I went to the DMV to pick up a one day street permit so that I could bring the Luger into the DMV to get the boat hull ID as well as the trailer. The PO painted over the plastic sticker on the trailer and never put the hull numbers on the boat. I showed the clerk all of paper work that the Glendale DMV gave me for a lien sale. I told her I needed a hull ID number and trailer VIN. I was told that they only do trailers and not boats. I figured the trailer was a start and I could haul the boat down to Burbank an authorized boat ID’er I had met last week. She was very helpful and downloaded some lien sale forms from a special connection she has with DMV. She told me that she could help with the lien sale process for a really small fee. The whole thing would be around $50 and take about a month and a half. I digress, back to the DMV in Newhall. I got the permit and was told to bring it to the inspection area. I raced back to the boat and hooked it up and towed it down to the DMV. The guy at the inspection area was really helpful. He explained that they only can do the trailer and that after he got the trailer approved the next step was to register the trailer. I figured good attitude and stuffed the lien sale documents back into the envelope. I put a new VIN sticker on the boat and directed me to one of the windows. I figured at least the trailer would be officially mine. The young lady at the window was really pleasant and read the affidavit that I gave her, stating that the boat and trailer had been given to the guy that I was buying it from and then passed away without giving him any document and shortly died there after. She assumed that I also wanted to register the boat and did not mention anything about a lien sale. I learned a long time ago that there comes a time to keep your mouth shut. She said however, that I may need a death certificate. She processed everything else to transfer the boat then disappeared for a minute to get an opinion. My first thought was here we go back to square one. She asked me where I was going to keep the boat and I told her in Newhall for probably the next year. I asked if that was a problem an she smiled and said no but the sales taxes were cheaper in New Hall than Burbank. I thought wow I should be bringing this girl some flowers or something. She told me she needed $115 for the boat and trailer tax and registration. I thought great all I need is the death certificate. I inquired if I could get that locally or from the Los Angeles Hall of Records. She smiled and said it won’t be necessary since the PO was no longer on record and handed me the registration, new trailer plate and a new CD number with the beautiful green sticker with the number 11 on it. The boat is mine! It was really nice running into a clerk who knew what she was doing and was pleasant on top of it all.
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