Out of state license plates (houses, school tuition, university)

[JustPassinThru]

Posted by Jenateare:
"That being said, coming to this forum has changed my mind and here's why...in my state, as I said, there is no vehicle tax. When we register our cars and That being said, coming to this forum has changed my mind and here's why...in my state, as I said, there is no vehicle tax. When we register our cars and get plates, we're not paying a tax that goes to the road ways - well okay a portion of it goes to the LOCALITY you live in to help with roads, but not on the scale that AZ does. Before I visited this thread, I wasn't thinking about the registration in AZ as a tax. I was thinking of it as a licensing fee. BIG DIFFERENCE!!"

The VLF is a form of tax. The government uses euphemisms such as "fee", but the result is the same. In Ohio, there is a huge donor-donee inequity re the gas tax and VLF revenue. The rural areas get the bigger slice of the pie, while urban municipalities must borrow funds from other projects or increase taxes in order to maintain the highways. This donor-donee inequity on a national scale was recently addressed by congress in the form of legislation. Now the feds are required to return to each state 90.5% of the gas tax revenue collected from that state.

My CA VLF was 25% higher than the AZ VLT, and the roads aren't maintained as well as they are here. I've also saved $4,000 in property taxes for the same-size house, and 50% on homeowner insurance. So, if you take everything into consideration, you may be asking youself why you didn't leave sooner.

[Reid3416]

I think you actually only have 10 days to change your address.

[country pride]

I have personalized plates so there is that extra fee for having them. Speaking of fees, my registration is due, yikes!!
My old neighbour who is from Ok still has her OK plates on her car but Im guessing that because fees here are so high, that might be why she chose to keep them. Or because she didnt plan on staying here forever.

[topjimmy]

If you're going to live here, then register your car here. Simple.

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by topjimmy

If you're going to live here, then register your car here. Simple.

Well said!

Denote: My CA registration was good till NOV-07 but when I registered in AZ at the beginning of June, I sent a copy of my AZ registration and the DMV's refund form to get the unused portion of my CA registration fee back, so you don't really lose what you paid in another state anyhow...

[RoyalPITA]

Something no-one else mentioned...

Your state _might_ suspend your auto registration once they learn you've moved out of state, such as when you switch your auto insurance. Within weeks of our moving here and changing over to AZ insurance coverage, my husband and I both received letters from the CA DMV citing that they were aware we were no longer insured in the state of CA, and thus our CA auto registrations would be suspended. The suspensions were set to go into effect about a month after the dates on the letters, or just about a total of 6 weeks after we'd moved.

[Debbie SE MI]

Hi
I am also living in Michigan, have had my home up for sale since Feb. I can't wait to pay for my Arizona plates, I am so looking forward to my move to northern AZ. If they would let me I would pre buy them so I could have them on my car when I entered AZ with trailer in tow.
Debbie SE MI

[Reid3416]

yes I talked to my insurance co, and once you are out os state for more than 30 days "with intent to relocate" you are no longer insuered and will keep paying.

[jakespop]

I'm tired of commuting into Manhattan for 25 years.Looking to move fountain Hills or Scottsdale

[starchief5]

Originally Posted by azloafer

I was a supervisor in law enforcement for 25 years. I don't know where people get this idea that police enjoy arresting out-of-towners for traffic violations. It just isn't true. If you are living here and want to keep driving with out-of-state plates you are asking for trouble, but this is common sense, not the police picking on you!

There are as many different kinds of cops as there are people. Some cops in some places do prey on out-of-state vehicles. Many police departments have unwritten (but understood by the officers) ticket quotas. I imagine that out-of-staters are viewed as easy pickings. When I moved to Oregon from California, I was stopped and checked out three times (I had done nothing wrong) in the first month. After I got Oregon plates I was never pulled over again in the nearly four years I lived there.