California VIN Verification: When You Need a REG 31

Mo G
Last verified: September 16, 2026

Every so often a customer walks into our Fremont office holding a stack of paperwork for a car they just drove in from Arizona, and the first thing we tell them is the one thing nobody warned them about: before the DMV will touch this, somebody has to physically walk out to the car and read the number stamped into it. That inspection has a form number, a set of rules almost nobody publishes, and a way of quietly voiding itself over a single crossed-out box.

What a California VIN verification is

A California VIN verification is a physical inspection of a vehicle’s identification number, recorded on the DMV’s Verification of Vehicle (REG 31) form. DMV requires one before it will register most vehicles last registered outside California. Only four categories of people may complete it: a DMV employee, a California-licensed vehicle verifier, an authorized auto club employee, or a trained peace officer.

The key word on the form is physically. The REG 31 instructs that it must be completed “while PHYSICALLY inspecting complete and assembled vehicles.” Nobody can do this from a photo, a VIN report, or a phone call. Somebody stands at the car, finds the number, writes it down, and signs a perjury declaration that they did.

Why California bothers

The verification exists to catch a mismatch between the metal and the paperwork before a stolen, cloned, or misdescribed vehicle enters the California registration database. The REG 31 tells the verifier to record the actual VIN on the vehicle first, then compare it against every document presented, and it carries a standing instruction: when an inspection reveals evidence of tampering, alteration, or obliteration of the number, notify the nearest DMV Investigations Section immediately.

When California requires a REG 31

The clearest published trigger is an out-of-state vehicle. DMV’s own consumer brochure, How To 9: Register a Vehicle From Out of State (HTVR 9, REV. 3/2020), lists a completed REG 31 among the requirements to register a nonresident vehicle, alongside the out-of-state title, the last out-of-state registration, and an Application for Title or Registration (REG 343).

The REG 31 itself defines the two situations a licensed vehicle verifier is permitted to handle, and they map cleanly onto the two most common consumer cases:

1. Nonresident vehicles. Anything last registered in another state or country.
2. Any vehicle or trailer with no California record, excluding used motorcycles, where the VIN appears okay and there is a supporting ownership document. That document must be a Certificate of Title, a Manufacturer’s Certificate or Statement of Origin (MCO/MSO), a US Government Standard Form 97-1, or a Registration Card.

Everything else, including any verification with no supporting ownership document at all, has to be referred to DMV or the California Highway Patrol.

Outside those two, verifications also come up on title corrections and on vehicles whose records went missing. If you are working through an out-of-state move, our guide to registering an out-of-state car in California and the 20-day rule covers where the verification sits in the wider sequence.

Who can legally complete a REG 31

This is where published guidance goes wrong most often, because DMV’s own documents do not agree with each other.

Note the third row. The current REG 31 (REV. 5/2025) lists four authorized completers. DMV’s consumer brochure HTVR 9, last revised in March 2020, lists three and omits auto clubs entirely. A reader working from the brochure would never know an auto club was an option.

The fastest path for most people is a verifier who travels to the vehicle. Sticker Quicker’s licensed VIN verification service sends a licensed verifier to a home, business, or yard anywhere in California, or handles it at the Fremont counter, and then files the registration off the back of it. That matters more than it sounds, because a completed REG 31 in your hand is not a registered car. It is a piece of paper you still have to deliver somewhere.

The six vehicles a licensed verifier cannot touch

The REG 31 prints an explicit prohibited list. If your vehicle falls into any of these, a licensed vehicle verifier has to send you to DMV or CHP:

1. Vehicles whose US Federal Certification Label disagrees with the VIN, or is illegible, damaged, tampered with, altered, missing, never issued (direct import and grey market vehicles), or does not match the documents
2. Revived salvage or revived junk vehicles
3. Specially constructed (SPCNS) vehicles, including kit and replica builds
4. Used motorcycles with an unavailable California record, meaning last registered here but no longer on DMV’s database
5. Vehicles with documents from a foreign country
6. Motorcycles with engine changes

Two of those catch people out regularly. If you bought a rebuilt wreck at auction planning to put it back on the road, that is item two, and our guide to California salvage titles and what can actually be revived explains the rest of that path. And if you built a Cobra or a Mustang replica from a kit, that is item three: the REG 31 instructs verifiers to enter “0000” as the model year for a specially constructed vehicle, because it has no manufacturer’s model year, and then to hand the job off.

