList] registering an Airstream California VIN

[DarkRmPro@xxxxxxx]

We can attest to the difficulty of dealing with the CA DMV.  We bought out 
Globetrotter from Dan at Vintage Campers in Indiana and had it towed here (to 
Riverside) by Rick Davis.  I called the DMV to determine how we register it 
and found that it involved taking paperwork to the DMV (get an appointment, 
wait in line anyway, deal with red tape, etc. ) to get a temporary 
registration so that we could take it on the road to the DMV to show them the 
VIN number.  We had never towed anything in our lives.  But we hooked up the 
Suburban and made our way 3 miles to the DMV office terrified that we'd hit 
someone, nervous about every rattle and bump we'd heard (we pulled over 
twice) and anxious that we'd really gotten in over our heads with 
insufficient preparation.  

We made it to the parking lot and sprawled it across several spaces grateful 
to have made it alive and without damage.  A guy pulls up in his truck - 
blocks our path, jumps out and says "wow, these are really cool, ya wanna 
sell it to me?"  Needless to say, we didn't sell but did give him a tour and 
pointed him to some websites to check.

Next I went inside, stood in line again, and was assured that someone would 
be out soon to check the number if we pulled around to the other side of the 
building.  Naturally, we were pointed in the wrong direction and had to pull 
into an alley, scraping the bumper in the process to find an open field to 
turn around in, to get back into the alley, to get back to the DMV parking 
lot, scraping the bumper again (it was a really deep gutter) and around the 
proper side of the building pointing in the prescribed direction.  Then we 
waited for another 45 minutes.  I went back inside, waited in line again, to 
find out that "oh, didn't the person come out?  oh, well, we'll see where she 
is".  Twenty minutes later that woman comes out to look at the VIN, BUT WAIT, 
the registration from Ohio and the sales reciept from Indiana show a VIN of 
D21D9J195 (starts with D as in Dog).  The plate next to the door looks more 
like an O as in octopus, but it's hard to tell, could go either way.  Hmmmm, 
gotta find a supervisor.  The supervisor has to call his supervisor.  Much 
discussion ensues.  Massive amounts of paperwork are generated.  Three and a 
half hours after we left home, we finally had our paperwork and could go home 
to back the trailer into our yard for the first time.  This took a long time 
and much stress.  We must have lost 5 lbs. each that day just from sweat (and 
it was February).

If only we had thought of the AAA.

Virginia Fesunoff
1969 Globetrotter 21'
1996 Suburban 1500
Old Town Discovery 17'4" Canoe

http://www.pe.net/~breaktek/darkrmpro/airstream/