xtegb16x

Well im thinking about buying CONVERTED RHD eg and the owner says he bought it not that long ago from a dude that said he registred it? How can i verify that its registered? Does the registration show? AND YES IVE SEARCHED!

Padawan

Ask to see the registration papers. Personally, I wouldn't buy it either way.

xtegb16x

Will do! I'm gettin an awesome price and car is flawless! so the registration does identify that IT IS registered as a RHd?

Padawan

Well, if he bought it from someone who had converted it, the current owner would have had to register it himself. So, if the car is registered in the current owner's name, and he bought the car as a RHD, it would have had to be registered as such. Again though, I'd be wary of buying a "converted" car like that.

xtegb16x

true! but lets say this guy just converted it and never got it registered as a RHD, didnt report to the DMV, and got lucky and never got pulled over! is it possible that its registered as a regular civic?

Padawan

If he claims the car is registered, ask to see his current registration. If he has one, then it was either registered as a RHD or he registered it and then converted the car himself (in which case he's lying). You can also run the VIN through CARFAX, which should give you information about the car's registration history. Asking for contact information for the person who actually did the conversion would be a good idea too.

xtegb16x

yeah koo! We will be meeting up today ill be asking for some info! "great info btw"

xtegb16x

Well, the converted car is now in my hands, upset some minor problems! the registration is up to date all the way till 2008, BUT there is no vin on dash? and obiously the firewall vin dont match up! i called the guy and asked howcome the vin wasnt on the dash and he told me he has it!

so he said you can come pick it up tommorow and i say okay!...so at this point im thinking this guy never let the DMV know the car was converted! i ask him and he says he did mention it thats why the title say SALVAGE because he said a RHD conversion automatically gets salvage? is it true

I really like the car but dont know if i should keep it! AND yes i havent called DMV and asked any Q's! But the guy i bought it from said he will give me a full refund if im having doubts! what do u guys think?

KEEP IT YAY OR NAY?

93sihatchy

man that hard call.... there nothing like pull up to a car meet and ur in a rhd car.
but just make sure ur cover ur tail man. some dude bought a conv rhd drive car on jdmcivic.com and got F'ed by the dmv ... but3 he was in cali.
i would keep it man but that me.

xtegb16x

Yea i have it all waxed up for the Eibach meet hehe! and what do u mean got fkd by the DMV in what way?

i mean my car has 08 plates and all with registration in hand, but like i said i just dont know!

xtegb16x

any more sugg.

n1_egsex

1. when you convert a car via firewall swap, there is no such thing as getting it registered as a rhd car
2. check to see if the car is blue-tagged or not, if he didn't get it blue-tagged, i would bring the car back as there is no original vin on the car anymore to prove what it is, if you get pulled over, you have a car just as good as stolen vehicle according to chp, and goodbye rhd civic
3. when you do rhd swap, the dash and firewall are obviously from a japanese civic, they dont have 17 digit VIN's like the US, so you need to do more research before you lunge into **** that's "tight"

xtegb16x

so your saying if its blue tagged its legit?


Modified by xtegb16x at 12:46 AM 5/17/2007

xtegb16x

?? no answers

xtegb16x

Good Luck To Me!! After a 3 hour wait in the dmv and 45 min on the phone with CHP finally came down to a conclusion that if a car is converted to RHD it is not an modification which means does not have to be registered as a RHD! the problem is that the vin on the dash is not there but i have it in hand! and the lady i spoke to there told me i can get cited for not having one but i called CHP made an appointmenrt and they are going to istall it for free! For ME hopefully everything goes well and thank you all for ur time and help!

