[adamsocb]

3 of 3, look for my NCM Delivery and 3000 Mile Review threads as well.

Chip asked me to post these reports I made on another forum. There are three altogether.

This is the third of my 2014 Corvette Stingray acquisition reports. I have covered the NCM delivery and trip and 3000 mile review of the car in other threads. This one is to detail the out of state purchase and CA registration process for anyone contemplating the same.

This is my second purchase from Ken at Fichtner Chevrolet. Ken is always responsive, great to deal with, and I believe capable of making things happen many other dealers cannot. He seems to have a close relationship with the Chevrolet folks coordinating the orders and passes everything he can onto the customer. I first contacted Ken in May 2013 and reserved one of his allocations. I wanted the Competition seats so Ken was not able to enter my order until August when AE4 became available in the GM OrderWORKBENCH system. I was at event code 1100 on 8/8/13. Without getting into all of the detail the next two months were very unpredictable. My order went from likely production in spring 2014 to possible production in November 2013, to Ken might run out of allocations before the Z51, AE4, and carbon constraints were lifted. While waiting I also had a chance to go to Spring Mountain and see all of the color combinations. My original order was 2LT Laguna Blue with Jet Black/Medium Gray interior. Once I saw how light the gray was (and that the carpet was also gray) and how rich the Brownstone looked, I changed my order to 3LT Brownstone on 10/1/2013. Then the constraints got really bad and I began to think I would be waiting until spring after all. On 10/24/13 I got an early morning email that Ken could order my car with everything I wanted except the dual roof. I don’t know how Ken did it, but in the middle of all the worst constraints he got my order to Code 2000 with Z51, AE4, C2Z, and FAY. Production was 12/5/13 and museum delivery on 12/18/13.
Ken kept me informed of the situation throughout the process. His finance manager Dennis got me financing through Well Fargo with a loan rate 1% lower than the best my credit union could do. He also got me a GMPP plan for less than half what the California dealers are charging. Bob in their parts department got me the splash guards so I could install them in BG for the trip home. All transaction paperwork was sent to me timely and all costs were as agreed to in advance. I am completely satisfied with Fichtner, would use them again, and I recommend them to anyone contemplating an out-of-state Corvette purchase.

Here is the final order detail:
Model: 1YX07 – Corvette Stingray Coupe with Z51
Vehicle Specifications
PEG: 3LT - Package: 3LT
Trim: 556 - Trim, Suede, Jet Black / Brownstone
Primary Color: G7H - Laguna Blue Tint
Engine: LT1 - Engine Gas, 8 Cyl, 6.2L, DI, AFM, VVT, HO, Alum, GMNA
Transmission: MEL - Trans, 7-Speed Manual with Z51
Ordered Options:
AE4: Seat, Competition Sport Bucket
DD0: Mirrors, O/S heated, power, LH auto dimming
FE4: Magnetic Selective Ride Control
J6F: Caliper: Red
NPP: Exhaust: Dual Mode, Performance
R8C: Corvette Museum Delivery
UY4: Navigation System
Z51: Z51 Performance Package
C2Z: Roof Panel, Visible Carbon Fiber Removable Roof Panels
FAY: Trim Interior, Carbon Fiber
IWE: Suede-Wrapped Upper Interior Trim Package
NC7: Override: Federal Emission
Q7T: Wheels, Black Aluminum 19" FRT 20" RR
TTV: Spoiler, Rear and ORV Mirror, Carbon Flash Painted
YF5: Emission: California

Now for the R8C and CA specific logistics:
Once the car has a VIN, Ken registers it with a temporary 30 day registration in Montana. This works well since Montana has no sales or use tax and allows the temp registration without titling for the car. Fichtner then sends the temp paper Montana plate to the customer so they can pick the car up in BG. I paid Fichtner the balance due via wire transfer, but could have done it by check if desired. Ken sent me the Manufacturers Certificate of Origin so I could title the car in CA.
I purchased the GMPP with the car as required by CA law. CA will not let you purchase an extended warranty/protection plan outside of California after the original purchase.
I also added the new Corvette to my insurance so I would have proof of insurance for the lender and DMV, as well as coverage from the time I took delivery.
Once back in CA you have 20 days from the date the car enters the state to pay the tax and registration. While there is no logical reason for it, the CA Motor Vehicle Code requires a Smog Check and verification inspection to title and register a car previously registered out of state. Note, this car was ordered with YF5: Emission: California. If I had ordered the same car from a dealer in CA and picked it up R8C these extra steps would ne be necessary. I would love to complain about it some more, but that does no good so I just tried to make it as efficient as possible. Here are the steps:

1. I took the car to a local “test only” Smog Check station and got the CA Smog Certificate
2. I downloaded and filled out form REG 343 from the dmv.ca.gov website and filled it out
3. I made an appointment with the CA DMV. (Check around to see which office has the earliest appointment date, this should get you the lowest wait time)
4. On the day/time of the appointment I went to the Fullerton DMV, got the verification inspection, paid the tax, title, and registration fees, and walked out with a validated registration card and new license plates. Total time at the DMV was less than 45 minutes.

