freethebikes

I've spent hours trying to find any info on Referee tickets in California but the only information I can find is from 4 years ago and later for some reason. Please direct me to any info I may have missed and thank you for your help.

Situation:

I got a ref ticket for a loud exhaust, tint and a missing smog device on an s13 equipped with an SR20. I got my paperwork in the mail and it says that the bail amount is $550, however I still have to provide proof of fixing everything (I've read that in the past paying the bail would just set you free).

I've read that the way people get around the ticket is by "selling" it to someone they trust and then "buying" it back after going to court and paying the fines. I don't really want to deal with this, and I would rather just sell the car to someone but I want to make sure that the buyer (if they are from Cali) won't have to pass the ref inspection before registering the car. I don't want to screw anyone over and if this is not the case I will just register the car as track-only or sell it out of state.

Thank you for your help.

G5SR20240

Most likely have to return the car to a stock form. The vehicle has already been put into the system as being a not compliant smog vehicle. If the vehicle is pulled over once more whether or not it is you or someone you sold it to, it will be more trouble in the end. May be worth it to find a stock setup and clear the vehicle of any tickets you have

freethebikes

See, this isn't helpful. It sounds like you're guessing. What does "put into the system" mean? Something is attached to the title? I've never heard of anyone buying a car and then not being able to register it without a ref inspection (by this point I would expect at least one sob story about something like that posted).

I appreciate you trying to help, but concrete info from experience (or experience of someone you know) is what I'm looking for.

FRpilot

"Put into the system" means exactly that. It means the DMV was notified that the car needs to undergo an a ref inspection before it is able to be operated on the road again. I've read from others that if you are caught driving it on the road again without the inspection, the cops can have your vehicle towed.

When you buy a car in CA and want to transfer it into your name you have to provide: 1) title (Bill of Sale optional) 2) smog certificate 3) payment for sales tax + any back fees

The smog certificate is usually the responsibility of the seller. You can bring the title and pay the tax, but it will be an incomplete transfer until you provide the smog certificate. If the DMV won't let you transfer without a smog certificate, I doubt they would give you a pass without the required ref inspection.

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hobbs

I've purchased a ref car from someone in CA and had no issues with the title in IL when I brought it over here. Your really only choices are to either return it to stock and pay the ticket or sell it to someone out of state.

With that said, shoot me a PM with what you have.

Rich260z

Exactly what hobbs said. Two option are put to stock and pass it or sell it to someone either out of state or who plans to use it as a track only car.

I never had a ref ticket, but I did have a car that didn't pass smog, kept trying till the 90 wait period expired and pretty much got a letter saying my car wouldn't get a tag or registration without it passing blah blah. By this time I had started going to FL for school and figured I'd just bring the car there. Got it registered no problem, told the CA DMV that car was no longer a CA vehicle and that's the last I heard of it.

tonysreds13

I have a friend that went through this and his bail amount was like $1100 all he did was pay the bail amount with out going back to stock or seeing the ref and this was on his twin turbo FD this was like 4 months ago just pay the amount

freethebikes

See this is helpful! How did he pay? It seems like there are 3 ways to pay:

1. Through the mail (but they ask you to mail in proof of having fixed everything)
2. Court
3. Online (but when I log in it just lets me schedule the court date, no option to just pay).

Thank you again for your help

DJ-of-E

All great and all and possible. However, that guy's FD is now tagged into the system. Next time he's caught with the same offenses, that car is towed. I have many friends with engine swapped Hondas, it's a lot worst than than it was 10 years ago.

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freethebikes

Well great, that's all the credentials we need... Seriously, please stay away from speculations.

I'm still yet to find anyone complaining about buying a car from someone and having to ref it before registering. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I just haven't seen anyone post about it. I would just expect someone to have gotten burned by that and posted a cautionary tale about it.

mechanicalmoron

People are speculating because it's pretty obvious. Cali are douchebags about backfees on registration and such (don't you have to pay for every bit of time your car has been in cali without being registered? Or can you tell the DMV that you're not driving it, and not get fees for that time?). They didn't give YOU a ticket, they gave your CAR a ticket. I'd assume if you can get it so it looks like it has all the smog stuff, and can pass the smog test, you take the ref's note to your court date, and don't owe any money.

Maybe you could find something online about dressing up an SR so it looks smog legal?

freethebikes

The cops specifically said that the ticket stays with me. As he was writing it and I was sitting on the curb I said "well what if I just want to get rid of the car" he said "then the ticket stays with you and you'll have to take car of the fines still". He didn't say "well you can't do that" or that I would have to fix it before I sell it.


You know, that's been my latest hope. I have a spare EGR valve that I could just have sitting somewhere under the hood.. I was thinking of spraying all the piping and blue elbows with flat black so they don't stick out. Raise the car up, paint the stupid CF hood black. Just make it not look like a stupid racecar. I know refs know a lot but if I don't look like a menace maybe they will go easy and turn a blind eye on the nightmare under the hood if it passes the sniffer test?

It's a far shot, but it would be really cool to keep this car.

mechanicalmoron

Never seriously consider legal advice from a cop. You can ask them to get them talking if you think it might benefit you in that case, but, they don't know what they're talking about, and even when they do, they may or may not tell you the truth, they are not obligated to do so, and have pretty much no reason to do so.

But yeah, if you make it look like it's got the EGR/PAIR/whatever, and if it can pass the sniffer, that's what I'd try to do, personally.

I understand wanting clean air, but there's no reason to judge it by anything but the sniffer, that is, how clean the air actually is. It's just malice on cali's part, and I assume there's cool refs who know that.

MrMigs

Look on the bright side. Say you do revert the car to stock and get the Ref Certification. The next time you get pulled over, and the cop suspects that you have illegal mods, all you have to do is flash him your ref certs, and they back off. Of course, don't be stupidly obvious with shiney polished intercooler pipes and things.

But from personal experience, after I went through the same situation, I never had my hood popped ever again. I staple the ref cert to my registration and insurance paperwork and hand the whole bundle to the police officer if I'm ever pulled over.

Ref ticketed in like... 2005 or 2006, passed ref and haven't had the hood popped since.

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revat619

You should be able to pay it online.

With ref tickets, the fine doubles every time you're caught if you don't actually fix it. If you pay the $550 now, the next time it happens the ticket will be $1100, then $2200 and so on and so forth. That's why, although its a huge pain in the ass, you're better off just fixing it. This is exactly why i chose KA-T over SR. It's way easier to deal with that here.

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freethebikes

When I go online my only options are to schedule the court date or the ref date.

Fellas at the Fight Traffic Tickets / Contest Traffic Tickets with the Ticket Assassin: Your Guide to Fighting California Traffic Tickets & Contesting Traffic Citations in California are saying to contest everything by mail and they make a very strong case for it, however I'm not sure I can do that with this ticket since it has a mandatory ref appearance on it.