BJ42 import - CA registration

[amaurer]

I registered my 25-year exempt BJ42 this morning here in California. Was nervous that I was going to be crushed under a wave of idiocy, but actually seemed to go OK. Plates have to come from Sacramento, so there will be some additional scrutiny, but so far so good.

Anyway, as far as the inspection/verification was concerned, people have posted that the absence of the EPA sticker (even though its smog exempt) was going to be an issue. I solved it like this:

I took the EPA exemption form from customs, (along with the FMVSS exemption) folded them up so the logo's were outward and made them little "pockets" in the door jamb. When the DMV went looking for stickers they found those forms instead.

Thus, rather than checking "Missing" on the EPA sticker inspection, I got a "None: N/A". With luck this will satisfy everyone, we shall see, and I'll update it here. The inspector also noted it was a diesel, so hopefully there will be no issue.

The rest of the registration went fine, but took forever, as no one knew how to handle NZ paperwork. THey got it done, though.

[Diescipel]

Congrats!

My experience though is that the DMV will give you plates and register it, but they won't give you a CA title. Instead, a letter will come later from the 'technical compliance division' or somesuch asking for a letter from Toyota stating that it conforms to USDOT regs. That letter will never come, or will be inadequate. I had to copy all my import docs and send them to the DMV and then they sent me a CA title. That's my experience at least; YMMV.

Enjoy!
B

[frostback]

I had no problems registering a 1973 SDP Pinzgauer 710K in California. They had no issues with missing stickers or anything else.

Good luck!

[Otterav]

Hello,
I took my 1981 BJ42 to the CA DMV with my import paperwork, bill of sale and submitted it, got my plates and reggie on the spot. Clerk said the DMV would send a letter to the country of export to determine if the truck was stolen or had leins, if the country of export reported no problems, title would follow. My title took about 4 months to arrive, all is well!
eric

[jcolvin]

Originally Posted by Otterav

Hello,
I took my 1981 BJ42 to the CA DMV with my import paperwork, bill of sale and submitted it, got my plates and reggie on the spot. Clerk said the DMV would send a letter to the country of export to determine if the truck was stolen or had leins, if the country of export reported no problems, title would follow. My title took about 4 months to arrive, all is well!
eric

I have a feeling that DMV compliance have seen enough of these now that they have finally gotten clued in. They used to be a nightmare.

[brownbear]

due to the successful imports into CA I have added this thread to the FAQ for importing. Thanks.

[tlaporte]

Interesting. My experience (1983 HJ47 from Oz imported this year)

Originally Posted by Diescipel

Congrats!

My experience though is that the DMV will give you plates and register it, but they won't give you a CA title. Instead, a letter will come later from the 'technical compliance division' or somesuch asking for a letter from Toyota stating that it conforms to USDOT regs. That letter will never come, or will be inadequate. I had to copy all my import docs and send them to the DMV and then they sent me a CA title. That's my experience at least; YMMV.

Enjoy!
B

[tlaporte]

This was roughly my experience, too. I first brought my paperwork to the DMV in June, prior to the truck's arrival, so that I would have a temporary tag in order to drive it home from the port. A DMV inspection was followed by a CHP inspection and a return trip to the DMV. On that last trip to the DMV I handed over all of my importation documents, which were packaged and sent to Sacramento. About six weeks later I got plates in the mail, and three days after that I got a CA title (which I was a very pleasant surprise).

The total process took about five months, but a good three months of that was spent waiting for my scheduled CHP appointment/inspection.

-- Tom

Originally Posted by Diescipel

Congrats!

My experience though is that the DMV will give you plates and register it, but they won't give you a CA title. Instead, a letter will come later from the 'technical compliance division' or somesuch asking for a letter from Toyota stating that it conforms to USDOT regs. That letter will never come, or will be inadequate. I had to copy all my import docs and send them to the DMV and then they sent me a CA title. That's my experience at least; YMMV.

Enjoy!
B

[amaurer]

The DMV didn't give me plates, oddly... now I'm worried. They said plates would come within 30 days from sacramento.