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My son is in the Air Force, just completing basic training and his technical school training. He is now stationed at Langley Air Force base in Virginia.
He took his personal vehicle from California to Virginia. He just had the registration and smog test done just before he left for Virginia. My question is, does he have to re-register his vehicle in Virginia since he will be there for a few years?
He was told military personnel were exempt from having to do so, keeping his Calif. license plates and registration.
Normally while on active duty he may keep his vehicle registered in his Home Of Record (HOR), but each state may have different requirements and he most likely will still have to register/renew the tag periodically.
I did the above for 22 years, even when buying new vehicles in another state.
What most people do is find they pick the cheapest place to register the vehicle.
Is your son going to make the Air Force a career? If so then he needs to change his tax status to a state without an income tax, register his car in the cheapest place. Etc.
These are things people usually learn in their 2nd or 3rd hitch.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Originally Posted by Just One of the Guys
My son is in the Air Force, just completing basic training and his technical school training. He is now stationed at Langley Air Force base in Virginia.
He took his personal vehicle from California to Virginia. He just had the registration and smog test done just before he left for Virginia. My question is, does he have to re-register his vehicle in Virginia since he will be there for a few years?
He was told military personnel were exempt from having to do so, keeping his Calif. license plates and registration.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
As a native of Virginia (and the Langley AFB area), I do know that active duty military are exempt from car registration in Virginia provided they are current in another state.
Quote:
Is your son going to make the Air Force a career? If so then he needs to change his tax status to a state without an income tax, register his car in the cheapest place. Etc.
There is merit to this advice. A lot of people I know at military bases in KY and VA keep their FL and TX registration because those states dont have personal property tax on cars which VA and KY do.
No re-register needed. I kept mine registered in TX, where I'm from orginally and just drove it to where ever I was stationed. Never had any issues. Only time was when I was pulled over in NC. Cop gave me a lecture about registering my car in NC or else I'd keep getting pulled over and harrassed for not having NC plates or some mumbo jumbo like that. But numerous people, including other officers and NCDOT, told me I was okay as long as I keep up with the registry in the state. So, go figure.
Very common issue. Most states have special exemptions for military. They let you keep current state registration even if you are located in another state and most let military keep their current registration even if in that state. The only thing you have to be aware of is exactly what the state says. Most require that you maintain current address on the registration so if you lived in CA and moved to another state, you must change the address unless its still a valid address you can receive mail in.
On HI this is a big mistake many make cause they really are moving to HI and giving up their old state address and residency but fail to properly change the addresss. So long as they are on active duty many states will let you change the address to that other state (must use a military address such as Hickam AFB or APO, FPO etc). Just read the state website for registrations and military and it usually provide all the details.
IF he keeps it registered in CA, there will be some extra paperwork to fill out when registration comes due again to get the smog waived. He also won't have to pay a portion of the fees California charges every year because the vehicle is out of state.
It's been a few years since I've had to deal with it, so the specifics are escaping me. Keeping the car registered in CA was actually not much more expensive than the other states I was stationed in.
He will still have to have a current safety inspection. I had my truck registered in TX, but I found the hard way I still had to have a valid inspection. I had to either get VA plates or drive back to TX for an inspection.
He will still have to have a current safety inspection. I had my truck registered in TX, but I found the hard way I still had to have a valid inspection. I had to either get VA plates or drive back to TX for an inspection.
Different states play by different rules. That's where the hassle factor comes in to play.
My car was in Texas for 6 years before retiring from the AF and never had to take it back to CA for anything, and didn't have to get a safety inspection. Maybe CA doesn't care if you're not on their roads.
That's what I find odd about Texas - they separate registration and inspection and you can get one without the other (but have to keep them current every year). Though I find it a little odd they would force you to drive back to Texas. Based on what I've read, as long as you kept the registration current, I think you should have been able to have the Texas inspection waived until you returned there for 3 days or more. But that's just common sense thinking - and we're talking about the DMV.
Last edited by dbbd; 12-13-2011 at 11:15 PM..
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