There is one more referral rule worth knowing before you drive anywhere. Under federal law, a 17-digit VIN that passes check-digit is required on all 1981 and newer model year motor vehicles and all 1985 and newer trailers. Any 1981 or newer vehicle showing fewer than 17 digits must be referred to CHP.

The trap: one cross-out voids the whole form

This is the single most useful line on the REG 31 and it appears almost nowhere else. In capitals, on the face of the form:

“WARNING: Any missing sections, alterations, cross-outs, or erasures (even when initialed) will void this form and a new verification must be completed.”

Read that again. Not “will be questioned.” Void. And a new verification means a new physical inspection of the vehicle, which means the verifier comes back out. The form also requires that all nine numbered sections carry at least one checked box, and that anything inapplicable is marked N/A rather than left blank. A stamped or typed verifier signature is not accepted.

For a car sitting in your driveway that is an annoyance. For a crane, a gooseneck trailer, or a truck that is mid-job across the state, a second site visit is a real cost. It is a good argument for using somebody who fills these out every day rather than somebody filling one out for the first time.

Which revision is current, and why that is a fair question

Here is something we found while verifying this article, and it is worth publishing because it affects whether your paperwork gets accepted.

The current form is the REG 31 (REV. 5/2025). DMV announced it in Vehicle Industry News memo VIN 2025-09, issued September 19, 2025, which described two changes: the instruction to hand print in black or blue ink was removed from the top of the form, and an optional verifier email address field was added at the bottom. The memo also says the revision was made “in preparation for a streamlined, electronic revision anticipated to be released soon,” so an electronic REG 31 is on DMV’s roadmap.

Now the contradiction. The REG 31 itself instructs, in its own notes, that “The most current version of this form must be used.” The memo announcing that exact revision says the opposite: “Previous revisions of the REG 31 and REG 262 remain acceptable until supplies are depleted.” Same agency, same form, three weeks apart, opposite instructions. DMV currently hosts at least three REG 31 revisions on its own site, dated 10/2018, 4/2023, and 5/2025.

Our read, and what we do in practice: use the 5/2025 revision. It costs nothing to use the newest form, and the memo’s grace language protects a verifier who has older stock, not a consumer whose application gets bounced. If a verifier hands you an older revision, that is defensible under VIN 2025-09, but there is no upside in testing it.

The handbook problem behind it

The 2025 form tells verifiers to “Refer to Vehicle Verifiers License Handbook (OL 301), available at dmv.ca.gov.” That handbook carries a revision stamp of REV. 8/2009, and its prohibited-verification list is materially looser than the one printed on the 2025 form. The 2009 handbook does not mention specially constructed vehicles at all. It limits the foreign-documents bar to used motorcycles, where the 2025 form applies it to any vehicle. And it caps its certification-label rule at original applications for vehicles of 8,000 pounds unladen or less, where the 2025 form applies it with no weight limit.

In other words, the current form routes verifiers to a handbook whose rules that same form has superseded. The handbook’s licensing fee figures are from the same 2009 vintage and predate multiple published DMV fee increase memos, so we are not reprinting them here. Anyone pursuing a verifier license should get current fees from DMV Occupational Licensing directly.

How to get a California VIN verification done

1. Gather what you have. The title, the current or expired registration, and any out-of-state paperwork. It does not need to be tidy. Reconciling the paperwork against the metal is the point of the exercise.
2. Check the prohibited list above. Revived salvage, SPCNS builds, foreign documents, and motorcycle engine changes go to DMV or CHP, not to a licensed verifier. Finding that out first saves a wasted appointment.
3. Book a licensed verifier, or take the vehicle in. A mobile verifier is the practical choice for anything heavy, unplated, or inconvenient to move.
4. Be present with the VIN accessible. The verifier needs to reach the plate or stamping. Where a VIN is die stamped into the frame, the form requires the frame number to be recorded rather than a plate.
5. Check the form before the verifier leaves. Nine sections, no blanks, no cross-outs, wet signature.
6. File it with the rest of the registration application. This is the step people underestimate, and where the deadline lives.