Lscivic1999

NICE..!!..happy for you

saveacivic

haha just got wind of this... what a pain man, glad you got it done. it's amazing what people will do instead of just asking the dmv/chp. the car is not automatically totalled, and there is no way to register it rhd. you COULD register it as a "kit car" but i never did it. i have been driving my converted eg for a little over 6 years and even been pulled over for things but never had a problem. my vin # matches on the firewall and everywhere though. when i did the conversion, i cut and welded just the middle of the firewall, so as not to mess with the vin #. i had to reweld some mounts for the wipers but it works great all these years later. (this was way back in the days when there werent many conversions around so i was super worried about legality here in california. there wasnt much info available on conversions) i did have to rewire my srs to work (SO BE CAREFUL THAT YOU DONT GET TO THE CHP AND THEY FIND THAT YOUR SRS IS DESABLED!!!) I made that mistake and almost got a ticket for it, but he let me go because he said he believed that i didnt know about it. oh and dont pull up with your jdm headlights and stuff that arent DOT... they can get you for that stuff if they arent nice...

shorsh

iTrader: (6)

Let us know how it went with chp

95ProjectEJ1

iTrader: (5)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shorsh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Let us know how it went with chp </TD></TR></TABLE>

For sure... OP, you did everything the right way. Good research and it will pay off for you. Glad to hear things are going well, GL driving that thing around Cali

DCSportEJ1Civic

get the original USDM vin and run a car fax. its like $25 for one car or $29 for an unlimited on month subscription. you could find a lot of suprizes good or bad. but its deff worth it i think.

Team RS2

if the car was just a civic converted to RHD then its just a usdm civic that has had the firewall modification to it, its no diffrent than any other civic its not a japanese civic the porblem that other people have with RHD cars you think is becuase they get the car from japan and thats the apinful proccess, the RHD doesnt matter so much in cali

xtegb16x

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Team RS2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if the car was just a civic converted to RHD then its just a usdm civic that has had the firewall modification to it, its no diffrent than any other civic its not a japanese civic the porblem that other people have with RHD cars you think is becuase they get the car from japan and thats the apinful proccess, the RHD doesnt matter so much in cali </TD></TR></TABLE>

acutally i have a little update...it is painful!! i thought i was good to go but i was wrong i was MISinfromed by a CHP representative,

I spoke to the actual vin verification officer and he told me the car MUST have a reassingned vin in order for me to be able to drive it, reason such being is because japanese front clips dont come with two vins they only come with one vin which is located on the firewall and which does not match with my registration, and dont consist of one on the dash.

He told me i didnt have to have it registered as a RHD but i had to get my vins correct! So unfortunately i had to get ref'd to the CHP! but hopefully ill get it done and drive my RHD civic LEGALLY!

xtegb16x

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RHD-EK &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hey bro... im buying a rhd too and i need info on the CHP thing is you can help me out. Do they trip if you have a swap? i mean, they should but dont reffs deal with that? My local vin officer said they just care if the car is in a good safe working condition. But sometimes im scared of taking it cuz what if it backfires and i get fucked?? The guy im getting it off has been driving in cali for like 4 years with it and has never even been pulled over and its his daily driver. What else did the CHP VIN OFFICER say to you..</TD></TR></TABLE>

well im currently in the process and i have to wait untill my appointment! the previous owner told me the same thing...that he drove it with no problems for years..but obiously he got lucky and never got hassled and to mention im in CALI..

i also have a swap and i have also thought about that! and i just put my motor all back to stock from stock exhaust...just to be safe! i dont think the vin officer has ANYTHING to do with the motor! all he does is verfiy the front clip and makes sure nothing is stolen and he just reasigns a new vin!

My problem is that i did not do the conversion and the owner that did it does not have reciepts! But from buggin him constantly he agreed to look for them, because without reciepts its a no go! which i was told by the officer

In other words its a PAIN!

jeffsciv23

seriously. thats kinda liek doign a swap and going down the next day to see if your car will apss the emisions test.

jeffsciv23

no, there are a few RHD cars in the town where i live and they get no more unwanted attention then anybody else. it all depends on the owner i guess. friend of mine had a right hand drive carolla and another guy has a skyline neither get hassled.