Procedure to Register and License a Lamborghini Replica in the State of Kentucky

My experience in registering and licensing the car in Kentucky was quite painless, except that I had to drive all the way to Frankfort (the capital) from Louisville . Kentucky is somewhat lenient and accommodating to people like us who build replicas or hot rods. The following will be the steps taken to get the replica registered in Kentucky for a replica 1993 Diablo SE-30 with a custom tubular chassis.

Preliminary

First, it is best to wait until the car is just about road worthy before starting this process.

Second, you must have or maintain the receipts of the cost of the work performed. Now I concentrated only on the costs of the major components of the build: body kit, chassis, engine and transaxle. Make plenty of copies of the receipts you plan to submit.

Third, get all the necessary forms ahead of time. These forms can be obtained by requesting them from the County Clerks office, or to call Frankfort at (502) 564-2850 - the REBUILTS department.

Process

1. Apply for a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). Since my build utilized a custom tube chassis, a VIN had to be issued. Kentucky will assign such a number to your vehicle. You perform this by completing form TC 96-169 " APPLICATION FOR MOTOR NUMBER OR VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER ". This form must be signed and notarized. Your local town clerk can notarize this form at no cost.

On the form, the question will be asked: " If not previously licensed by present owner, procured from ". Since I built the car, I merely attached a one-page document stating that there was no previous owner and that I built the car from parts. Appendix A has the attachment.

Then mail the completed and notarized TC 96-169 form to:

Motor Vehicle Licensing

Attention: REBUILTS

PO Box 2014

Frankfort , KY 40602

2 . Now you wait for the state to issue your VIN number. During this time it is best to start looking into insuring the car. I will talk about my insurance in separate section.

3. You will receive a "DUPLICATE" copy of a document sent to your County Clerk 's office regarding the issuance of the VIN plate. You will need to take this letter to the county government seat in order to physically pick-up the VIN plate. They've set this up such that you must personally receive the VIN.

4. You will then attach the VIN to your car. The only allowable spots you can attach the VIN plate to are on the driver's side dash board (in plain sight as with most cars) or onto the driver's door jamb just below the door latch striker bolt on the body. Note that the VIN plate has an adhesive backing and 2 screw holes. You can use the adhesive backing, but you MUST screw or pop-rivet the plate onto the body. Because the body is fiberglass, I screwed the VIN plate and used the adhesive backing. From this point forward, you have 90 days to get the car inspected and registered.

5. The next step is to prepare for the Sheriff's inspection. At this time, you need to fill out forms TC 96-215 and TC 96-182. Both of these forms will require the newly issued VIN number on the documents.

6. Complete form TC 96-215 " AFFIDAVIT OF MOTOR VEHICLE ASSEMBLED FROM WRECKED OR SALVAGED MOTOR VEHICLES ". This is a rather simple form which essentially states how or with what you car was built from. I described my car as a 1993 Lamborghini Diablo SE-30.

Under the question: " Kentucky , states that a motor vehicle has been reconstructed from parts taken from other motor vehicles which have been obtained from ", I wrote "See Attached". I wrote up an eleven page detailed description of how I built the car and with what engine, transaxle, etc. was used to make the car. I also pasted some pictures of the body, chassis and engine/transaxle into this document. This "Attachment" will remain with form TC 96-215.

As with all the registration forms, you must have this form notarized as well.

7. Complete form TC 96-182 " APPLICATION FOR KENTUCKY CERTIFICATE OF TITLE/REGISTRATION ". This is basically the form the Sheriff will use for the inspection, and later by the County Clerk to register the car. Again, this form must also be notarized. I brought both forms 215 and 182 to get them notarized together.

8. Now comes the Sheriff's inspection. This can be handled in 2 ways: either by driving the car to your local Sheriff, or by setting-up an appointment with the Sheriff to come out and inspect the car at your home. I chose to have the Sheriff come out. The cost is only $15 total - $10 travel fee and the $5 inspection fee. If you take your car to the Sheriff, you will still have to pay the inspection fee.

Kentucky is peculiar in this instance since they will allow you to drive the car to the inspection facility without plates. But I prefer to have the Sheriff come out.

The inspection itself was very short. The only thing the Sheriff was interested in was that the VIN matched between the plate and the documents. He did not check the functionality of anything - possibly because he had 130 other inspections that day and was quite busy.

The Sheriff completed his own "numbered" version of the TC 96-182 form. Now I had 2 of the same forms. The Sheriff told me to submit both, and recommended that I personally go to Frankfort with the paperwork since it will be much faster.

9. Next I went to Frankfort with all my paperwork. I submitted both TC 96-182 forms and explained why there were 2 forms. I submitted form TC 96-215 along with the attachment. And submitted the ORIGINAL receipts. The state keeps the original receipts. That is why you should make plenty of copies.

Because I was missing a receipt from IFG (but I did submit an invoice or faxed statement from IFG on the itemized and total costs), I had to hand-write an explanation, which was notarized on the spot by the clerks.

When all this was done, which took about 30 minutes, they issued me a copy of a letter to my County Clerk authorizing them to register and brand the car - as a 1993 Lamborghini. The authorization is electronically transmitted to the County Clerk .

10. Finally, registration. In Kentucky you have to register your vehicle through the County Clerk . I went to the County Clerk with my authorization paperwork and registered the car. The only (minor) snag came when they wanted to value the car - in order to pay the property (use) tax. I gave them copies of my receipts and told them that Frankfort had the originals. They called Frankfort and then based the value on the receipts I submitted. The tax is 6% of this value.

Before this time, I had visited the County Clerk about three months prior in order to have custom plates made for my car. This cost $25. So to complete the registration, I showed my receipt for the custom plate and the car was registered with those plates and to submit my proof of insurance.

The car is now registered and legal. At this time I am still waiting for the title, which takes several weeks.

Insurance

It took me some time to find an insurance company that will handle this type of car - a replica of an exotic. I finally obtained insurance from J. C. Taylor. It contains both a standard "driving" policy ($300,000 liability, $200 deductible) along with an "agreed value" policy. So if the car was totaled, the amount I would receive would be what the agreed value of the car was. Here again, you'll need receipts to prove the worth of the car. The cost of the policy is based upon $20/$1000.