Driving uninspected salvage vehicle

[Ebell]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? OHIO

Hi folks -
We accepted a salvage settlement of ~$1700 when our 1995 Honda Civic was damaged in a rear-end collision accident. We bought replacement parts from a salvage yard for $40 and now have a perfectly working car.
I found out today while getting the salvage title that we need to have the car inspected before we're allowed to drive it. The inspection is done by appointment only and the next available appointment isn't for another THREE WEEKS!
The best part is that the inspection DOES NOT certify the car's safety or the quality of the workmanship. It only certifies that we didn't steal the parts we used to fix the car!
We need this car -- it's my husband's only transportation to and from work. We can't go three weeks without a car that we know is perfectly safe to drive and whose parts we did not rip off the neighbor's cars.

What is the penalty if he drives it anyway? Will a cop pull him over just for that, or is it something that he/she would find out while running our plates?

Thanks!

[The Occultist]

It is possible that the non-inspection status could pop up if an officer happened to pull your husband over and ran the plates, or just happened to run the plates for the heck of it (which officers are allowed to do).

If caught driving a vehicle that has not been inspected, is is likely that the car would be impounded, and you would be responsible for all impound fees.

Check with your local DMV to see if they might offer any sort of temp registration due to the lengthy amount of time until your appointment.

[Ebell]

Thanks, Occultist -- but it doesn't look like that would help.

I'll post what I found out today -- if nothing else, it may help someone else in Ohio to PLAN AHEAD before they salvage a car. I didn't know most of this stuff, and the folks at each BMV I went to told me something different; but I got this info straight from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, who does the inspecting, so it should be right.

1. Once you turn in your 'real' title for a salvage title, it is a Class V felony to drive it (under the laws for title fraud) until it has been inspected by an authorized service of the State Highway Patrol. There's usually one such office in your area, or close to your area.

2. You need an inspection receipt, which costs $53.50, before you can schedule the inspection. You get that from your DMV.

3. After you have the inspection receipt, you can call the inspection service to schedule your appointment. In my area, the appointments were running 3 weeks out, but I was told that I should be happy because they WERE running 6-7 weeks out earlier this summer.

4. You will need the following things at the inspection (and if you don't have them, they won't inspect your car):
*salvage title
*inspection receipt
*every receipt for every part you bought for the salvaged car
*the VIN number for every car from which you took a part for the salvaged car
*the driver's license info from the person whose name is on the title

We did do one thing, though -- we made another appointment at a different inspection facility about 1 and 1/2 hours away from us. It's a drive, but they're able to inspect the car early next week.

So...thanks for trying to help me out -- hope I can help someone else.