Title and registration are different
The title is the deed to the car and proves who owns it. The registration is the state's permission to operate that car on public roads, and it is what the plates, the windshield or plate sticker and the card in your glove box represent. If you have a loan, the lender is listed on the title as lienholder and in many states holds the document until the loan is paid. You need the title once, when the car changes hands. You need the registration every time you are pulled over.
Registering a car you just bought
A dealer normally files the paperwork for you, collects the tax and fees, and sends you off with a temporary tag good for about thirty days. After a private sale the job is yours, and states set a deadline that is commonly between ten and thirty days. Take the following to the motor vehicle office.
- Bring the title, signed over to you by every owner named on it, with the odometer reading filled in.
- Bring a bill of sale showing the price, because sales tax is calculated on it and is paid at the counter.
- Bring proof of insurance in your name on that car.
- Bring an emissions or safety inspection certificate if your state or county requires one.
- Bring your license and a means of paying the title fee, the registration fee and the tax.
Renewing every year or two
Registration expires annually in most states and every two years in some. Renewal takes five minutes online if nothing blocks it, and the usual blocks are a lapsed insurance record, an overdue emissions test, and unpaid parking tickets or tolls. The new sticker arrives by mail, so renew at least two weeks early, and keep the receipt in the car until it does.
When you move
A new state expects you to title and register the car there, generally within thirty days of becoming a resident, although the window runs from twenty to ninety days. Change your insurance to the new address first, since the office will ask for it. A move within the state calls for an address update within a few weeks, which keeps the renewal notice and any toll bills from going to your old apartment.
Note If you still owe money on the car and move to a new state, call your lender early. The lender holds the title, and getting it sent to the new state's agency can take several weeks.
