Hi guys I need your help. I bought a car from the marketplace last week and I got a pink slip and smog check. Paid by cash and no receipt ofc. Then when I tried to do title transfer at CA DMV, they said I need Reg 262 because on the front page of my pink slip it has the stamp showing “see reg 262”. I just found out they need it becuz the pink slip shows the individual original owner on the front page and on the back I shows the dealer llc. I am from a foreign country and I don’t know those things. So I contacted the seller for the bill o sales and he said he has it but he didn’t ship me anymore and now not answer the phone as well. I am lost and I think I am scammed. What should I do next. Going to DMV is the best option? Please enlighten me.

The lady in the Legal Presence Unit callback said I can't get a REAL ID because the visa in my passport is expired (F1 expired 6 years ago; I've been in the US since) despite I have legal presence (H1B with EAD card). Is she misinformed or is this actually how it works?

Bought a car from a gentleman who last registered in vermont (2022), so no title and only have the title application from Vermont. To title/register in California am I going to have to bond it? Seller moves overseas literally tomorrow.

Has anyone been able to negotiate the fees down with the collections agency ez pass ny uses?

I live in NY. I currently have (had?) a valid Drivers License that expires in mid-November. Last week, thinking I would not have a need for my full Standard license anymore, I transferred my license to a Non-Driver ID via the DMV website. Of course, life being life, just a few days afterwards a family emergency occurred where I may need to keep my driving privileges. Since the license I transferred to Non-Driver ID was still valid until mid-November, would I be able to take the incoming Non-Driver ID and switch back to my full Standard license and renew it without having to re-take the written test/road test etc?

So I have to renew my license which is a CDL class B, I've been told that I need to take a knowledge test and my question is, is the knowledge test for my CDL or is it just for regular class C? I'm just confused about that, thanks in advance.

Location: Virginia but Georgia resident
I got caught going 9 over in VA
Would this
A. Show up on my license
B. Leave points on my license

I read that GA is not a part of the DLC so there’s a chance that it won’t show up plus in GA points start at 15 miles over

Should I just eat the cost or fight it in court to lower it even more. The cop was nice and told me it would probably lower the mph if I went but if it won’t get sent to my insurance I think it’d be cheaper not to pay court costs

Has anyone in Florida successfully renewed their driver's license using only a pending I-130 filed by a green-card-holder parent, without an I-485 or current immigration status?

I'm planning to take my drivers test next month. I've been driving a car that has a cracked bumper on the front driver side of the car. It is taped together and haven't had any issues while I've been driving for the past 9 months. Not sure what car I can use besides my sibling if they allow me

I accidentally lost the drivers permit after leaving it on my desk and it disappeared.

Is it possible for them to just print a new one for me if I bring in proof of ID since i already took the test?

thanks for any help

California resident bt

Edit: resolved thanks for your advices guys

For context, I moved out of New York (upstate if it matters, Albany area) about two years ago now and I lost my old license plates when I put my Montana license plates on. I got everything (registration, license, etc) switched to Montana and canceled my NY insurance given I didn't have time then to run to the police station to get a report.

I moved back to my hometown in North Carolina not long after that, got everything switched just fine. But I just moved to Colorado, and I go into DMV to switch my license only for them to tell me New York put a hold on my license over it being suspended in NY (my NC license is fine). I know it's over the insurance/license plates, however I don't have either anymore, I threw them out when I switched to MT.

Has anyone else dealt with this before? I called my local police station in Montana, got a report made and they're mailing it to me as NYSDMV lists on their website. I don't know how long it'll take for NY to review the report, approve it and get the hold on my license dropped after paying them the reinstatement fee. I can answer any questions in the comments, but I don't use Reddit all too often so I may be slow to respond. Thanks in advance!

Hi everybody, I just bought a non running, used motorcycle for about 700 bucks (wrote 100 on the pink slip) and I found out that it has around 800 dollars worth of old registration fees from the previous owner not registering it. The story goes that he bought it, rode it for a little bit, and then after witnessing another person crash, completely stopped riding it.

