Try to get some knowledge on your own concerning the current registration rules and regulations.
Get the statutes in writing, in your hand, for best results.
My learning curve when taking a car off the books. I purchased a 1966 Galaxie 2dr fastback as a parts car...the frame was so shot I could not even jack the car up, but there were lots of excellent parts on this car.
Anyway, when I had completed my teardown I took the title to my local Deputy Registrar in Eagan, off Beau-de-Reau drive...It is Cedar Grove Pkwy now. I really did not know what to do but I knew this car was never going to see the road again so why not get it off the books.
The lady who helped me was the special kind of pleasant you never forget. She knew everything and you were an idiot bothering her. This Galaxie had Collector plates so they were part of the deal. She tells me this will cost something like $325 directly because of the Collector plates...This was the late 1990's and that was a LOT of money to simply take a title off the system.
I tried to reason with her and all she would do was talk a bit more tersely and loudly...I took my title and left, having done nothing. After some checking, and a trip to the main DMV office in St. Paul. I had spoken to the man in charge of the whole place...after working my way up the ladder past people who did not know what to do.
They were good, polite, and helpful, just nobody had ever scrapped a Collector titled vehicle I guess. Well the head guy gives me a copy of the statutes, and after finding out who I was dealing with at the regirstrars office, he also gave me some special treatment, including his personal phone number to call if she was more trouble.
I went back to the office, armed with the statutes, and tried again. She was having non of it. I had manufactured that stuff and it was not true because she had been doing this since...blah, blah, blah, remember, she knew everything and you were and idiot.
I politely asked if I could use the counter telephone to call the St Paul DMV office. She snarkily agreed stating there is nothing they can find to help me.
As I am calling the office I am also getting out my special letter directly spelling out exactly what to do with this situation. DMV letterhead, signed, endorsed, and notorized by the man himself...it even had one of those embossed seals...Like I said, I got some special treatment from him. I guess my polite attitude paid off this time.
I talk to the man and he says, put her on..so I give the phone to Mrs. Crabtree and it goes like a movie scene.
I can hear him YELLING at her while she tries to but in and say something...Nope, you are wrong lady and this much work should not have to be done to get this simple job accomplished.
She hangs up the phone and does not even look at me, let alone talk to me.
She takes my title and does the work and it is done...two minutes tops.
In the end it cost me a $17 filing fee and required me to surrender the Collector plates, and that is all. Had I agreed to the first set of demands, as told to me by Crabby, I would still have a so-what set of Collector plates and I would have been overcharged a bit over $300.
This taught me to check every statute I am required to follow and it has also taught me, while there are a few good people working there, most do NOT know what the statute literally dictates...There are just too many of them to know them all. They only have an idea, and often that idea is quite wrong.
