I made the Pajero legitimate

"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97)
03/23/2020 at 15:53 • Filed to: None

The New Mexico MVD offices went to appointment only last week, and this morning I (barely) managed to finally get it titled and registered in my name. Buying it from the importer (Japanese Classics), shipping it across the country, insuring it and even dealing the State Police for the “level 3" vin inspection wasn’t hard. Dealing with the MVD has been... a process. They have proven largely unable to deal with anything that falls outside of what they usually see, and the folks working there certainly aren’t empowered to solve problems.

This office wasn’t this clean even when they first built it.

First was the required vin inspection for out of state vehicles, in which they struggled with the fact that is doesn’t have a vin per se in the US format, and were unable to deal with the chassis number existing in one place, and one place only on the truck. They failed it and kicked it to the state police for a “level 3" vin inspection. Once that appointment came around, they looked at the truck, looked at all the importation paperwork, ran the chassis number through NCIC and we re promptly satisfied that it wasn’t a stolen vehicle. They gladly signed off on the paperwork, although it inexplicably was going to take 5 days for the form to get to the MVD office a mile away.

In that intervening time, Covid-19 ramped up and the MVD went to appointment only, which pushed this process out another week.

Fast forward to this morning, and the local office was unable to deal with the fact that 25 year rule import vehicles are exempt from US vehicle standards and thus come with different customs paperwork than a newer, conforming import vehicle. The manger of the local office and I ended up going toe-to-toe for several rounds of forceful conversation that resulted in a series of calls on the spot to and from Santa Fe with MVD big wigs.

Ultimately the local office got told to pull their heads out and get it done for me. It resulted in a round of appolgies and some education for the local office on non-conforming import vehicles.

I don’t go into Marine mode very often, and I hated that I couldn’t be excellent to them the whole time. In the end they accepted my appolgy for that part, and pointed out that literally standing my ground at one point forced them to get to the right answer. You don’t often fight the MVD and win, but I’ll take this one. Given that the Governor is going to issue a shelter in place type order this afternoon, this was probably the day to get this done.

I went with the standard, classic Yellow New Mexico plate for the Pajero. There is probably a vanity plate in it’s future any way. This concludes the great car exchange of 2020.

In other news, I worked on the Pajero on Sunday and it now longer pees itself when it gets excited. It is now adventure ready.

DISCUSSION (16)

Under_Score > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/23/2020 at 16:04

Yay! Also, why do many states have big, paperwork-looking temp tags they put in the rear windows? They’re nearly as annoying as the tags that say “TEXAS BUYER” on them.

Xanadu603 > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/23/2020 at 16:14

You married your baby mama? The classic plates there are awesome, is that NM with the copper one or AZ? I went to NAU but I forget.

ClassicDatsunDebate > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/23/2020 at 16:17

Congrats!

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Xanadu603
03/23/2020 at 16:29

The copper ones are AZ.

Xanadu603 > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/23/2020 at 16:33

The turquoise ones are nice, depends on the car.

facw > Under_Score
03/23/2020 at 16:37

It really seems like there shouldn’t be a need for temp tags these days. They can hand out metal plates right away. In the old days, maybe you had to hold them hostage to get people to do the paperwork and pay their registration, but in thse days of ubiquitous license plate readers, it should be really easy for cops to spot a cheat (and having a consistent well-made plate helps with that). Meanwhile I’d guess that a h u ge number of those Texas Buyer plates are fake (certainly the one I saw with an expiration over 5 years in the future).

InFierority Complex > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/23/2020 at 16:46

“E nded up going toe-to-toe”

Yo tho, social distancing.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > InFierority Complex
03/23/2020 at 16:50

For better or worse, we were both pissed enough to be well past caring about that.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Xanadu603
03/23/2020 at 16:50

Indeed. The turquoise are my favorite, and what I put on the Jag. The classic yellow felt like the way to go on a classic truck.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/23/2020 at 17:14

Glad to hear that vehicle registration authorities a half a world apart can have the same didactic tendencies...

Congrats on a legal Paj by the way!

Under_Score > facw
03/23/2020 at 17:22

Or keep info in the glove box like private party sales.

interstate366, now In The Industry > Under_Score
03/23/2020 at 17:28

Those VA temp plates are actually plastic, oddly. I had them on my Aristo for a week or two.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/23/2020 at 17:40

Kinja'd!!!

f86sabre > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/23/2020 at 19:57

Glad to hear that you got it done and they finally hooked you up. Enjoy your driving from the right hand side!

The GA DMV was amazingly easy to deal with when I imported the Mini. In and out in about an hour with a vanity plate. Good times.

jrix505 > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
06/25/2020 at 09:37

Nice! Dealing with the MVD is always fun. I have a car that I need to get a level 3 inspection on myself. Do you happen to have the contact of the person who helped set up the appt? Thanks!!

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > jrix505
06/25/2020 at 10:08

I don’t. It was set up over an automated system by the MVD office. Once they set up the appointment, I got an email from the local stage Police office the next day with the details. I couldn’t find a way to set one up outside of that system, although you might try calling the State Police office in your area.