Registering an unregistered vehicle

[Rainier Vermaak]

Found this post on the WD forum, quite informative:

Here is something I copied off a post on WD a few years ago.
I cannot recall who posted it, so apologies for not giving credit.


Hi All
I've just completed an interesting journey, that being to get a bike registered and licensed after having bought it with no papers, who knows how and when the bike in question came into the country (XR600R), probably a grey import, as it wasn't on the ENATIS system at all. This seemed like a really intimidating process before starting due to the lack of credible information relating to it, I therefore thought others may find it handy to know how this works.

When first embarking on this I was told it was a near impossible task which will be filled with frustration and most likely not the desired outcome i.e. getting it on to the ENATIS system. That I would be better off buying a set of papers for the bike, something that is on offer if you ask around.

1. Go along to your local traffic department, and ask for the forms to put register a built up vehicle (that's the only way you can get it on) after having had them check on the system that your engine and chassis numbers aren't there.
2. They will give you the following;
2.1 A Request for confirmation of identifying marks,
2.2 An affidavit form,
2.3 A Gross Vehicle Mass certificate form
2.4 A weighbridge certificate form, and
2.5 A blue request to register a vehicle form.
3. If you're ready to get going with this, then request a temporary permit while there to allow you to take the bike the various places, that will cost you R48
4. Complete the affidavit where you basically state how you got the bike and why it was never registered i.e. only been used offroad and you want to get roadworthy and use it on public roads and detail the costs you have incurred in getting it to a roadworthy state, you have to attach the invoices supporting your expenditure. Once done take this to your local police station and get them to certify the lot, that is sign and stamp it.
5. Take the bike to your local police clearance office (Stikland in Cape Town), they complete the confirmation of identifying Marks form, which is confirming the engine and chassis numbers on the relevant form.
6. Get a weighbridge certificate. This you can get at a scrap metal place or some roadworthy places, I went to a Roadworthy place that does it, it cost me R120.
7. Get a Gross Vehicle Mass Certificate, that is what the maximum that the bike plus luggage and passengers may weigh. I had this done at a roadworthy place, they didn't charge me.
8. Complete the blue request for registration form.
9. Submit the whole lot to your local traffic department, they will assure that they will come back to you in 48 hours – reality is more like a week, they took a few days to get around to faxing it off to the Provincial Administration people and same then took about 48 hours to come back.
10. You then return to the traffic dept. when they contact you, and register (R68) and pay the licence fee (R132), they will give you your registration document and a request for police clearance, form and you need to buy a temporary permit again to allow you to take the bike to them.
11. Armed with this you return to the police clearance place and they check the engine and chassis numbers and issue you a Police Clearance Certificate.
12. You then get the roadworthy done (I paid R200), which was such a formality (hardly checked the bike) and armed with these two documents returned to the traffic dept. voila, once I got to the front of the queue, 5 minutes later I left with registration documents and licence disc.

So there you have it it's not impossible, you can do the whole thing in one full day (two half days) of schlepping back and forth, and a week of waiting in between, so all told you can be good to go at a cost of R618 (R48 + R120 + R48 + R68 + R132 + R200) and a week and a half.





Things you MUST know:
1. It is against the law to buy or sell an unlicensed vehicle

2. If you still want the vehicle and it does not have any papers, then get the following from seller:
a) Get the license/ VIN and engine nr and check with the licensing authorities or SAPS beforehand, if it is not stolen.
If it is in the archives, find out what the late fees, penalties etc will be, you will be charged from 1 April 2007 for all the fees if it is in the archive currently.
b) If you prefer to move on with the sale, then get an Invoice/Sales agreement from the seller where all the details of the seller, vehicle and buyer is on, adress, ID nrs, price, bike's VIN and engine nr etc.
c) Let the seller make a sworn affidavit at the SAPS as where he got the vehicle, that he does not have the papers, that it is paid for in full, his physical adress, the lot!

3. Yourself, make a sworn affidavit as where you bought the vehicle, all, like in (1(b) above.

4. Take all the affidavits, invoice, sales agreement to the licensing people, ask for a G2 record and RPI form for the vehicle.

