So this has become a nightmare lol.

Purchased 2015 Mini Cooper JCW from Audi Fort Myers Florida ( happy with the car ), the salesman gave me a bill of sale and temp FL tag and drove it back to Maryland. I was told by salesman that I needed to get the mini inspected in MD within 30 days and to mail him back the passed inspection paperwork, and he would overnight tags to me --- I also have no title???

Took Car to a local MD Inspection Shop:

• Failed - No 2nd catalytic - car has AWE Exhaust installed and it seems this removes the second cat (see below between #1 & #3) ? At least that is what the inspection station is telling me.
• It seems I need PART #1 below to get this guy to pass me?? --- any forum members have this laying around after they swapped exhausts? Reference attached AWE cut sheet, seems AWE just has a resonator and deletes the 2nd catalytic. I just hope I can source a used OEM Part #1 below, and it's the same length as the circled AWE section below.
• Anyone else have idea's

• I showed the guy I needed a driver's side wiper, he proceeded to take the blade off and the arm snapped back and cracked my windshield . I have signed paper work stating he would replace Monday with an OEM wind shield. I was like wtf....
• Window Tint - i guess Florida has different tint limits. I need to remove the tint. Honestly the tint isn't that dark, thousands of people on MD roads have tint you can't even see in the car.

I custom built my own exhaust on my 2000 MCoupe track car, just bought stainless tubing from Burn Stainless and some V bands and had a friend weld my pieces together. I guess I could get some tubing and a cheap cat from summit/jegs and weld it up, but the bend/kick up to the main cat would be difficult to match.

Any ideas from members? Anyone have the part #1 above laying in there shed/garage. Seems I just need to have a 2nd cat installed to show this guy and pass my MD state inspection, send this paperwork to Audi Fort Myers and get my tags (where's my title???)

 

Florida doesn't create paper titles. The dealership will get you a Maryland title when they register you.

Can't help with the exhaust question. You might check around to see if there's another inspection station that might not be so strict on the aftermarket exhaust? Also, research your inspection laws to see if this is the, correct answer on both exhaust and tint. Is the inspection only required because it's out of state, or do you have to go through it every year?

You might go hit a junkyard to see if you can find a stock exhaust you can bolt up for inspection, then put the aftermarket one back on when you pass.

 

Maybe go back to dealership you bought it from and get them to solve emissions problem? They should have noticed that car was missing emission equipment before they sold it? Pretty sure most inspection station in Maryland are going to notice a missing primary cat converter and fail you :(. I have ran into the tint problem. MD allows a low rate of tinting (15%) and a couple of my cars failed that part of inspection.

 

Florida has no inspections, they probably don't even bother to look at stuff like that if the car isn't throwing a code.

Failed inspection for tint? That's a thing?

I think I'd find a different shop to do the inspection. I don't know how MD's inspections are done, but in PA we can usually find shops that will inspect for actually safety and not arbitrary laws like tint. As long as the car isn't throwing an engine code it shouldn't be too hard to find a shop that "wouldn't notice" the aftermarket parts. One shop told me 3 or 4 years ago that they wouldn't pass my F250 because the bed rails were getting rough. The shop I've been taking it to since then hasn't even mentioned it. Why? Probably because they know Ford beds have to be torched off and there is no way it is going to magically detach because of some rusty rails.

So yeah, does it work that way in MD?

 

Florida will provide a paper title if requested. There's a small additional fee (about $3).

 

Thanks all.

According to the MD Inspection paperwork I received from the local shop, it states the "deficiencies" were uploaded to the database. Whatever that means, but I have 30 days, or 1000 miles to get the outstanding issues resolved.

Put new rear rotors on the car, what a crock of s@#$, those rear rotors were fine. I am thinking the shop was looking for the work.
Used the wife's hairdryer and removed the tint. Wasn't a big deal at all really. Was a little hesitant about the rear window with the defroster but I took my time heated the window up nicely, pulled, heated, rinse and repeat. Used windex/ammonia and a plastic scrapper to remove residual glue.

As far as adding the 2nd cat like stock. The previous owner had an AWE (track edition) exhaust installed. AWE exhaust comes in 3 sections. So I bought a Magnaflow high flow cat (8" long), and cheap 4" round 10" long stainless muffler, a 4' straight piece of stainless exhaust tubing, and some V Band sets. I will cut the 1st section (connected to primary catalytic) of the AWE exhaust and a V Band. I will then V band / install the Magnaflow cat, cheap muffler and install that in place of the 1st section. Go back and fingers crossed pass the inspection. The come home and take this crap off and put the AWE section back in.

Not sure any of that makes sense but I will take some pictures. I was able to source all the materials for <$200 and my buddy will do the welding, so it was cheaper than sourcing a stock exhaust at around $300.

As far as title MD states a notarized bill of sale (of course the Audi dealer didn't give me a "notarized" bill of sale, just a long yellow sheet) and the Florida registration will suffice. Looking at the Florida bill of sale, I paid $606 for title, registration, and licensing. Seems crazy I paid that much for a paper tag, and a paper Florida registration in my glove box, PLUS i am going to get hit by MD for title, registration etc.

Lesson learned. . This dealership had me hook line and sinker. They knew I flew from Maryland to Florida to see the car, i lost all my leverage negotiating. I tried to get this guy lower for almost an hour, he came down from 15K to 14,600.

So far I love the little JCW. The chassis on this car is crazy stiff, and steering response is almost like my track Mcoupe. Very impressive.
Thanks all -

 

I've bought cars all over the country, and lived in FL 3 years. You have grounds to go back to the dealer and force them to do your out of state registration, you paid for it. That said, you're going to expend a ton of time and effort and frustration, and IMHO it's not worth it.

Sounds like you came up with a good fix for the state inspection.

My advise? Get in your car and drive west until you find the road sloping up in front of you. Look for a turn off to a road that looks like spaghetti on your GPS screen. Turn there. Press, right pedal to the floor, grin and giggle, and drive until you feel like you would have paid another $1k for, that feeling. Then you'll be thrilled with your bargain MINI.

Then turn around and run it again on the, way home. Motoring is way cheaper than a therapist. 😁

 

Husky, I think we would get along just great! I like the way you think.