HELP legal issue with Minnesota DMV....suggestions?

Kevin Lynch

Kevin Lynch

PCS Member
The 69 MM I have for sale is not. The MN title I got with it had some out-of-left field serial number that didn't even look like one. Definitely not a pro-car VIN. I didn't realize it til this summer. This wrong VIN was on m SC title. So I had a SC trooper sign a VIN verification form, and the State of SC sent me a new title with the correct VIN. I went to re-register the car this week. The county said the state DMV computer still shows the wrong VIN. So I went to DMV with the new title with the correct vin. She pulled up a copy of the MN Vin I turned it when I applied for the SC title....showing the incorrect VIN. So even though I have a title with the correct VIN, they will NOT put the correct VIN in their own Computer How can they send me a new title with the correct vin yet maintain they are holding on to the VIN from Mn. ???? So now they want me to get a letter from Mn DMV that states the correct VIN (the correct correct vin) for title, also showing the wrong VIN. Where do I begin?????? I can sell the car now because I have a good and correct title. I just can't renew my license plates. That's the truth.
 
Having had this happen before in Minnesota, the only way they will change it is to submit a vin correction form. You need to have an old title from Minnesota or the state that it was from with the correct number or the car will need to be inspected in person at one of the inspection stations.
 
The MN dmv did something similar to me... they read the VIN wrong for my 63 Superior...instead of 63Z...they had it as 632...they refused to issue a title due to it lacking a letter. I explained to them that whoever did their entry work simply misread the number...their fault. Much like Gene said, I got a VIN correction form, had the previous owner sign off on it with the correct number confirmed and resubmitted it to them. No previous title was required, but a signature from the previous owner confirming the 63Z number was. Annoying to have to go through the trouble due to an error that the DMV 100 percent caused but, once that was done I got clear title. You could also go through the inspection process if thats easier. Its really not that big of a deal.
 
Have you compared the Superior body number with the number on the title? In 1969 Miller-Meteor was designated as a manufacturer by the Federal Government since they did the final work on an incomplete vehicle. The reason for this lies in the 1967 Motor Vehicle Act that passed congress that required all companies that were the final assembler of a vehicle to have a Federal Motor Vehicles manufacturer certification issued by the Department of Transportation. An example of this was if Ford supplied the cab and chassis and the XYZ Body Company installed the dump body on the vehicle, they were responsible for making certain that the vehicle met all Federal Motor Vehicle standards as set by the DOT. I do know that they were required to issue a "data plate" that was firmly attached to the vehicle, a practice that the commercial chassis builders had been doing for years. In theory, MM could have issued a Certificat of Origin for a vehicle, and it would have been legal. After a few years, some of the requirements were rolled back, and even though the XYZ Body Company did the final assembly, the government dropped them as being a "manufacturer" under the law.
I believe that the only way that you will be able to get this resolved is to go directly to the head office of the DMV and speak to someone there that has the ability to understand the issue and help to resolve it. I can understand that if they issued you a South Carolina Title, they will retain the Minnesota title. If the VIN on the Minnesota title was wrong and they just copied that number, then they are not at fault. The resolution is to deal with Minnesota DMV to get a corrected title in the original owner's name, and then have that title signed by the original owner and then present that to South Carolina to make the correction or issue you another title. The first thing to do is to gather the facts concerning the incorrect number. Hopefully, it will be the number stamped on the Miller-Meteor data plate. The other thing you can do is try to figure out all the previous owners back to 1969 and then see if you can get a copy of the original Certificate of Origin. Hopefully, there were only a couple.
 
I fear many buyers, and sellers can be very naive to the minefield this can be. We learn the hard way. Great you are getting this fixed before a sale goes through.
Years ago I purchased a 1950 GMC pickup out of Iowa. Had ALL the documents back to 1950. When it was to be exported out of the U.S. the border agent identified that back in the 80's when the plates were renewed the local agent typed s-102 rather than z-102 for the model number. The serial number was correct on all of the paper work. He refused to export the vehicle until documentation corrected. Had to try and find storage in a small border town, ask Iowa DMV to make the change, and try again weeks later. A nightmare.
Similar issues when I tried to export my 63 MM with all documents back to new. They would not export it as a GM serial number was not visible on the car. That one sat on a transport truck, with the meter running until a solution was found. The number was eventually found on the radiator brace.
 
What works in one state doesn't work in another. Sd wants a pencil rub on the vin off the car to change the title. But i will say that most of the MM i have look at the tag on were the z number gm sent with the cowl that got put on the car. That number may or may not match the chassis the cowl was attached to
 
If the number does not match anything on the car, there is no way to prove that the title goes to that car. Since another state issued a title for the car, Minnesota will probably not do any more about it anyway. They only have records for 8 years back and that title was probably 30 years old.
 
I'm willing to find that guy or lawyer somewhere who specializes in getting cars retitled. Thanks for the advice. I've dropped the price of the car by 4k if anyone out of SC is interested.
 
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