Just curious, has anyone ever actually seen someone from the DMV climb under a car and look at the frame?
The three vehicles I've bought out of state and had shipped to CA needed to have a VIN inspection done. In order to do this, you either have to bring the vehicle to DMV for the inspection or have an authorized law enforcement officer or independent DMV consultant do the inspection and fill out the paperwork.
I've never taken an out of state vehicle to the DMV for inspection, but have had both law enforcement and an independent DMV consultant do the inspections. In all three cases, the would only do the paperwork after they verified the VINs on the frames. They would not use the glove box tag or the door jamb sticker. It had to be stamped on the frame of the vehicle.
Whether the CA DMV jackoffs would be that strict, I don't know, but as has been said, with varying degrees of inspections in different states, I wouldn't want to be caught with my pants down - as the buyer, seller, or owner.