Drivers License and License Plates in Atlanta area (Peachtree City: insurance, home)

[TechforTat]

For someone who is moving into Georgia from out-of-state and bringing their car, how long do you have before you need to change your old drivers license and tags for Georgia ones. Also what happens to your old state tags and drivers license?

and does it differ in the Atlanta area? I noticed license plates have county names as well, why and how does that affect things?

[ldenton]

Originally Posted by TechforTat

For someone who is moving into Georgia from out-of-state and bringing their car, how long do you have before you need to change your old drivers license and tags for Georgia ones. Also what happens to your old state tags and drivers license?

and does it differ in the Atlanta area? I noticed license plates have county names as well, why and how does that affect things?

Its suppose to be 30 days, and u surrender your old license for a Georgia one, Im not sure about the plate, i don't think they that..

[livinginbuffalo]

You are supposed to do it within 30 days but we have been here four months and haven't done it yet only because we still aren't in our permanent address and don't want a different address on our license. Once I get stopped for it, I'll have to do it. As far as the plates go, coming from NY, I am to mail them back to NYS to get a refund on our registration we paid here. We pay two years at a time and it was about $140 per car so I want my money back!!

You get your plate according to what county you live in and you pay an ad valorem tax on your tag every year at your birthday (ah, one more reason why we haven't switched our plates over yet). The fee varies by county. I really think it's ridiculous that they do it on your birthday. Happy Birthday! Here's a few hundred dollar bill. They should just do it like they do in NY. You renew your registration based on the date you purchase your car so they could just start having you pay the ad valorem on the anniversary of the purchase with new cars and eventually the birthday thing would be gone.

Anyway, hope I've helped.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by TechforTat

For someone who is moving into Georgia from out-of-state and bringing their car, how long do you have before you need to change your old drivers license and tags for Georgia ones. Also what happens to your old state tags and drivers license?

and does it differ in the Atlanta area? I noticed license plates have county names as well, why and how does that affect things?

You get your DL from the state, and your license plate from the county where you live, hence the county name on the plate. You have to have your DL before you can get your plate, so do that first.

You have 30 days to switch once you establish permanent residence in GA, and whether or not you need to return the old plates to your previous state depends on them. We came from MA, and I couldn't cancel my insurance or registration in MA without sending back both plates.

See: http://www.dds.ga.gov/drivers/DLdata...44173714&ty=dl

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by TechforTat

For someone who is moving into Georgia from out-of-state and bringing their car, how long do you have before you need to change your old drivers license and tags for Georgia ones. Also what happens to your old state tags and drivers license?

and does it differ in the Atlanta area? I noticed license plates have county names as well, why and how does that affect things?

As others say, it's 30 days. Depending on where you are located, I would recommend going to the DMV earlier on a weekday and not in the morning on a weekend ... in Cobb County at least the line can get REALLY long in some locations, while there's almost no line at all in others on certain days.

They don't care about your old plates. I kept my old MN license plate on the front.

Also, make sure you have everything they require along with you.

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by livinginbuffalo

...They should just do it like they do in NY. You renew your registration based on the date you purchase your car so they could just start having you pay the ad valorem on the anniversary of the purchase with new cars and eventually the birthday thing would be gone.

I can't remember to pay the tax on MY birthday even when they send me an invoice - I could never remember to pay it on the anniversary of my purchase date.

[Caltovegas]

Many people don't do it until they are stopped.

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by Caltovegas

Many people don't do it until they are stopped.

This past year, I realized I had forgotten a few days after my birthday but it was the weekend and I was leaving for a business trip. So I am thinking to myself, I get back on Friday night and my only plans were to drive to Peachtree City for the PTCC 15K on Saturday. Other than that I could easily stay home until Monday morning to take care of it. Plus it was still the same month and the tag only indicates the month not the day.

Sure enough I got stopped in PTC! The cop was very nice and gave me a warning only so no problem. But it was definitely an over reach I had barely left the parking lot 2 miles, no crazy driving. His only reason to check my tags was that I was from another county. Other than that my car and profile would describe me as a classic PTC resident.

[billl]

Originally Posted by lorilove

Sure enough I got stopped in PTC! The cop was very nice and gave me a warning only so no problem. But it was definitely an over reach I had barely left the parking lot 2 miles, no crazy driving. His only reason to check my tags was that I was from another county. Other than that my car and profile would describe me as a classic PTC resident.

Wait... The only reason he pulled you over was because you were from a different county and the tags might have expired? Remind me never to drive through PTC.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by livinginbuffalo

You get your plate according to what county you live in and you pay an ad valorem tax on your tag every year at your birthday (ah, one more reason why we haven't switched our plates over yet). The fee varies by county. I really think it's ridiculous that they do it on your birthday. Happy Birthday! Here's a few hundred dollar bill. They should just do it like they do in NY. You renew your registration based on the date you purchase your car so they could just start having you pay the ad valorem on the anniversary of the purchase with new cars and eventually the birthday thing would be gone.

Yeah, this is really annoying. I bought my new car in June. I thought I was waiting on paperwork to register it, so I waited until August. I finally figured out I had to do it. So I went and registered it in mid-August. My birthday is in September. That means I had to pay again, less than one month later. However, since I haven't had a car in 10 years, I didn't ever think about it, and I never got a bill.

So at some point in November, my wife got stopped at a checkpoint and they found the unregistered tag which I had totally forgotten about. So she got a ticket with a required court date, which we were out of the country for. For all I know, my wife now has a warrant out for her arrest over a simple mistake! Argh.

Another funny story: The day I went and first got my tag in August, I got a ticket not 15 minutes later. I had made a right turn at a "No Right Turn" intersection and got busted (right after my wife told me not to make the turn!). The officer asked me if I knew why he pulled me over, so I just handed him the plate saying "because this isn't on my car?" Nope. Dammit.