The DMV staff was surprisingly pleasant and helpful. In fact the guy doing the inspection was thrilled to see a C7 up closed and had lots of car-guy type questions about it. Yes, the C7 is a rockstar, even at the DMV. This is one agency that has really turned around in the last 10 years.

Overall everything went much smoother than the first time I did this in 2008. The pre-work I did of getting the smog cert and filling out the form in advance made it easy. No one should be afraid of this process if you follow these steps.

 

[pkobash]

Just wondering how you got your car smogged immediately. In my similar situation, I am still driving my out of state vette to get the sensors "ready" for test. I have just over 200 miles on it and still driving it not knowing if the sensors are set. The car has failed the test twice so far because of the not ready sensors and has cost me $64 so far. I'm borrowing a new OBD2 code reader soon that will hopefully report the status of the sensors before I go for another smog test.

 

[Racerbob]

Adamsocb
Thanks for all the info. I assume that if I get a "courtesy" delivery, I won't have to go through as many steps as you. The receiving dealer should handle the tax,license, and maybe even the registration. Agree?

 

[akpancake]

It sure must suck to have that much B.S. to go through just to have a new car in California. Seems to me the state just wants to collect more revenue, and keep people employed in a non-effective emissions program.

 

[elegant]

Fichtner Chev is a "class act." I buy all my GM's parts from their outstanding (price and service) parts department.

In fact, we are lucky that the very, very top Corvette dealers are all class acts. They have learned what successful businesses have learned, that you treat every customer the way we would like to be treated (duh), and promise only what you can deliver. Not that mistakes aren't occasionally made, but it is not a coincidence that we see the same top dealers being repeatedly being praised on this forum, that praise coming as a result of how those dealerships treated our fellow forum members.

 

[Fdxpilot]

It sure must suck to have that much B.S. to go through just to have a new car in California. Seems to me the state just wants to collect more revenue, and keep people employed in a non-effective emissions program.

Way back when, during Jerry Brown's first go-around as Guv IIRC, they created a bureaucracy known as the CARB, or California Air Resources Board. This organization has become an almost totally independent empire. They actually have a requirement to have all aftermarket parts and packages go through a testing program, to prove they don't increase emissions, hence the "not CA approved" label on most engine parts. I don't even think they are that worried about the money. They just like telling people how to live their lives, auto-wise.


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[mjw930]

Adamsocb
Thanks for all the info. I assume that if I get a "courtesy" delivery, I won't have to go through as many steps as you. The receiving dealer should handle the tax,license, and maybe even the registration. Agree?

If you look at this line

While there is no logical reason for it, the CA Motor Vehicle Code requires a Smog Check and verification inspection to title and register a car previously registered out of state.

Had the car been courtesy delivered it's possible smog testing wouldn't be required since it hadn't been registered in another state yet.

As for how it got enough miles to pass smog, he picked it up in BG and drove it home, that gave it plenty of miles to activate all the sensors.

I wonder if you wouldn't have received a temp tag from Fitchner whether you could have taken the paperwork overnighted to you and gotten a California registration and tag first and taken that with you to BG whether it would have negated the smog requirement? I wonder if Cali would have even allowed that since the car wasn't available for inspection?

 

[adamsocb]

Just wondering how you got your car smogged immediately. In my similar situation, I am still driving my out of state vette to get the sensors "ready" for test. I have just over 200 miles on it and still driving it not knowing if the sensors are set. The car has failed the test twice so far because of the not ready sensors and has cost me $64 so far. I'm borrowing a new OBD2 code reader soon that will hopefully report the status of the sensors before I go for another smog test.

Mine was NCM Delivery. I picked up the car in Bowling Green KY and drove it home. It had 2,200 miles on day four. I also drove it another several hundred miles in the next couple of weeks before I went to the Smog Test station. Passed no problem. I don't know how many cycles are required for the internal tests to complete. I had a similar problem with my C5. I reset all codes right before I took it for a Smog Check and it failed for the same reason. The tech said drive it every day for a week and come back. It then passed.