5. They will provide you with the RPI, G2 record, MVA/VDC and Weighbridge Form (in case of a car), now take all the paperwork you have so far and take the vehicle to the SAPS or wherever they can do the RPI.

a) Find the bike/vehicle's VIN, engine nr beforehand to save time and schlep. In the case of an old BMW bike, go to Snowburne's "ENGINE AND FRAME NUMBERS IDENTIFICATION", http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/IDnumbers.htm
Study it thoroughly, make a printout and take to the SAPS, believe me they are quite uneducated regarding frame nrs, especially when it comes to Beemers and Bobbers, they will insist perhaps that it must be punched into the frame, as the reality is before 1996 it was not the case.
Also they can get confused with the engine and VIN nrs being the same in many cases and have it mixed up with the "engine ser nr", which is not the engine nr itself.

b) The vehicle must be driven into the SAPS yard (Stikland's case) but others dont care if a bike is on the back of the bakkie.

6. Once the cops did the RPI, stop by the roadworthy centre and have them filled out the MVA/VDC 01/03, also get a weighbridge certificate for a car, not necessary for a bike.

7. Take all paperwork back to the licensing people, fill in BLUE FORM, they will submit it and if approved, then the vehicle will be re-introduced to the system, here in Milnerton it took 3 days, then they will call you, then go fetch the RPC form, have your vehicle DATA-DOTTED and take it all to the SAPS again for clearance.

8. Hand in the RPC from at the license authorities and wait another day or 2 (hopefully), then they will call you to go and register the vehicle, at this point they can tell you the exact amount needed to be paid.

9. If not done yet, go do the RWC of the vehicle, return and get your disc at the license peeps.

Voilla! Hope this helps someone in the future!

For the Cape Town dogs, some actual and costly experience I had:

1. I did check the frame and engine nr beforehand and knew it could be a schlep.
2. The seller did not want to give me any papers, no invoice , nadah, . . . PROBLEM
3. I went to Stikland, bike on the bakkie, they almost confiscated it as I had no G2 record or invoice with me, no they said, go find the previous owner, off I go
4. Found the previous registered owner, he had to do an affidavit, ID, the whole lot and post it to me
5. Rock up at Stikland again, nope they said it MUST have a VIN nr punched into it . . . , only after this encounter I went online to search all about engine and VIN nr's and BEFORE 1996 a vehicle was not required to have it punched out, a plate was acceptable, SO TELL THE COP THAT!!
6. Now I'm not lekker, so phoned Malmesbury SAPS, yes said the cop, bring the bike in for RPI clearance, came there, oops here he finds the engine ser nr on the sump, now there is 2 conflicting nr's on the engine . . . now he is scared, uneducated . I show him the whole article of Snowburne, , , no faith in that, he sends me to the SAPS Vehicle Theft unit in Stellenbosch.
7. The man in Stlbsch is by grace an old school person, who knows about all the "BMW nr's" etc, he signs the RPI, jippieeeeee, 1 step ahead, after 500km of to and fro traveling between SAPS stations!
8. I handed in all the forms, 3 days later they emailed me, RPC is ready, they mailed it to me, (Tania in Milnerton office)
9. Off to Malmesbury again, the cop did not check the Data Dot the previous time, so the bike had to go in again, he made copies of all the affidavits etc, signed and stamped the RPC,
10. I emailed the RPC back to Milnerton, so now I am waiting for them to call me to go register the bike, the original RPC form must also be handed in when registering


I believe it may vary from province to province, office to office.
What I have found that sometimes you get a lekker dof person, then just go stand in the line again for the next "not so dof" person, this also worked for me countless times.

Sterkte, druk deur, its worth it!!

[ghost_traffic]

This should be made a sticky. Plenty of useful information.

[Family_Dog]

^^^ and so it came to pass. Sticky it is.


-F_D

[ghost_traffic]

Thank you Oom Eric.

[Marcodoep]

.

[jdjoubert]

Just a question.... could this bike not perhaps have been bought new by a farmer who had NO intention to use it on the road and ONLY on his farm? I know of a farmer in the Karoo who buys his bakkies (use to be the old toyota Hilux 2.4 diesel) like that. No finance, no insurance, no registration papers. They work their entire life on the farm.

