California registration saga

ronsjc said:
Did you have to bring the Delica to the dealership or walk in and ask for the sticker? If you drive it there, do you have any type of temp registration, or just take your chances :)
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you have to bring the delica to the dealer. mine is already registered and road worthy in NY.
I did it for the potential CA sale of the van
 
Delinotdeli said:
View attachment 13514Duuuuuudes…….this thread really is the encouraging thread, MuchThanks

…..just got back to San Francisco yesterday from BC, just went and got the sticker in Daly City this morning.

Ok, on to the next step!
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Were you able to get this at Daly City recently?

We called today and they said Stacey retired and they don't have any stickers?

Maybe I need to stop in person...
 
Patka said:
Hi, this is an update and hopefully the last on this subject concerning the difficulties of registering a 25yr old imported diesel Delica in this state. After eight months of ‘miscommunications’ and virus related shutdowns I have plates for the 94 L300 I brought in from BC in November of last year. Still waiting for title but should be on the way. I just wanted to share that while my local DMV seemed clueless about any and all parts of the process except getting me temp tags albeit grudgingly, what it all came down to with Technical Compliance Section was an emissions label and having it inspected by official channels. Daly City Mitsubishi dealership affixed a sticker with some writing on it to the engine which appeased TCS, that bill about $170. Then got it inspected at DMV but apparently he did not check a box stating it complied with US/CA emissions standards. My bad for not catching that glaring error and correcting it before sending it to TCS. Who did catch it and surprisingly called me right away to let me know then sent me to CHP with a prefilled out reg 124 stating the emissions label issue to have it inspected again. FYI CHP equally clueless on such matters but at least signed the form. So, the label:View attachment 7568
And if I had know about any of this I would have stopped in Daly City (or presumably any Mits dealership) on the way to Santa Cruz from BC back in November. Hope this helps someone struggling through the California process.
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Was your van initially CARB compliant? I just got quoted $9995 to make my van CA compliant even though it's not a direct import they don't seem to care.

Any help is much appreciated !
 
W
galt said:
I successfuly got my vehicle registered in California during the pandemic,
but it cost $1200 and 6 weeks.
I live in Santa Cruz but I used a vehicle registration service in San Jose.
The vehicle was bought on ebay, and was being imported from Montana.
They registration service wanted me to mail them the original title,
but I hesitated to do that. Maybe it would have been fine. Instead I just
drove over to their office and slipped the documents under their door.
I was in frequent email communication with their staff who were helpful.
The reg service itself only charged $200 but california DMV charged $1000,
even though Montana has no sales tax.
After it finally chugged through the system, they wanted to inspect the odd japanese VIN
which is hidden under the little plastic panel by the driver's seat.
But although they usually offer to do this easily and for cheap at the reg service,
either since it was Japanese Domestic Market vehicle, or because it was during the pandemic,
I had to take the vehicle to the California Highway Patrol. I got the appointment scheduled
for two weeks later, and finally got the police officer to inspect the vehicle and VIN.
It was slightly tricky since the vehicle is out of state, and you are applying for a new california plate
at the same time. After the officer looked at some of my repair records and a copy of the title,
he signed off. The whole thing really only took about 10 minutes. Of course, we had to wear masks.
Then, this time I did trust the regular mail service to send the signed paper to the reg service in San Jose.
I waited a couple more weeks, pinged the service, they said that the DMV made a mistake
and required Diesel / Smog inspection. I reminded the person that in California, diesel vehicles
older than 1998 have smog requirements waived, he sent it back to the DMV for correction,
and then finally he said that it had gone through. In a week the CA plates arrived in my mailbox,
and registration stickers too, and a California title for the Delica. Then I could finally complete
my auto insurance registration, so everything was happy and all requirements were met.
I ended up going with Progressive.
Click to expand...
What kind of repair records did you have ?
 
