OK, working a trade and included is a problem child which I'm planning to part out most likely, but I'm still curious if it can be salvaged. It's a early 2000's Stella that I'd rather save except for the title and back fees situation. Currently there is no title available (lost) and it was already a salvage title anyway. It has ~$850 in back fees with CA DMV (I checked). I'd save it if I could get a new title, even with the salvage designation, but the back fees are brutal. I can't use the Saints Cycle Works title solution because he doesn't do salvage titles. Even if I found a state to title it in, if I then turned around and tried to get a CA title, would DMV still want those back fees?
I'm not interested in permanently driving it on VT plates.
I'm not in angst over this, but just wondering if there is any way to get a CA title and avoid the 15 years of back fees that are currently sitting there on the bike. There's no way to justify that kind of dough to end up with a salvage title Stella. If I let the frame sit around, will it eventually drop out of the DMV system, or is that a thing of the past?
Is it destined for parts? As parts it already has plenty to offer (tuned engine, disc front brake fork, etc). My current plan is part it and offer the frame for near nothing to a local. It would probably make an excellent donor for someone needing a body section or whatnot.