Keeping out of state plates in Southern California

[Techno Duck]

Anyone have experience with keeping a car with out of state plates in So Cal? I am in the midst of moving from NY to San Diego. I am planning on keeping my NYS drivers license for another 1-2 years for a few reasons. To clarify though i will only be a part time resident in CA; and i do plan on registering my daily driver in CA.

Now i have a LS1 swapped '88 944T that is my track and weekend fun car. I would love to bring this car out to SD but it will never pass smog testing. I have considered going track only with it; but that turns into a huge expense with a trailer, storing said trailer and also getting a tow vehicle.

One possibility i was considering was keeping the car registered in NYS and operating the car on a limited basis in the SoCal area; mainly weekend drives, car meets, to and from the the track / auto-x's. I would love to cruise up and down the PCH in it!

The car is very loud right now, but i would tame down the exhaust quite a bit if i did decide to bring it out and also throw on a cat in case it is scrutinized closely.

I know everyone's experience will be different but realistically am i asking for trouble doing this? I'm not too sure what the reaction would be from local Police. I am not a street racer nor will i be doing top speed runs; despite the cars power plant i prefer the low and slow attitude. Regardless seeing a car with plates from literally on the other end of the country might promote some suspicion. I will be in SoCal for a minimum of a year and i am unsure if my duration will be longer than that. I suspect i may eventually be splitting my time between SoCal and Nevada; which would be good for keeping the 944T on the road.

[stomachmonkey]

How do you plan on handling yearly NY emissions / safety inspection?

Obviously if you get it done then bring the car out right away you can get away with it for a year but then what?

[Jim Richards]

Here's the CA DMV webpage that addresses this issue: California Relocation Guide - CA Moving Guide at DMV.org: The DMV Made Simple

So, it's 20 days after establishing residency. Can you get away with longer? I imagine so, if you don't have any crappy neighbors that rat you out to the DMV. I hope it all works out well for you.

[Techno Duck]

That is one of the other caveats.

My NY registration expires in August 2015 and i just had the car inspected in January. So i essentially have two years from August to get the car inspected again before i am unable to renew registration. You can renew the registration on a car in NY as long as there is record of an inspection being done within 1 year of registration expiration if i remember right. I have a feeling by then i will likely register the car in Nevada. One year of having an expired inspection sticker with the car in CA? Lots of what ifs with this scenario!

[Techno Duck]

And to clarify; i will only be a part time resident in CA as i still have a place in NY aswell.

But really ive been really against doing this sort of thing since i knew i was going to be splitting my time between both coasts. I was planning on keeping the 944T in NY but plans changed and the property is just too expensive to keep.

The more likely scenario ive been kicking around is selling the 944T and picking up a 911 finally . I just have alot invested into the car and i would hate to see it go. But after nearly 10 years of owning a 944 series car i would love to try something new.

[Radioactive]

+1 , be nice to your neighbors.

California Highway Patrol - Assistant Commissioner, Field

[mreid]

As long as you maintain a primary residence in NY, you can keep your car registered in NY. Your challenge will be in how you answer questions in CA. Since you are not relocating to CA and are only there temporarily, you should have a convincing story as long as you don't create trouble (loud exhaust, unsafe driving, irritating neighbors, etc.).

[aigel]

You can also consider getting the car to pass CA emissions.

Engine needs to be same year or later than the chassis
Engine needs to retain all smog equipment it came with originally
Go to referee station and get it certified and smogged

I have never done this myself but I have looked at an SC 3.6 conversion that was legal this way and I owned a 70 F100 truck with a 92 F250 engine that was also smog legal with the proper paperwork (before it became smog exempt later in its life when the 30 year rolling exemption was in effect).

HTH,

G

[motion]

Originally Posted by Radioactive

+1 , be nice to your neighbors.

California Highway Patrol - Assistant Commissioner, Field

Holy $hit! I had no idea.... I knew that tow truck drivers get a bounty for turning people in, but I didn't know about this.

[Techno Duck]

I have done research on getting the car smog legal and know what has to get done. But i built the car without ever needing to pass in mind so it will need alot of work. Ive thought about it but the time and money to go that route is just too high considering the already limited use i will give the car.

The link Radioactive posted is the exact reason i initially decided not to bring the car out to CA; just too much potential for hassle. Ill be registering my daily driver in CA for sure.

I was mainly wondering as a hypothetical if anyone had experience using out of state plates for extended periods and what i might expect.

[motion]

I used out of state plates in CA and was never hassled, but I suppose in retrospect, I dodged a bullet. I know A LOT of people running around CA in Ferraris and other high end cars with Montana license plates, so there is plenty of it going on.

[stomachmonkey]

The secret is to be really really rich.

Then you can legally drive around CA with no license plate at all.

[Joe Bob]

You are retired, traveling or keep a vehicle here while you commute to your full time residency......keep a bag in the boot and your out of state license, insurance and voter registration card. Use yer best NY accent.

[Noah930]

As you now know, if you bring the car here to California, you've got 20 days to report it to the DMV and pays the titling/registration fees. I think the only exception is if you're a Cal State student. But realistically there is a very slim chance (<1%?) you'll get caught. I've heard of that Cheaters reporting website, but never heard of anyone using it. There are dozens of cars I see on a daily basis with out-of-state plates. On last year's Targa California event, slodave and I were joking about trying to see at least one plate from each of the 50 states during our 3-day tour of SoCal. As long as you're not obnoxious or a vehicular menace, nothing really happens (statistically speaking) if you keep your NY plates.

Just have a story well-rehearsed if need be. However, I don't know how your insurance company would handle it were you to file a claim.

[Joe Bob]

No student exemption.....sorry.

[Noah930]

No student exemption.....sorry.

That'll be news to a couple of the Highway Patrolmen who were signing off on a girl's tinted window fix-it ticket a couple years back (she also had out-of-state plates) when I went to get a used motorcycle inspected that I had purchased from NH.

In the end, they didn't care enough about her plates to actually write her a citation.

[Joe Bob]

Don't kill the messenger here, the cop was lazy or just didn't care. Check out the DMV website. I have.