If I trade in my old car, what happens to my plate? (windshield, buy)
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Let's say that I have a crappy car that I want to get rid of and get a newer car. I go to the dealer and give my car as tradein, what happens to my license plate?
Do they simply put my license plate on my new vehicle, or would they issue me a new plate?
If they issue me a new one, I know is not the real one, but just a temporary paper, how do you get the real plate?
What happens to my old plate after I sold the car? Do they keep the plate, do they get rid of it? Do I have contact the driver license office to notify I not longer have this car?
I think it varies State to State, but most of the ones I have lived in, they transfer your old plate to the new car. California was (maybe still is) different, the plate stayed with the car and you got a new plate. That may have changed , as it has been years since I lived there.
You will not have to do anything, if you go to a dealer. They will either transfer the plate to the new car, or they will give you a new temporary plate, and in a couple of weeks (typically) the State will send you a new, permanent plate. It is all handled for you right there at the dealership.
Here, I found this for you, look up your State and it will tell you what happens to your plate:
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Here the plate stays with the old car, and when it goes to auction whoever buys it gets your old plate. We do have the option to take them for the new car but no one does it, preferring to get new plates with the new car.
Here in Colorado plate is attached to owner, not the car. So plate stays with customer if they trade in car. They can reuse that same plate on another car they purchase.
In Alaska the old plates stay with the car. If the tag on the plate and registration still have enough days or months left, the new owner can register the car to cover the rest of the time left. In this case the new registration does not cost as much because it will only be good for a short duration (a few weeks or months). If the old plates and registration only have under a month left, then the new owner has to pay for a full registration. One can also choose to get new plates when registering a car that has been purchased from another person. The new plates come with the new registration if that's what one wants, and the DMV keeps the old plates.
You could get a new plate with a new car in Florida, but transferring an existing plate is a couple hundred bucks cheaper than getting a new one outright, so pretty much everyone moves it to the new car. And if there's a gap between selling an old car and buying a new one, you get at least a couple months grace period in transferring instead of having to get a new one.
Go to your state's DMV website to get info specific for your state.
Below is for California. As other mentioned, here in California, the license plate stays with the car, unless you have personalized plate.
There is nothing special about the license plate in California. It is the certificate of title (pink slip) that is important. The dealer requires this title for the transfer. If you don't have it, you have to pay extra money (something like $30) to get a new title. From what I read on CA DMV, seller doesn't need the title to sell the car. But the car dealers are extra careful. In my case, dealer will not complete the transaction without the title.
After you sell the car, buyer (dealer) needs to send in notice of transfer. And don't just rely on the buyer. You should also fill out the form Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability.
As for your new car, you get a piece of paper that is temporary registration. They stick this on your windshield. Then you get new license plate by mail around 3 weeks later.
You could get a new plate with a new car in Florida, but transferring an existing plate is a couple hundred bucks cheaper than getting a new one outright, so pretty much everyone moves it to the new car. And if there's a gap between selling an old car and buying a new one, you get at least a couple months grace period in transferring instead of having to get a new one.
I don't know if it is this way in other States, but, here in Florida, if you buy a car and have no plate to transfer, they hit you with a couple of hundred bucks as an "impact fee" for a brand new plate. But, if you sell a car and do not have another car to put it on, you get to keep that plate in case you ever do get another car, and you can put it on that car and save paying that fee.
I was just at the tax office renewing my two cars this week because my BD is coming up. While I was there I asked them to check the computer to see if I had any plates on file that I could use for another car that I am building right now. She checked and found a plate I had on a car probably 8 years ago that I had sold and that I had never put on another car. I can use that plate when the time comes and I guess there is no time limit on how long you can have it dormant before finally reusing it to save the impact fee money.
In SC, the plate stays with the person. When selling then purchasing the plate transfers to the new car. When selling and not purchasing, you surrender the plate to the DMV. If purchasing from a dealer and no plate, the dealer issues a 30 day temporary plate while DMV complete the paper work then they send you a real plate.
If purchasing from a private party and no prior plate, I believe the buyer must immediately go to DMV to register the vehicle. I think there is a 72 hour grace period on this based on having the bill of sale/title but I am not sure.
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