[Hummerrecoveryspecialist]

I Had an experience when I was sold a 350 Yamaha trail bike but there were no papers nothing I was just told by the seller to go to motor vehicles and they would pull it up on the frame and vin but I had to undertake a few repairs to ensure it passed roadworthy and I had no reason not to believe the seller who was the third buyer using it as a collectable or farm only gathering dust I also suspect this was an ex military bike used on border patrol anyway after a few weeks hunting parts and cannabilizing other bikes I finally had a great working low mileage bike circa 1988 restored to its like new former gNlory ...but then I looked for the vin and engine numbers and to my dismay they were found partially ground off with an Angle grinder now I knew that with acid having googled my unexpected predict ament that I could raise the vin long enough to get a recording and then I could run a check to see if it was stolen and if it wasn't then I would take it to the SAP inspection yard and let them confiscate it while they did their own verification that it wasn't stolen and eventually issue me an SAP VI N
But unfortunately after much discussion I decided the right thing to was to point out the ground off vin to the seller who in turn asked the person he bought it from and no history could be traced so I returned the bike and paid more for a licensed collectable as the hassle was just too much and in every discussion it was decided that it must have been a stolen bike military or otherwise but I wanted no part of it . I do miss it as I spent hours working on parts nowhere near the vin areas ...carbs and brakes and clutch so the lesson for me no matter how well known or how innocent a seller is check the frame vin and engine numbers. I never in a million years expected these to have been ground off by some miscreant

[Meintjes]

Hi I just want to bring this thread back to life for a bit.
This whole process seems to be for a motorcycle or car that was built for road use, has anyone ever put a old off road bike on the road?
for example a 82 xr500 r that never had any papers to start with.
This is now after lights and mirrors and other needed modifications have been made. or will something like that rather be a new registration as a custom built vehicle?

[jelo]

Hi I just want to bring this thread back to life for a bit.
This whole process seems to be for a motorcycle or car that was built for road use, has anyone ever put a old off road bike on the road?
for example a 82 xr500 r that never had any papers to start with.
This is now after lights and mirrors and other needed modifications have been made. or will something like that rather be a new registration as a custom built vehicle?

That is precisely what Rainier did. Post #1

"I've just completed an interesting journey, that being to get a bike registered and licensed after having bought it with no papers, who knows how and when the bike in question came into the country (XR600R), probably a grey import, as it wasn't on the ENATIS system at all. "

[Meintjes]

That is precisely what Rainier did. Post #1

"I've just completed an interesting journey, that being to get a bike registered and licensed after having bought it with no papers, who knows how and when the bike in question came into the country (XR600R), probably a grey import, as it wasn't on the ENATIS system at all. "

Yes but those 600s were originally made for on road use the 500s from 82 weren't they had the xl range for that.

[jelo]

Yes but those 600s were originally made for on road use the 500s from 82 weren't they had the xl range for that.

nope XR600R was full off-road.

The later XR650R and now the XR650L had road kit.

Same process anyway, they don't care if the thing has lights if it isn't on the system, up until you need the RWC.

Then you just need the DEKRA report.

- brights & dims
- indicators
- brake lights
- chain guard
- kill switch/ignition
- etc

[Kelpie]

Going through same process with a KTM presently...never been registered and was brought in SA via an immigrant...thanks for all info!!

[j9x]

Good day all.
I have a refrigerated trailer that I find hard to sell. I am not currently using it. The licence has just expired. I wish not to renew it, as it costmore than R10k per year. How do I deregister it?

[Dirk]

Good day all.
I have a refrigerated trailer that I find hard to sell. I am not currently using it. The licence has just expired. I wish not to renew it, as it costmore than R10k per year. How do I deregister it?

Under correction, but I think you cannot deregister on an expired license.

[Capt Chaos]

why does it cost R10k a year??

[Dirk]

My son is about to embark on this journey, he bought a 250 KLR few months back and has been spending time cleaning it up etc, it should be all done within the next week or two.

