I have two cars and will be selling one. It’s complicated but I haven’t determined which to keep yet. Michigan law if it matters…
The Civic is/was registered in AZ and has an unexpired AZ license plate on it. It currently has only comprehensive coverage on it and isn’t being driven. It now has a MI title because that was the one that we planned to keep…but it isn’t registered yet.
The other car (a Focus) is all legal and everything. It was the one we had planned to sell.
The plan was to register the Civic in MI and transfer the plate from the Focus. At that point I don’t know whether a potential buyer could legally test drive the Focus though.
Another question is if we decide to sell the Civic can it be test driven with the existing AZ plate on it even though it is now titled in MI? I guess I would want to add full insurance coverage to it first.
I know that I could register them both but it costs quite a bit more to buy a new plate that I don’t need than to transfer the plate.
How exactly did you manage to transfer just the title and not the registration on the Civic? Normally, when you register a car in another state, the registration for the old state will get cancelled but if you didn’t actually register the car in Michigan, the Arizona registration might still be valid.
You definitely don’t want to just go switching plates willy-nilly since driving with plates that belong to a different car is what’s called “fictitious plates” and can land you in some actually pretty serious trouble. I think your best bet is probably to just keep driving the cars as-is for now and worst case you’re risking the “failure to register within X days of moving” ticket and possibly also an expired registration one if the Arizona registration did in fact get cancelled.
I think this is very, very bad advice. It counts on the fact that you’re unlikely to be pulled over during a test drive, but if you are … it would be very bad news. Possibly car impoundment, maybe even arrest, and certainly a very uncomfortable time being under suspicion of car theft. And even after it’s all explained, in most jurisdictions this would still be a serious charge the person would be left facing. Temporary permits are available as you point out, and that’s the way to go.
Insurance is another issue – regulations vary by jurisdiction and type of policy you have on another car, and the biggie here is not just potential loss of the car in an accident, but potential liability, which could be huge. And it happens. I would check with my insurance company about being covered.
I was able to get a Michigan title without registering it in MIchigan. Maybe the AZ registration is still valid but I can’t get full insurance coverage from my current insurer until it is registerd in MI.
Actually I was hoping that someone would be able to tell me that it is basically legal to test drive a car that isn’t registered as long as you are within a few miles of the seller’s location you have a note or something.
It’s probably not legal but it’s also probably not a high priority for police enforcement.
In a case like this where you can readily prove you own both vehicles and the license is issued to a car you own, there’s a fair chance the cops will let it slide. Part of that would be that it’s clearly for a test drive on a car you’re selling and it doesn’t look like you’re trying to pull a fast one in not registering the car. Nevertheless, it’s a gamble and if push comes to shove you lose.
Are you sure about that? I know my insurance company has had no problem insuring some cars I’ve had while they were in various forms of registration limbo.
Auto-Owners and/or my Michigan agent is not licensed in Arizona. Now that it is in MI I got an MI title especially so they could put comprehensive coverage on it. Once it is registerd I’ll put full coverage on it.