§ 4166 Vehicle Identification Reassignment

• •If your car's original ID number (like a serial number) is missing or messed up, the DMV can give it a new one.
• •Once the car gets this new number, you must use it when you register the car.
• •This is just for cars that can't be identified anymore because their original numbers are gone or ruined.

You buy an old car, but the serial number on the engine is all scratched off and you can't read it.

The DMV will give that car a new ID number, and you have to use that new number when you sign up the car in your name.