He received the bike with a sign NCO form, registration papers, AND deregistration papers (deregistered in 2018).

Hopefully it will not be too painful to get this bike back on the system and licensed as I believe it will have a lot more value being licensed than bush use only.

[Flydutch]

Hi Rainier.
First of all thanks for this post as I really put me on the right pad to try ans solve a problem I have.
However due to the sensitivity of what I need to ask may I have your email address so that I can explain. whatever follows which is suitable for the public domain I can post as my contribution to solving such licensing problems. My email address: [email protected]

Found this post on the WD forum, quite informative:

Here is something I copied off a post on WD a few years ago.
I cannot recall who posted it, so apologies for not giving credit.


Hi All
I've just completed an interesting journey, that being to get a bike registered and licensed after having bought it with no papers, who knows how and when the bike in question came into the country (XR600R), probably a grey import, as it wasn't on the ENATIS system at all. This seemed like a really intimidating process before starting due to the lack of credible information relating to it, I therefore thought others may find it handy to know how this works.

When first embarking on this I was told it was a near impossible task which will be filled with frustration and most likely not the desired outcome i.e. getting it on to the ENATIS system. That I would be better off buying a set of papers for the bike, something that is on offer if you ask around.

1. Go along to your local traffic department, and ask for the forms to put register a built up vehicle (that's the only way you can get it on) after having had them check on the system that your engine and chassis numbers aren't there.
2. They will give you the following;
2.1 A Request for confirmation of identifying marks,
2.2 An affidavit form,
2.3 A Gross Vehicle Mass certificate form
2.4 A weighbridge certificate form, and
2.5 A blue request to register a vehicle form.
3. If you're ready to get going with this, then request a temporary permit while there to allow you to take the bike the various places, that will cost you R48
4. Complete the affidavit where you basically state how you got the bike and why it was never registered i.e. only been used offroad and you want to get roadworthy and use it on public roads and detail the costs you have incurred in getting it to a roadworthy state, you have to attach the invoices supporting your expenditure. Once done take this to your local police station and get them to certify the lot, that is sign and stamp it.
5. Take the bike to your local police clearance office (Stikland in Cape Town), they complete the confirmation of identifying Marks form, which is confirming the engine and chassis numbers on the relevant form.
6. Get a weighbridge certificate. This you can get at a scrap metal place or some roadworthy places, I went to a Roadworthy place that does it, it cost me R120.
7. Get a Gross Vehicle Mass Certificate, that is what the maximum that the bike plus luggage and passengers may weigh. I had this done at a roadworthy place, they didn't charge me.
8. Complete the blue request for registration form.
9. Submit the whole lot to your local traffic department, they will assure that they will come back to you in 48 hours – reality is more like a week, they took a few days to get around to faxing it off to the Provincial Administration people and same then took about 48 hours to come back.
10. You then return to the traffic dept. when they contact you, and register (R68) and pay the licence fee (R132), they will give you your registration document and a request for police clearance, form and you need to buy a temporary permit again to allow you to take the bike to them.
11. Armed with this you return to the police clearance place and they check the engine and chassis numbers and issue you a Police Clearance Certificate.
12. You then get the roadworthy done (I paid R200), which was such a formality (hardly checked the bike) and armed with these two documents returned to the traffic dept. voila, once I got to the front of the queue, 5 minutes later I left with registration documents and licence disc.

So there you have it it's not impossible, you can do the whole thing in one full day (two half days) of schlepping back and forth, and a week of waiting in between, so all told you can be good to go at a cost of R618 (R48 + R120 + R48 + R68 + R132 + R200) and a week and a half.





Things you MUST know:
1. It is against the law to buy or sell an unlicensed vehicle

2. If you still want the vehicle and it does not have any papers, then get the following from seller:
a) Get the license/ VIN and engine nr and check with the licensing authorities or SAPS beforehand, if it is not stolen.
If it is in the archives, find out what the late fees, penalties etc will be, you will be charged from 1 April 2007 for all the fees if it is in the archive currently.
b) If you prefer to move on with the sale, then get an Invoice/Sales agreement from the seller where all the details of the seller, vehicle and buyer is on, adress, ID nrs, price, bike's VIN and engine nr etc.
c) Let the seller make a sworn affidavit at the SAPS as where he got the vehicle, that he does not have the papers, that it is paid for in full, his physical adress, the lot!