Do not let the verification eat your deadline

Registration fees on a nonresident vehicle are due to DMV within 20 days of the date they become due, and HTVR 9 carries an instruction that is easy to miss and expensive to ignore:

“To avoid penalties, submit your registration application and fees on time, even if you do not have all the requirements (title, smog, etc.) needed to register the vehicle in California.”

That is DMV telling you plainly that waiting for a perfect file is the wrong move. Penalties run off the calendar, not off your paperwork. Chasing an appointment while that clock runs is how a straightforward move turns into a penalty, and it is the specific problem a licensed DMV Business Partner exists to solve.

Sticker Quicker is one of a small number of California DMV Business Partners with full online access, operating under DMV Occupational License #90656 with over 500,000 customers served and DMV-connected real-time processing. The verification, the registration, and the plates run as one job: a licensed verifier comes to the vehicle, the paperwork is filed the same day rather than handed back to you, and documents ship next-day by tracked FedEx. Days, not weeks, and no field office visit in the middle of it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a REG 31 in California?

REG 31 is the California DMV’s Verification of Vehicle form. It records a physical inspection of a vehicle’s VIN, its location and attachment method, the federal certification label, the odometer reading, and the emission label, then compares all of it against the ownership documents. It must be completed in full while physically inspecting the vehicle.

Can I do my own VIN verification in California?

No. The REG 31 is headed “NOT TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT.” Only a DMV employee, a California-licensed vehicle verifier, an authorized auto club employee, or a properly trained peace officer may complete one, and they must physically inspect a complete and assembled vehicle to do it.

Do I need a VIN verification to register an out-of-state car in California?

Yes, in the normal case. DMV’s HTVR 9 brochure lists a completed Verification of Vehicle (REG 31) among the requirements for registering a nonresident vehicle, along with the last out-of-state title, the last out-of-state registration, and a completed REG 343 application.

Why did DMV reject my VIN verification?

The most common reason is a correction on the form. The REG 31 warns that any missing section, alteration, cross-out, or erasure, even when initialed, voids the form and requires a new verification. Blank sections do the same, which is why inapplicable boxes must be marked N/A rather than left empty.

Can a licensed verifier verify a salvage or kit car?

No. Revived salvage and revived junk vehicles, and specially constructed (SPCNS) vehicles such as kit and replica builds, are both on the REG 31’s prohibited list for licensed vehicle verifiers. Those go to DMV or the California Highway Patrol instead.

Does a VIN verification have to be done in person?

Yes. The REG 31 requires a physical inspection of a complete and assembled vehicle, and a wet signature from the verifier. Stamped or typed signatures are not accepted. A mobile licensed verifier can come to the vehicle rather than the vehicle coming to an office.

Primary sources verified for this article

• California DMV, Verification of Vehicle (REG 31, REV. 5/2025)
• California DMV, Vehicle Industry News VIN 2025-09, REG 31 and REG 262 Form Revisions, issued September 19, 2025
• California DMV, How To 9: Register a Vehicle From Out of State (HTVR 9, REV. 3/2020)
• California DMV, Vehicle Verifier License Handbook (OL 301, REV. 8/2009)
• California DMV, Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual, section 1.165 Vehicle Verifications

This article covers California registration procedure and is accurate as of the verification date above. DMV forms and memos change. Confirm current requirements at dmv.ca.gov or with a licensed DMV Business Partner before you file.

About the author

Mo G is the founder of Sticker Quicker, a licensed California DMV Business Partner operating under DMV Occupational License #90656 from 38003 Mission Blvd STE B, Fremont, CA 94536, and serving all of California online. He has spent decades handling California vehicle registrations, titles, VIN verifications, and fleet services, and writes here about the parts of the process the forms do not explain.

Need a VIN verification without the appointment hunt? Book a licensed California VIN verifier who comes to you, or if the vehicle is already verified and you just need the filing done, start with Sticker Quicker’s California title transfer service. Already registered here and just need the sticker? Renew your California registration online in minutes.