galt said:
I successfuly got my vehicle registered in California during the pandemic,
but it cost $1200 and 6 weeks.
I live in Santa Cruz but I used a vehicle registration service in San Jose.
The vehicle was bought on ebay, and was being imported from Montana.
They registration service wanted me to mail them the original title,
but I hesitated to do that. Maybe it would have been fine. Instead I just
drove over to their office and slipped the documents under their door.
I was in frequent email communication with their staff who were helpful.
The reg service itself only charged $200 but california DMV charged $1000,
even though Montana has no sales tax.
After it finally chugged through the system, they wanted to inspect the odd japanese VIN
which is hidden under the little plastic panel by the driver's seat.
But although they usually offer to do this easily and for cheap at the reg service,
either since it was Japanese Domestic Market vehicle, or because it was during the pandemic,
I had to take the vehicle to the California Highway Patrol. I got the appointment scheduled
for two weeks later, and finally got the police officer to inspect the vehicle and VIN.
It was slightly tricky since the vehicle is out of state, and you are applying for a new california plate
at the same time. After the officer looked at some of my repair records and a copy of the title,
he signed off. The whole thing really only took about 10 minutes. Of course, we had to wear masks.
Then, this time I did trust the regular mail service to send the signed paper to the reg service in San Jose.
I waited a couple more weeks, pinged the service, they said that the DMV made a mistake
and required Diesel / Smog inspection. I reminded the person that in California, diesel vehicles
older than 1998 have smog requirements waived, he sent it back to the DMV for correction,
and then finally he said that it had gone through. In a week the CA plates arrived in my mailbox,
and registration stickers too, and a California title for the Delica. Then I could finally complete
my auto insurance registration, so everything was happy and all requirements were met.
I ended up going with Progressive.
Click to expand...
Did they not say anything about being CARB compliant ?
 
Patka said:
Hi, this is an update and hopefully the last on this subject concerning the difficulties of registering a 25yr old imported diesel Delica in this state. After eight months of ‘miscommunications’ and virus related shutdowns I have plates for the 94 L300 I brought in from BC in November of last year. Still waiting for title but should be on the way. I just wanted to share that while my local DMV seemed clueless about any and all parts of the process except getting me temp tags albeit grudgingly, what it all came down to with Technical Compliance Section was an emissions label and having it inspected by official channels. Daly City Mitsubishi dealership affixed a sticker with some writing on it to the engine which appeased TCS, that bill about $170. Then got it inspected at DMV but apparently he did not check a box stating it complied with US/CA emissions standards. My bad for not catching that glaring error and correcting it before sending it to TCS. Who did catch it and surprisingly called me right away to let me know then sent me to CHP with a prefilled out reg 124 stating the emissions label issue to have it inspected again. FYI CHP equally clueless on such matters but at least signed the form. So, the label:View attachment 7568
And if I had know about any of this I would have stopped in Daly City (or presumably any Mits dealership) on the way to Santa Cruz from BC back in November. Hope this helps someone struggling through the California process.
Click to expand...
Has anyone in SoCal successfully received one of these stickers from a Mitsubishi Dealership? I could take the Van to NorCal after Christmas if that's the only place that has been successful.
 
Kasey Mosher said:
you have to bring the delica to the dealer. mine is already registered and road worthy in NY.
I did it for the potential CA sale of the van
Click to expand...
Did you get your CARB sticker form West Mitsubishi? If so who did you see and what was the cost or what did they have to do?

Thanks
Ron
 
For those /trying to understand or currently struggling registering their Delica in California - The Golden State.

The issue we have is that since we are trying to register a vehicle that is not 50 state emissions compliant, due to CARB requirements, the CA DMV requires a certificate of conformance, which is a magical sticker that means that your vehicle as gone through a series of expensive/magical/unknown tests to prove to the state that your vehicle conforms to the California and EPA regulations for the year that your vehicle was made. There is ONLY one place left in the state that does these tests and so the prices can be extreme.

Based on my experience, you have a few options....
  1. The most expensive, most "legit" route - Get the ONLY CARB certified lab/mechanic in the entire state to modify your vehicle (like add a $1,200 diesel particulate filter to your Delica) then run through a series of tests to certify your vehicle conforms to CARB requirements and then they attach a Certificate of Conformance sticker on your vehicle (I had to do this for $5,000 back in 2018, due to my VIN previously being flagged by CA-DMV)
  2. The less expensive, but "might work" route - Get a Mitsubishi Dealer to slap their modification sticker on your Delica and hope that satisfies the DMV/CHP/CARB. Note: Technically, this does not give your Delica a "Certificate of Conformance", but it is the sticker that is used if you modified your engine or exhaust with approved components. But, if the DMV needs to see a sticker, this may suffice. If on the other hand you get a DMV verifier that understands what this sticker means, they may flag your VIN and you get sent to the DMV Technical Compliance Section, which will force you to option #1 (or option #4)
  3. The "I feel lucky" route - Try to find an "understanding" DMV branch somewhere and hope you don't get flagged. If the DMV is not "understanding", they may flag your VIN and you get sent to the DMV Technical Compliance Section, which will force you to option #1 (or option #4)
  4. The "I don't live here" route - Register out of state (like create a Montana LLC) and hope that you don't get caught.
Now, I know that other's may post that you don't have to go through the #1 route. But, that leaves open the possibility that the CA DMV Technical Compliance Section may decide one day to go through all the grey market vehicles and verify that all have a certificate of conformance, and if not then your VIN could be marked for "off-road use only" or force you to go through the compliance steps to re-register.

