CA DMV Registration question (San Diego: sales, vehicle registration, insurance)

[perm2perm]

Hi all,

The deadline to pay CA DMV annual registration fee for my vehicle is within a week. However I will be moving out of San Diego in a few weeks. Do I still need to pay the fee ? Should I call them up and ask them to pro-rate it ? Or do they pro-rate it when I register my vehicle in another state and return the license plate to CA ? I don't want to pay $300-400 for the whole next year given that I will be here only for a few weeks more ? Or there is no way out of it and I have to pay the whole amount no matter what ?

Thanks,

[moved]

I know that at the end of the month that your registration expires, there's a grace period due to some people still using snail mail. If you register you car in CA, then move and re-register it in another state, you're out the CA fees. I'v never heard of any DMV pro-rating their fees. It's all or nothing.

[cruitr]

Originally Posted by perm2perm

Hi all,

The deadline to pay CA DMV annual registration fee for my vehicle is within a week. However I will be moving out of San Diego in a few weeks. Do I still need to pay the fee ? Should I call them up and ask them to pro-rate it ? Or do they pro-rate it when I register my vehicle in another state and return the license plate to CA ? I don't want to pay $300-400 for the whole next year given that I will be here only for a few weeks more ? Or there is no way out of it and I have to pay the whole amount no matter what ?

Thanks,

Maybe you can start the vehicle registration process in your new state. Just use a good friend/co-worker/family member as your address-of-record in your new location. If a CA cop stops you, just show them the out-of-state registration paperwork.

[thepinksquid]

Originally Posted by cruitr

Maybe you can start the vehicle registration process in your new state. Just use a good friend/co-worker/family member as your address-of-record in your new location. If a CA cop stops you, just show them the out-of-state registration paperwork.

FYI--We have our car tag still in FL under our father in law's name/address (our insurance is all together as a family plan with our in-laws). I highly doubt this is "legal" but we're not planning on changing it to CA unless we absolutely have to. The FL registration fees much less expensive. We did, however, change our licenses over to CA. I figure that if I get pulled over and a cop hassles me I'll just say "oops, didn't know" and then change it then (if I have to).

[10,000Lakes]

300-400 dollars!! WOW what kind of car do you drive..that is exspensive!!

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by 10,000Lakes

300-400 dollars!! WOW what kind of car do you drive..that is exspensive!!

That's what auto reg goes for these days... I pay about 700/yr for 2 newer cars.

[10,000Lakes]

WOW! I never knew it was that much. How can people on a budget afford that with old cars? We only pay $80 per car per year here in CA (military)!

[moved]

I pay $74 per year, and I'm not military. That's for a 1994 Astrovan.

[PharmboyinNC]

Good Lord! Several hundred dollars for annual registration of a newer car! Please tell me there is no or low automobile tax?

High water fee, high auto registration fee, high income tax, high sales tax, high property tax due to inflated RE prices, and San Diego is broke? I think I might want to run for city council to take a cut of that pie!

[e36geoff]

Originally Posted by perm2perm

Hi all,

The deadline to pay CA DMV annual registration fee for my vehicle is within a week. However I will be moving out of San Diego in a few weeks. Do I still need to pay the fee ? Should I call them up and ask them to pro-rate it ? Or do they pro-rate it when I register my vehicle in another state and return the license plate to CA ? I don't want to pay $300-400 for the whole next year given that I will be here only for a few weeks more ? Or there is no way out of it and I have to pay the whole amount no matter what ?

Thanks,

In order to operate your vehicle it needs to be registered. If your registration is expired you can be cited by law enforcement offers. Additionally if you get into an accident you insurance will likely not cover you as they require your vehicle to be registered. You should either renew your registration in California or register it in the state you are moving to before the deadline hits.

California does not offer partial refunds on tags as some other states, i.e. Nevada does since the plates are registered to the vehicle and not the person.