MV Agusta Explains Loss of California License

Evans Brasfield
by Evans Brasfield

Earlier this month, the Occupational Licensing division of the California Department of Motor Vehicles caused a bit of a kerfuffle in the motorcycle world when the agency’s monthly newsletter announced that MV Agusta had lost its license to sell motorcycles in the state of California. This is not the sort of announcement you’d expect about a well-known, premium brand of motorcycle.

The ruling essentially forbids any of MV’s dealers from selling any new motorcycles. They can sell used ones, but the 2014 model year is strictly off-limits, for now. Since we are entering the meat of the riding season, we reached out to MV Agusta for a response. What we learned is that the company mistakenly left out some of the forms required to renew its license. According to Rob Keith, Managing Director for MV Agusta USA, the trouble is “a paperwork issue we are resolving as we speak. Nothing sinister or having anything to do with our bikes. Strictly paperwork.”

With that good news, our next concern was, obviously, how long will it take for the restriction to be lifted, given the glacial pace at which government offices can work. The estimate is that it may only take couple of weeks to resolve.

So, California MV Agusta fans who are planning on purchasing a shiny, new Italian dream machine will just have to dream a little longer. We’ll update you as we learn more.

[Source: MV Agusta]

Evans Brasfield
Evans Brasfield

Like most of the best happenings in his life, Evans stumbled into his motojournalism career. While on his way to a planned life in academia, he applied for a job at a motorcycle magazine, thinking he’d get the opportunity to write some freelance articles. Instead, he was offered a full-time job in which he discovered he could actually get paid to ride other people’s motorcycles – and he’s never looked back. Over the 25 years he’s been in the motorcycle industry, Evans has written two books, 101 Sportbike Performance Projects and How to Modify Your Metric Cruiser, and has ridden just about every production motorcycle manufactured. Evans has a deep love of motorcycles and believes they are a force for good in the world.

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