California Used Stella Registration Code

Mike @ NoHo Scooters

Had a customer come in with a 2005 Stella that was told by DMV that it could not be registered with under 7,500 miles. I told him that if it was over two model years old, it could be registered. This used to be reflected on the DMV website. At some point whomever updated the used out of state vehicle secton on the CA DMV site left off the two year clause. Now the people at DMV think it has to have 7,500 miles on it regardless of the year. I have personally owned fifty year old scooters with less than 7,500 miles on them, so you can see how stupid this is.

I searched around and found the clause in the health and safety code. Its in section 43156. Here is a link for those registering a Stella in California thats over 2 years old with less than 7,500 miles on it. Print it out and take it to the DMV with you.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/appndxa/hlthsaf/hs43156.htm

Steady Teddy · Joined: 13 Sep 2008 Posts: 189 Location: San Diego

So did your customer go into the DMV with her evidence in hand and get that scooter registered? I tried this about a year ago and got nowhere with it... all I got was mad that they would not honor what was on their own website. They said it does not apply to newer 2-strokes and that the rule is highly interpretive? All it meant to me was, time to roll the speedometer forward.

Ted

Steady Teddy · Joined: 13 Sep 2008 Posts: 189 Location: San Diego

Mike... did ya ever hear anything about your customer going back and showing them the stated law?

Ted

mattgordon · Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:44 pm Post subject:

PeterC · Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:20 pm Post subject:

"I think there's a DMV investigator who is a member on this board"

Are you saying there's a DMV employee who can actually read?

Wrinkle249 · Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 4:44 am Post subject:

Mike-

Does the health and safety code still work? (the link you posted is still good) I have a 2005 Stella with 61 miles and when I get it running I was hoping to register it here. Was last registered in AZ in 2006. My last resort would be to have my sister-in-law register it in AZ.

psssniper · Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 6:16 am Post subject:

I recently registered an '09 Stella 2T that had 262 miles on it with no problems. Walked in handed over the signed pink and presto received my new pink a couple weeks later. Now on to the headache. I bought an '02 ET4 and the original owner had sent in the release of liability with the name of the buyer on it, buyer never registered it and seven months later sold it to me. I went in with the signed pink and everything went ok but I never received the new pink. Went down to find out whats up and its hung up in their system because of the release of liability with the other guys name on it. They say "Sacramento" has to "clear" it whatever the hell that means meanwhile the current tags run out aug/12

Wrinkle249 · Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 6:26 am Post subject:

Thanks for the info!

ericalm · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 5:21 pm Post subject:

Been looking for that snippet of code! Thanks, Mike!

jack43 · Joined: 17 Nov 2012 Posts: 1 Location: pasadena **stella**

mike, i cant use that code 43156 at the DMV they say my bike is never going to be registered in california. what can i do? what DMV can i go to? i live in pasadena and i have a 2005 stella 2 stroke that has 650 miles on it, help! thanks...

Wrinkle249 · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 9:33 pm Post subject: Does the 43156 code still work?

Looks like I posted on this forum 3 years ago and just got the scooter working. Now it has 88 miles on it thanks to the Autoshop kids at my school who got it going.

Still a 2005 Stella 150cc 2t that was last registered in 2006 in Arizona.

I printed up the Health and safety code from this page:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=hsc&group=43001-44000&file=43150-43156

and highlighted the pertinent section. My concern is going to the DMV and having them flag the Scooter with my name and never letting me register it here. I had a friend that rode a Fat Boy back from Texas with less than 7500 miles on it. He was told he (or anyone related to him) would never be able to register it in California. If he had brought it in with 7501 miles on it it would have been different story.

Will it work, or should I have the Autoshops kids roll it forward to 7501?

Dooglas

Wrinkle249 · Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:45 pm Post subject: Thanks for the info

I guess if they want to track me down through my IP address and go after me for trying to register an old scooter which, according to Health and Safety Code 43156, I should be able to do anyway, then I guess they have more time on their hands than I thought we had in the set aside in the CA state budget.

However, most of the mods, upjetting, and everything else on this site brings your scoots out of spec with the 49 state requirements so I think I am pretty safe with an off the cuff, tongue-in-cheek, remark that I made.

I would still appreciate any info on recent registrations of this kind.

Allgrownsup · Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 4:58 am Post subject:

Hi! I recently scored a sweet 2T Stella with less than 1k miles from Colorado. Getting it to LA is my first challenge (anyone have a shipper you trust?) but my bigger challenge will be registration. Or will it? This topic seems to get picked up every year & dropped again, does that mean no one's having problems registering these anymore?

Allgrownsup · Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:04 pm Post subject:

My new 2T baby is on a truck & will be here in about a week. Got over my first hump at the DMV & paid for registration and got a temp tag to bring her back in for them to inspect the VIN. I guess this is where it could go wrong?

I won't have 7,500 miles for a very long time but she will turn 10 on January 1 so if all else fails and they flag me when I go back in I guess I should be ok to try again in 6 months?

Christophers · Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:59 am Post subject:

Congrats on getting your Stellla 2T registered with the CA DMV!
Especially since the Stella was what you were after and everyone here at Modern Buddy was trying to dissuade you from attempting it and steering you in the direction of a vintage Vespa.

So what were the tricks? How did you get it done since the bike was neither old enough nor has enough miles on the clock?

Your bike looks great, by the way!

And if you haven't heard of it before, check out Los Angeles Scooter Group!
Breakfast ride to Oxnard Shores next Saturday!! Wink

Allgrownsup · Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 1:35 am Post subject:

Thank you! I don't know how I did it - I smiled a lot and just crossed my fingers. It was the day before the 4th of July so they were short-handed at the Glendale DMV & it seemed like the guy who checked my VIN etc wasn't 100% sure what he should be looking for or where to look. I swear I've been sleeping so much better since I got through that.

I'll definitely try & join the scooter club festivities sometime - thanks for the heads-up! I'm in real estate so weekends can be a little crazy with work. I miss group rides & rallies though - when I scooted before in Denver we had MHM etc. Ahh the glory days.