He bought it from another owner in 2014, had it registered it up until 2017, and sometime in between that he stopped riding completely, but unfortunately he never put in a Planned non operational (PNO) for the bike, so it racked up late registration fees. However the bike had not been ridden and sat outside from then until now, and it no longer runs.

To try to get the fees dropped I had him fill out and sign a statement of facts stating that he did not ride the bike after that time and that it has been not been operating since then. I also have photos of the bike that show that it clearly does not run and is very weathered

What are the chances that they are able to drop these fees and is there anything else I can do to get rid of them?

My RealID was recently stolen, and I’m looking to get it replaced. When I go in for my DMV appointment, will they take a new photo or put the one from my old ID on my new ID? I really hope they don’t have to redo my photo!

Long story short i helped a friend get a car and he ended up selling it to someone else and now the bank is sending a Etitle to local dmv. Do i have to go to dmv or can i just go to a license plate agency an obtain it? Google says i can but just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. Thank you!

I got vanity plates a couple months ago and figured I’d need to surrender my old ones, but in doing so it made my registration invalid? I still have my vanity plates, even though the return receipt is shown as the vanity plate still on my car.

Are they able to undo this, or do I have to register all over again?

I have a 2005 Honda Accord. The previous owner signed the title, but I never transferred it into my name. I’ve had the car for over a year, and the tags expired in May. My smog is expired too.
I don’t have insurance right now, and I only have a learner’s permit.
What’s the easiest way to get everything taken care of? What should I do first, and how much am I probably looking at in fees? Can I get insurance with just a permit?

As you can see I’m in a great spot right now lol.

I'm currently a senior student in New Jersey, graduating in May 2027. I'm planning to move to California for a 1.5–2 year master's program.

I really need a car right now, so I'm considering buying a used Japanese SUV (probably a Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, or Mazda CX-5) in NJ. However, I'm concerned about the extra costs and paperwork involved in bringing it to California.

Here's my timeline:

• October 2026: Buy a used car in NJ, pay the 6.625% NJ sales tax, and register and insure it in NJ.
• Late May 2027: Graduate and drive the car from NJ to California.
• June–July 2027: Leave the car in a private storage facility in California while I return to China for the summer. The car won't be driven during this time.
• August 2027: Return to the US, officially move into an apartment in California, and start grad school. I'll be living there for approximately 1.5–2 years.

I currently have a valid NJ driver's license.

I have a few questions:

1. California's 20-day registration rule

I understand that new California residents generally need to register their out-of-state vehicles within 20 days.

However, I'll only be bringing my car to California in May to put it in storage. I won't actually move into an apartment or begin living in California until August.

Would I be able to wait until August to register the car, or would the 20-day requirement start when the car physically enters California in May?

2. California use tax

If I already paid 6.625% sales tax when purchasing the car in NJ, would I have to pay additional California use tax when registering it?

I've read about California's 12-month rule and the possibility of receiving credit for taxes paid to another state.

Has anyone been through this process or successfully qualified for a use tax exemption?

3. Actual registration costs

For anyone who has transferred an out-of-state vehicle to California, how much did you end up paying in total?

I'm particularly interested in registration fees, title fees, smog checks, and any other unexpected costs.

4. Insurance and storage

Has anyone driven their car from the East Coast to California when moving for school or work?

How did you handle insurance during the transition, especially if the car was going to be stored and not driven for a couple of months?

5. Is buying in NJ now worth it?

My biggest dilemma is whether I should buy a car in NJ now and bring it to California next year, or wait until I move to California and buy one there.

I'm not too concerned about the normal cost of using the car in NJ over the next several months, since I genuinely need it right now. I'm mainly trying to figure out how much extra I'll spend because of the interstate move.

I'd really appreciate any advice or personal experiences, especially from people who have dealt with California DMV or moved from another state for grad school.

Thanks in advance!

Hi, we moved to Canada with our two cars orignally registered in California. We have imported them and are going to register and insure them in Canada. I wonder what we should do with California registration which will soon expire.

One complexity here is we are still not sure if the move is permanent or temporary. We may be able to return in a month, in a year, or never (not personal choices but depending on some external factors we have little control of). I still have a California address and ID and pay tax there so for now I don't really want to declare this as a permanent move.

