Registering your Vehicle as an Off-highway only vehicle
By: Caleb Call
No matter if your vehicle is a competition tube framed buggy on 40" tires or a Toyota Four Runner on 32" tires, sometimes it just makes more sense to register your vehicle as an Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV). Registering your vehicle as an OHV is a permanent change in the titling of your vehicle. It has never been real clear on what exactly you need to do and the steps that need to be taken in order to register your vehicle as such. You would always get different stories and steps depending on the person you spoke with about this. Having recently gone through the process I will give an outline of what needs to be done to keep your vehicle legal.
The very first thing you need to consider if you have an existing vehicle is, is this really for me? When you change the titling of your vehicle to an OHV, it becomes for Off-Road use only. It will no longer be legal to drive it on any public streets. However, for buggies and the more extreme vehicles this is not an issue because they cannot legally be driven on the street anyways.
So now you have made the choice to register it as an OHV. You need to go down to the DMV and pick-up a couple forms or you can visit their website and download the PDF files to be printed out (URL is at the end of the article). The forms you need are forms TC-661 which is a Certificate of Inspection and form TC-569A MVA which is an Ownership Statement. The next step is to get your VIN inspected, you will need form TC-661 for this, by a Motor Vehicle Examiner, designator contractor, Utah Peace Officer, or a certified safety inspector. I called the Salt Lake County Sheriffs office (non-emergency number) and had an officer come to my house and inspect my buggy. There is a little bit of difference in this step for those who have an existing VIN versus those that are getting a new VIN for their homebuilt vehicle. If you have a VIN already they will be inspecting it to make sure it has not been reported stolen or anything along those lines, if you need a new VIN they will be inspecting to make sure there is not already a VIN assigned to it. The Officer, or whoever you have inspect it, will then fill out their portion of form TC-661, you need to fill out the top portion.
You will also need to fill out the form TC-569A, the Ownership Statement, which is just information about the vehicle. Now that you have all the forms filled out you need to take at least two good pictures of your vehicle to take with you to the DMV, they will put these on file. Now that you have the two forms and the two pictures you need to return to the DMV where you will be assigned a new VIN and also be given another form TC-661.
You now need to go attach your new VIN and and remove your old one if you had a pre-existing one then have it inspected once more to ensure that you really did attach it to your vehicle. After getting it inspected you need to go into the DMV one last time where You will be given your OHV registration stickers and assigned your registration numbers. Depending on the DMV you go to you may have to fill out form TC-162 or TC-656 which are both Applications for Utah Title. If you have an existing title you will also need to bring that with you to the DMV, they will shred it and you will get a new one in the mail in a week or two. I need to mention it again, if you register your vehicle as an OHV you will not be able to legally drive it on public streets, your vehicle will essentially be a large ATV.
http://tax.utah.gov/forms/current.html#motorvehicle
By: Caleb Call
No matter if your vehicle is a competition tube framed buggy on 40" tires or a Toyota Four Runner on 32" tires, sometimes it just makes more sense to register your vehicle as an Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV). Registering your vehicle as an OHV is a permanent change in the titling of your vehicle. It has never been real clear on what exactly you need to do and the steps that need to be taken in order to register your vehicle as such. You would always get different stories and steps depending on the person you spoke with about this. Having recently gone through the process I will give an outline of what needs to be done to keep your vehicle legal.
The very first thing you need to consider if you have an existing vehicle is, is this really for me? When you change the titling of your vehicle to an OHV, it becomes for Off-Road use only. It will no longer be legal to drive it on any public streets. However, for buggies and the more extreme vehicles this is not an issue because they cannot legally be driven on the street anyways.
So now you have made the choice to register it as an OHV. You need to go down to the DMV and pick-up a couple forms or you can visit their website and download the PDF files to be printed out (URL is at the end of the article). The forms you need are forms TC-661 which is a Certificate of Inspection and form TC-569A MVA which is an Ownership Statement. The next step is to get your VIN inspected, you will need form TC-661 for this, by a Motor Vehicle Examiner, designator contractor, Utah Peace Officer, or a certified safety inspector. I called the Salt Lake County Sheriffs office (non-emergency number) and had an officer come to my house and inspect my buggy. There is a little bit of difference in this step for those who have an existing VIN versus those that are getting a new VIN for their homebuilt vehicle. If you have a VIN already they will be inspecting it to make sure it has not been reported stolen or anything along those lines, if you need a new VIN they will be inspecting to make sure there is not already a VIN assigned to it. The Officer, or whoever you have inspect it, will then fill out their portion of form TC-661, you need to fill out the top portion.
You will also need to fill out the form TC-569A, the Ownership Statement, which is just information about the vehicle. Now that you have all the forms filled out you need to take at least two good pictures of your vehicle to take with you to the DMV, they will put these on file. Now that you have the two forms and the two pictures you need to return to the DMV where you will be assigned a new VIN and also be given another form TC-661.
You now need to go attach your new VIN and and remove your old one if you had a pre-existing one then have it inspected once more to ensure that you really did attach it to your vehicle. After getting it inspected you need to go into the DMV one last time where You will be given your OHV registration stickers and assigned your registration numbers. Depending on the DMV you go to you may have to fill out form TC-162 or TC-656 which are both Applications for Utah Title. If you have an existing title you will also need to bring that with you to the DMV, they will shred it and you will get a new one in the mail in a week or two. I need to mention it again, if you register your vehicle as an OHV you will not be able to legally drive it on public streets, your vehicle will essentially be a large ATV.
http://tax.utah.gov/forms/current.html#motorvehicle
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