Lastly, there is also the possibility that even if you go through the hassle of getting the certificate of conformance, that one day the California DMV may pull a "Maine" or "Rhode Island may expand the Kei ban to include Delicas" at which point we would be screwed and can either try to convince them to grandfather our existing registrations, or sue the DMV.
 
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ronsjc said:
Has anyone in SoCal successfully received one of these stickers from a Mitsubishi Dealership? I could take the Van to NorCal after Christmas if that's the only place that has been successful.
Click to expand...
I'm new here and am looking for resources as well for Southern California. Looking for purchase a Delica and do a state-to-state (instead of buying a direct import) transfer of title sometime next year!
 
Patka said:
Hi, this is an update and hopefully the last on this subject concerning the difficulties of registering a 25yr old imported diesel Delica in this state. After eight months of ‘miscommunications’ and virus related shutdowns I have plates for the 94 L300 I brought in from BC in November of last year. Still waiting for title but should be on the way. I just wanted to share that while my local DMV seemed clueless about any and all parts of the process except getting me temp tags albeit grudgingly, what it all came down to with Technical Compliance Section was an emissions label and having it inspected by official channels. Daly City Mitsubishi dealership affixed a sticker with some writing on it to the engine which appeased TCS, that bill about $170. Then got it inspected at DMV but apparently he did not check a box stating it complied with US/CA emissions standards. My bad for not catching that glaring error and correcting it before sending it to TCS. Who did catch it and surprisingly called me right away to let me know then sent me to CHP with a prefilled out reg 124 stating the emissions label issue to have it inspected again. FYI CHP equally clueless on such matters but at least signed the form. So, the label:View attachment 7568
And if I had know about any of this I would have stopped in Daly City (or presumably any Mits dealership) on the way to Santa Cruz from BC back in November. Hope this helps someone struggling through the California process.
Click to expand...
Not a Delica, but same issue. Does anyone know of a dealership where I can get this sticker for a Toyota Hiace? I called the dealership and they said I need to find a diesel certified dealership to get the sticker. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
incognico said:
Thanks so much for this post! This has cleared up so much for me. However, how would this situation work if either of you had imported a car from Japan to California? I've heard on this forum that cars imported direct to California will be flagged because of their different length VINs, and that very often they are forced to go through CARB certification / independent verification.

Has anyone who successfully direct-imported a car to California from Japan, and obtained a California registration without having to go through CARB chime in?
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I have the same question. I purchased a '95 L400 Delica and its set to arrive to me this summer into Long Beach. @incognico, did you find out anything new on your question? Thanks in advance!
 

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Liz-CJ7 said:
I have the same question. I purchased a '95 L400 Delica and its set to arrive to me this summer into Long Beach. @incognico, did you find out anything new on your question? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
A direct import Japan -> California will likely be the hardest/most expensive of the below options... (#1)
sck_nogas said:
For those /trying to understand or currently struggling registering their Delica in California - The Golden State.

The issue we have is that since we are trying to register a vehicle that is not 50 state emissions compliant, due to CARB requirements, the CA DMV requires a certificate of conformance, which is a magical sticker that means that your vehicle as gone through a series of expensive/magical/unknown tests to prove to the state that your vehicle conforms to the California and EPA regulations for the year that your vehicle was made. There is ONLY one place left in the state that does these tests and so the prices can be extreme.