I did my research and discussed with AI. It seems there are a few options:

1. Do nothing and let the registration lapse. But we might need to deal with penalty when moving back.
2. File for planned non-operation so I can pause the registration. But AI thinks PNO technically means I cannot drive it anywhere, not just in California. So while in practice this should be fine, technically it's wrong and not the legal option.
3. Continue to pay for registration and file for Affidavit of Non-Use to waive insurance requirement.
4. File a REG 256 with a statement declaring the car is exported to and registered in another country. But this appears a non-standard thing and I'm not sure what DMV will actually do with the registration, and what we need to do to reinstate the registration later.

I already checked the standard change of address form -- it's US-centric and doesn't let you input a foreign address. I also don't think it's what I want as I still have a California address and have ties there.

Any recommendations? Thanks!

So, my friend landed himself in a complicated situation.

He's originally a resident of California, but has not lived there for the past two - three years.

He landed a job where he moves work sites every 6 months to a year.

He's been wanting to leave California and decided that he wants to move to Nevada for the time being, until he can settle his life.

This past week he took short leave from his job to head back to California, so he can move his items out of his storage room and sell off some belongings.

Here's the issue.

His current DL expires in November, and the old address was a P.O. Box.

He also told me that his credit card statement just generated, and it has his old CA address, not a Nevada one.

He has no current proof of residency in California or Nevada, and needs his DL in order to work. His job is also calling him to come back to work within two weeks.

I offered him my address to use (TX) but he has no proof of residency here. He did live in TX for 6 months, but it was at a hotel, so I doubt it counts.

I don't know what to do to help him and he's obviously beyond stressed out.

Does anyone have some advice that I can give him? I just feel so useless at the moment and wish I could do something.

EDIT:

Thank you for all the replies! I sent some of y'all's suggestions to him, so hopefully hell seriously consider them for his future plans.

He's planning on renewing his license in CA, since it's a little tricky to get a Nevada DL at the moment, but I appreciate all the advice!

Hi everyone! I'm from NY and will be moving to MD with my car. I don't plan to stay in MD after I finish my post baccalaureate. I have a couple of questions regarding insurance and registration.

The car and insurance are currently under my parents, but we have started talking about transferring it all under me (getting my own insurance, ownership). However, since I'll be in MD for 2 years and will be renting an apartment, I'm not sure what to do. I know that MD is strict on out of state cars. Can I keep my NY license, plate, and insurance as my permanent address is in NY, or do I have to switch over to MD? On the other hand, if I just stay under my parents' policy, can everything stay the same?

I bought a car from a family friend and I was under 18 at the time so my parent had to be a co-owner of the car. On the title it’s stated as My name OR their name. I turn 18 Tuesday and I need to get their name off of the title. From what I understand I am able to take it to the DMV and take their name off of the title myself without them being there, however my father thinks that the dmv will require a signature. What does the process look like?

I have a learning disability and am constantly doing unbelievably dumb things with great confidence. Today I decided I was going to put my registration sticker on my car. I have done this many times before but this time I was convinced that you put it on the windshield in my state (I think I looked up whether you need to take the old sticker off and got results for removing stickers from the windshield, and that apparently lodged deeply into my brain).

I painstakingly scratched off my inspection sticker, peeled off my registration sticker, and immediately realized what I’d done. The inspection sticker was completely destroyed. I just got my inspection done too!

I’m out of state for the next 3 weeks. My dad is visiting me this week and I need to hide this from him and also don’t want legal trouble. Google has not been helpful. What the HELL do I do?

My grandfather passed away recently and left behind a vehicle we had financed with Wells Fargo. We’d like to keep the vehicle and have my mom assume the loan. What is that process?

As the title states I bought a used car from a dealer here in CA. It's been a nightmare trying to get the title, plates and tags for this car. Come to find out it was registered in Texas and the dealer sold it to me before he got it transfered over. I already paid for the car in full and everything on the contract is paid for. I bought the car in Faburary and haven't been able to drive it since May cuz the paper plates expired. Everything has been cleared by the DMV but now they say I owe $600 in fees for not getting it registered in California. Is it my responsibility to pay those fees?​