My son bought an awesome used car recently in Northern California. What they didn’t tell him when he bought it was that it has out-of-state plates, and he has to go down to the DMV and jump through some hoops to get his California plates.
Now as we know, everybody hates going to the DMV, especially if you go without a plan. So, does anybody know what exactly is the process, what forms he will fill out, what documentation he needs, etc.? Thanks so much!
Oh, BTW, he has already registered it, bought insurance, etc.
How did he register it without the DMV? By mail?
Didn’t they just assign new plates from your state when he registered it?
I guess the dealership did it for him, by mail? Don’t know if they were trying to get over by not mentioning the out-of-state part or not.
He shouldn’t have to do anything, until the time those out-of-state plates expire. They are valid plates until then. At least, that is the situation here in my state. California may be different.
Actually, I think you legally are supposed to re-license the car within the state after some period (1 year?) of residing/driving it in the state. But most plates need to be renewed every year anyway. And cops aren’t likely to stop you just for out-of-state plates, as long as they aren’t expired.
Well see, it doesn’t have plates at all – apparently the dealership told him they’d be taking care of the plate thing for him, but they didn’t. One of our other friends says that if you go to the DMV and your paperwork is all in order, they will give you the plates on the spot. Is this true?
How To Register A Vehicle from Out-of-State (Nonresident Vehicle)
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/brochures/howto/htvr9
Things might be a bit different if the car has no plates at all though.
Yes.
If he bought from a dealer & they processed the registration, the plates will arrive in the mail in a couple of weeks. As long as he has the temporary registration that the dealer taped in the corner of the windshield, he’s fine.
I’m not sure it matters about the out-of-state plates in California, as long as you have clear title, you should be able to get a California title, registration and plates.
I got a $2 ticket for not changing my plates within 30 days when I first moved here to Oregon.
In FL you must re-register the car within 60 days of its arrival in the state or face a truly ridiculous fine when you do finally register it. Trying to run out the remaining months on your out-of-state plate will cost you dearly around here.
I’m too lazy to look up CA; the OP can do that. But it’s dangerous to assume you can ignore this problem for more than a few weeks.
How would they know?
They’re not running around investigating every car- but it does sometimes come to the attention of the authorities. Maybe the car with Michigan plates is getting a parking ticket in NYC every other week or your neighbor is annoyed at you for some reason and reports it or you changed your license over to the new state to have proof of residence and then get into an accident and the discrepancy comes to light or you get pulled over and the officer asks how long you’ve been in the state.
Aside to the OP: if/when a visit to the DMV becomes necessary, it’s usually possible to schedule an appointment. Check the website.
In my case, the local police were specifically targeting me, watching, waiting … first chance they got they pulled me over. They wanted to search my car for illegal drugs (which they found) and to check if I was driving drunk (which I was). They would have tried to suspend my driver’s license but I didn’t have one.
Yeah, $2 fine … boy were they happy with themselves …
Maybe this is a huge whoosh, but you were driving drunk, with drugs, and no license… and you got a $2 fine for the registration?
California doesn’t have temporary registrations. When you buy a car from a dealer there, they should be able to print you out a registration on the spot and while you wait for the plates to come in the mail you just drive around with no plates! Some dealers will tape some bit of paperwork to a window to show it’s a new registration, but it’s not legally required.
So, to the OP, does your son have a registration document for the car in his name? If so, the plates will come in the mail and there should be nothing to worry about. (I am assuming he bought it from a dealer, right?)
SHOULD. I bought a car from Carmax in 2006. I paid them to send for plates, but six months later I found that they had screwed up and not done it.
They refunded the fee I had paid them to handle that transaction.