3. Yourself, make a sworn affidavit as where you bought the vehicle, all, like in (1(b) above.

4. Take all the affidavits, invoice, sales agreement to the licensing people, ask for a G2 record and RPI form for the vehicle.

5. They will provide you with the RPI, G2 record, MVA/VDC and Weighbridge Form (in case of a car), now take all the paperwork you have so far and take the vehicle to the SAPS or wherever they can do the RPI.

a) Find the bike/vehicle's VIN, engine nr beforehand to save time and schlep. In the case of an old BMW bike, go to Snowburne's "ENGINE AND FRAME NUMBERS IDENTIFICATION", http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/IDnumbers.htm
Study it thoroughly, make a printout and take to the SAPS, believe me they are quite uneducated regarding frame nrs, especially when it comes to Beemers and Bobbers, they will insist perhaps that it must be punched into the frame, as the reality is before 1996 it was not the case.
Also they can get confused with the engine and VIN nrs being the same in many cases and have it mixed up with the "engine ser nr", which is not the engine nr itself.

b) The vehicle must be driven into the SAPS yard (Stikland's case) but others dont care if a bike is on the back of the bakkie.

6. Once the cops did the RPI, stop by the roadworthy centre and have them filled out the MVA/VDC 01/03, also get a weighbridge certificate for a car, not necessary for a bike.

7. Take all paperwork back to the licensing people, fill in BLUE FORM, they will submit it and if approved, then the vehicle will be re-introduced to the system, here in Milnerton it took 3 days, then they will call you, then go fetch the RPC form, have your vehicle DATA-DOTTED and take it all to the SAPS again for clearance.

8. Hand in the RPC from at the license authorities and wait another day or 2 (hopefully), then they will call you to go and register the vehicle, at this point they can tell you the exact amount needed to be paid.

9. If not done yet, go do the RWC of the vehicle, return and get your disc at the license peeps.

Voilla! Hope this helps someone in the future!

For the Cape Town dogs, some actual and costly experience I had:

1. I did check the frame and engine nr beforehand and knew it could be a schlep.
2. The seller did not want to give me any papers, no invoice , nadah, . . . PROBLEM
3. I went to Stikland, bike on the bakkie, they almost confiscated it as I had no G2 record or invoice with me, no they said, go find the previous owner, off I go
4. Found the previous registered owner, he had to do an affidavit, ID, the whole lot and post it to me
5. Rock up at Stikland again, nope they said it MUST have a VIN nr punched into it . . . , only after this encounter I went online to search all about engine and VIN nr's and BEFORE 1996 a vehicle was not required to have it punched out, a plate was acceptable, SO TELL THE COP THAT!!
6. Now I'm not lekker, so phoned Malmesbury SAPS, yes said the cop, bring the bike in for RPI clearance, came there, oops here he finds the engine ser nr on the sump, now there is 2 conflicting nr's on the engine . . . now he is scared, uneducated . I show him the whole article of Snowburne, , , no faith in that, he sends me to the SAPS Vehicle Theft unit in Stellenbosch.
7. The man in Stlbsch is by grace an old school person, who knows about all the "BMW nr's" etc, he signs the RPI, jippieeeeee, 1 step ahead, after 500km of to and fro traveling between SAPS stations!
8. I handed in all the forms, 3 days later they emailed me, RPC is ready, they mailed it to me, (Tania in Milnerton office)
9. Off to Malmesbury again, the cop did not check the Data Dot the previous time, so the bike had to go in again, he made copies of all the affidavits etc, signed and stamped the RPC,
10. I emailed the RPC back to Milnerton, so now I am waiting for them to call me to go register the bike, the original RPC form must also be handed in when registering


I believe it may vary from province to province, office to office.
What I have found that sometimes you get a lekker dof person, then just go stand in the line again for the next "not so dof" person, this also worked for me countless times.

Sterkte, druk deur, its worth it!!