Based on my experience, you have a few options....
  1. The most expensive, most "legit" route - Get the ONLY CARB certified lab/mechanic in the entire state to modify your vehicle (like add a $1,200 diesel particulate filter to your Delica) then run through a series of tests to certify your vehicle conforms to CARB requirements and then they attach a Certificate of Conformance sticker on your vehicle (I had to do this for $5,000 back in 2018, due to my VIN previously being flagged by CA-DMV)
  2. The less expensive, but "might work" route - Get a Mitsubishi Dealer to slap their modification sticker on your Delica and hope that satisfies the DMV/CHP/CARB. Note: Technically, this does not give your Delica a "Certificate of Conformance", but it is the sticker that is used if you modified your engine or exhaust with approved components. But, if the DMV needs to see a sticker, this may suffice. If on the other hand you get a DMV verifier that understands what this sticker means, they may flag your VIN and you get sent to the DMV Technical Compliance Section, which will force you to option #1 (or option #4)
  3. The "I feel lucky" route - Try to find an "understanding" DMV branch somewhere and hope you don't get flagged. If the DMV is not "understanding", they may flag your VIN and you get sent to the DMV Technical Compliance Section, which will force you to option #1 (or option #4)
  4. The "I don't live here" route - Register out of state (like create a Montana LLC) and hope that you don't get caught.
Now, I know that other's may post that you don't have to go through the #1 route. But, that leaves open the possibility that the CA DMV Technical Compliance Section may decide one day to go through all the grey market vehicles and verify that all have a certificate of conformance, and if not then your VIN could be marked for "off-road use only" or force you to go through the compliance steps to re-register.

Lastly, there is also the possibility that even if you go through the hassle of getting the certificate of conformance, that one day the California DMV may pull a "Maine" or "Rhode Island may expand the Kei ban to include Delicas" at which point we would be screwed and can either try to convince them to grandfather our existing registrations, or sue the DMV.
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If you can manage it, first get it registered in another state. Thus, the CA DMV does not look at this as an IMPORT vehicle vs. an out of state transfer of title/registration.

Think of it this way. When someone brings in an import from another country, the DMV person pulls the rarely used book of instructions #26 off the shelf and goes through each step very carefully. When someone brings in an out of state transfer, the DMV person does the same 14 steps they do twenty times a day to just add registration and transfer title.
 
Save yourself the burocratic BS that I'm going through right now. Montana LLC registration and be done...then drive your Delica and give CA the finger.
 
kenleung98 said:
Save yourself the burocratic BS that I'm going through right now. Montana LLC registration and be done...then drive your Delica and give CA the finger.
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The only road block I found on doing the LLC route was the part (forget the form #) where CHP or other law enforcement needs to fill out the form when you are applying for out of state plate.
 
bikerjosh said:
The only road block I found on doing the LLC route was the part (forget the form #) where CHP or other law enforcement needs to fill out the form when you are applying for out of state plate.
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I had the same experience when going through the Montana LLC route, Everything can be done by mail however when I brought the MV20 vin verification form to the CHP they told me they can't touch any out of state forms.

I ended up driving to Montana and making a nice road trip out of if it. Once I was there I called the Montana Sherriff's department and they dispatched an officer out to meet me. He was there in 20 min, filled out the MV20 which I then brought to the registered agent along with the rest of my paperwork .....within a few hours they emailed me temporary plates. A few weeks later I got the permanent Montana plates in the mail.

Montana was such a pleasure to deal with compared to California highly recommend it!
 
For anyone that has a diesel, if you are older than 97’ then it’s exempt from smog. It’s an easy loophole to use when registering in California. Went into to register a 96 Land cruiser Prado that did not have a carb sticker and because of the pre 97’ they were able to process it and get plates same day. Hope this helps.
 
delibruh said:
For anyone that has a diesel, if you are older than 97’ then it’s exempt from smog. It’s an easy loophole to use when registering in California. Went into to register a 96 Land cruiser Prado that did not have a carb sticker and because of the pre 97’ they were able to process it and get plates same day. Hope this helps.
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Who did your VIN inspection though?
 
delibruh said:
DMV
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It is really hit and miss. I got mine passed at DMV. If they look up the actual rule, it will say something to the effect of the vehicle needing to be offered for sale in US w/that engine configuration. While Mitsubishi sold a van in US it was a gas motor, not a diesel. If the DMV does your vin verification w/o passing you off to CHP you should be ok. If you get routed to CHP, pretty good chance they will send you to the compliance firm down in Socal for the DPF install/testing and $5k or so bill.
 
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