I went to the DMV yesterday checking on how to get a title for a home made Trike.The lady at the window I went to knew nothing of this change.She then went and got her supervisor who knew of the change because he could no longer issue titles out of the Houston DMV office.That they had to send all the paper work to Austin now.He then showed me a picture of a homemade V-8 Trike that had been denied.This is what he showed me in the Motor Vehicle Title Manual.
Title Manual page 25-16
Eligibility for Title
Homemade vehicles are not eligible for title or registration. Homemade vehicles are
described as vehicles that were not previously manufactured by a NHTSA approved
manufacturer or a vehicle created by merging two or more vehicles from different vehicle
classes that were never engineered or manufactured to be combined with one another by
the original manufacturers of those vehicles (such as a motorcycle front and the rear of a
Volkswagon Beetle).
Rule §217.3
(a) (6) Vehicles that may not be titled. The department will not title a vehicle, with the exception of a trailer as defined in Transportation Code, §501.002, that does not have a body, motor, and frame manufactured by a motor vehicle manufacturer.
Transportation Code
Sec. 502.048. REFUSAL TO REGISTER UNSAFE VEHICLE. The department may refuse to register a motor vehicle and may cancel, suspend, or revoke a registration if the department determines that a motor vehicle is unsafe, improperly equipped, or otherwise unfit to be operated on a public highway.
Transferred, redesignated and amended from Transportation Code, Section 502.005 by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1296, Sec. 86, eff. January 1, 2012.To read more on theis change go to chapter 25, page 13 http://ftp.txdmv.gov/pub/txdot-info/vtr/title_manual_book_451.pdf
Per Pamela (assistant chief regional service) at vehicle titles and registration division Austin Texas, The State of Texas will no longer issue Titles for homemade Trikes at all. Because the frames or not from a certified NHTSA dealer.She said the Trikers that or all ready titled and registered now, will be ok but who every owns them can not sale them because Texas will not transfer the title.I know a lot of Trikes or registered as motorcycles, just watch out how it is titled, I had one DPS officer tell me if he stopped someone on a trike and if all the vin munbers,insurance and license matched the Trike he would either give you a ticket or a warning and let you go,but if it looked more like a car he would look a little closer and may have to pull the tag and inspection due to state law, He also said it was going to make his job harder.Everyone ride safe and enjoy the weather if you can I know some of you or getting some bad storms and servier weather our prayers go out to yall and I hope nothing serious happens to You, your Familey or Friends.
-- Edited by Paw on Thursday 23rd of May 2013 10:54:26 PM