[slodave]

Jake, Cali does not offer temp plates. You can get temporary registration, but that's usually for cases where a car does not pass smog and gives the owner time to fix the car. Normally, the pin slip is signed over to you and you send a portion of it back to the DMV and they send the you (the new owner) a new pink, registration and plates (if needed) with your info.

I know you said the car is coming from Hawaii, but... In general, if a car is being sold here in Cali and it has run of the mill plates (generic/random #'s), the plates stay with the car and get registered to the new owner - assuming the car is being registered in Cali again. If the plates are custom (vanity), they stay with the person selling the car. Last time I bought a car from a private party and was pulled over, all I had to show at the moment was the bill of sale. I did not even have the pick slip yet, as the previous owner had financed the car through a bank and I had yet to receive it.

I have no idea how Hawaii deals with plates. You may want to ask the seller what would happen if the car sold to another Hawaiian Would the buyer keep the plates, assuming they are not vanity.

Good luck!