 

[adamsocb]

Adamsocb
Thanks for all the info. I assume that if I get a "courtesy" delivery, I won't have to go through as many steps as you. The receiving dealer should handle the tax,license, and maybe even the registration. Agree?

Correct,
With a courtesy delivery the CA dealer will be registering the car for the first time in CA the same as if you purchased it from them. The Smog Test requirement is triggered when the car has been registered first in another state.

 

[adamsocb]

...I wonder if you wouldn't have received a temp tag from Fitchner whether you could have taken the paperwork overnighted to you and gotten a California registration and tag first and taken that with you to BG whether it would have negated the smog requirement? I wonder if Cali would have even allowed that since the car wasn't available for inspection?

From what I understand this is not possible. Only a licensed dealer can register a new vehicle in CA without an inspection.

An interesting question would be: Is a smog certificate required if you purchase a new car with a CA Emissions sticker out of state and have it shipped to CA without ever being registered? I would think not, but you would have to get a temporary operating permit to move the car from the shipping drop-off point to the DMV for inspection.

 

[adamsocb]

For those who want to blast CA for this regulation thinking there is an intentional reason for it like generating revenue or creating jobs I disagree. Don't get me wrong, I think the rules are ridiculous. I just don't think it was intentional. I spend a good 50% of my job dealing with state and federal regulations and most of them have some level of unintentional consequences. The law is decades old and from before the time when almost all new cars are 50-state certified. When it was written many cars would not pass the CA requirements. Now it is a nuisance for the few hundred folks that buy a brand new car out-of-state and bring it into CA, but I doubt they will re-write the law just for us. I got upset about it when I went through the hassle unprepared on my 2008. This time I planned for it and it cost me a total of about 3 hours and an extra $40 for the smog test and DMV time. I have spent that long in the F&I office of local dealers for a conventional purchase.

So still well worth it to get Ken's service on ordering a car in the middle of the worst Z51 and CF constraints, as well as Dennis finding an excellent finance rate.

 

[akpancake]

For those who want to blast CA for this regulation thinking there is an intentional reason for it like generating revenue or creating jobs I disagree. Don't get me wrong, I think the rules are ridiculous. I just don't think it was intentional. I spend a good 50% of my job dealing with state and federal regulations and most of them have some level of unintentional consequences. The law is decades old and from before the time when almost all new cars are 50-state certified. When it was written many cars would not pass the CA requirements. Now it is a nuisance for the few hundred folks that buy a brand new car out-of-state and bring it into CA, but I doubt they will re-write the law just for us. I got upset about it when I went through the hassle unprepared on my 2008. This time I planned for it and it cost me a total of about 3 hours and an extra $40 for the smog test and DMV time. I have spent that long in the F&I office of local dealers for a conventional purchase.

So still well worth it to get Ken's service on ordering a car in the middle of the worst Z51 and CF constraints, as well as Dennis finding an excellent finance rate.

As with any mandate, it probably started out as a good intent to reduce emissions into the environment, then the Government got ahold of it, blew it waaay out of proportion, and made it a complete pain in the arse for for the citizenry. Their whole program needs to be re-visited and streamlined, but, this would end up costing the taxpayer even more (somehow) and the end result may even be worse off than when it started. That is usually how things like this work. Here in Alaska, we had a similar smog test policy, we the people found it unnecessary, and voted it out, then miraculously, the taxes on vehicle registration shot up , as if to match the price of the emissions testing and sticker fee. So, it doesn't really matter one way or the other, I guess, just more government policy that we're forced to swallow.

 

[Fdxpilot]

How about since all the new cars meet CA standards already and just need a sticker that says "CA compliant," why doesn't CA just drop their stupid bureaucracy and use the same standard as everyone else.


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[MYKZDRM]

I'm purchasing the C7 in Colorado, taking NCM delivery and driving back to California to get it registered. Got the California emissions build /sticker. I just hope the museum will release the car without it being registered. I'm bringing my personalized plates from the C6 I sold last month.

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[mjw930]

I'm purchasing the C7 in Colorado, taking NCM delivery and driving back to California to get it registered. Got the California emissions build /sticker. I just hope the museum will release the car without it being registered. I'm bringing my personalized plates from the C6 I sold last month.

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That one might be tough. Since you have the paperwork on the car, which should include the build sheet and MSO showing the CA emissions have you considered going to the DMV and getting it registered BEFORE you get on a plane to KY?

 

[MYKZDRM]

That one might be tough. Since you have the paperwork on the car, which should include the build sheet and MSO showing the CA emissions have you considered going to the DMV and getting it registered BEFORE you get on a plane to KY?

I am going to give that a try. At least DMV may extend a temporary registration.

MKZDRM