ALABAMA
Alabama is not a title state for vehicles of model year 1974 and older. This makes registering and plating of many of the Honda horizontals pretty easy. You're on your own with 1975 and later vehicles.
Required items:
Drivers License
Bill of Sale
Previous owner's registration documents and plates (if any).
Vehicle being registered.
I registered my Z50K1 and CT70HK0 simply by loading them into my van and going to the DMV with a handwritten BOS from the previous owner, showing the buyer, seller, VIN and purchase price.
The clerk made a copy of the BOS and did a database search for previous registrations since I had no tag/registration documents. Upon finding that neither were ever registered in Alabama before, she asked me to meet her outside to verify the VIN plates on the bikes. Since the bikes were really dirty and rusty, she just looked briefly at the plates and showed little interest in examining them further. If you can't bring your vehicle to the office, you can get any policeman to verify the VIN and sign a form for you to submit.
I was delayed a bit because I wanted to get Vintage plates, so I had to fill out an application for vintage plates. The upside of vintage plates is that they never need to be renewed, the downside is that you aren't supposed to drive on the streets except for shows, parades and fueling up. The vintage plates mainly caused a delay because the VINs were in an uncommon format, were not previously in the system, and the clerk hadn't done any vintage motorcycles before.
After an hour and payment of about $20 each, I walked out with plates and registration documents. I don't know if other states will accept this registration in lieu of title, but I would argue that they should.
I don't know if out of state residents can register in Alabama, but if you have a friend in Alabama who wants to buy your pre-75 untitled bike, he should have little problem getting a registration and plate. At some point, he might wish to sell it back to you since its now much more valuable as it will have a current registration.
Update: I've been made aware that while proof of insurance is not asked for when you register,you need to have liability insurance. While you are not required to have insurance on stored or non-operational vehicles, all registrations are subject to random insurance verification letters. If you get this letter and have no insurance by virtue of the vehicle being non-op or in storage, then they will want proof of insurance on the date of registration. This is especially important for the vintage plates as they never expire. A regular registration will expire if you don't renew. The penalty for this is $200.
http://license.limestonecounty.net/pdf/mvt-5-10.pdf
http://www.revenue.alabama.gov/motorvehicle/mvforms/mvr4012290.pdf
Alabama is not a title state for vehicles of model year 1974 and older. This makes registering and plating of many of the Honda horizontals pretty easy. You're on your own with 1975 and later vehicles.
Required items:
Drivers License
Bill of Sale
Previous owner's registration documents and plates (if any).
Vehicle being registered.
I registered my Z50K1 and CT70HK0 simply by loading them into my van and going to the DMV with a handwritten BOS from the previous owner, showing the buyer, seller, VIN and purchase price.
The clerk made a copy of the BOS and did a database search for previous registrations since I had no tag/registration documents. Upon finding that neither were ever registered in Alabama before, she asked me to meet her outside to verify the VIN plates on the bikes. Since the bikes were really dirty and rusty, she just looked briefly at the plates and showed little interest in examining them further. If you can't bring your vehicle to the office, you can get any policeman to verify the VIN and sign a form for you to submit.
I was delayed a bit because I wanted to get Vintage plates, so I had to fill out an application for vintage plates. The upside of vintage plates is that they never need to be renewed, the downside is that you aren't supposed to drive on the streets except for shows, parades and fueling up. The vintage plates mainly caused a delay because the VINs were in an uncommon format, were not previously in the system, and the clerk hadn't done any vintage motorcycles before.
After an hour and payment of about $20 each, I walked out with plates and registration documents. I don't know if other states will accept this registration in lieu of title, but I would argue that they should.
I don't know if out of state residents can register in Alabama, but if you have a friend in Alabama who wants to buy your pre-75 untitled bike, he should have little problem getting a registration and plate. At some point, he might wish to sell it back to you since its now much more valuable as it will have a current registration.
Update: I've been made aware that while proof of insurance is not asked for when you register,you need to have liability insurance. While you are not required to have insurance on stored or non-operational vehicles, all registrations are subject to random insurance verification letters. If you get this letter and have no insurance by virtue of the vehicle being non-op or in storage, then they will want proof of insurance on the date of registration. This is especially important for the vintage plates as they never expire. A regular registration will expire if you don't renew. The penalty for this is $200.
http://license.limestonecounty.net/pdf/mvt-5-10.pdf
http://www.revenue.alabama.gov/motorvehicle/mvforms/mvr4012290.pdf
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