Son is a college senior, who will start his first “real” job in July (he has a signed contract). In order to do so, he would need to relocate to a new state, where he would need to rent an apartment and buy a car to commute to work. I am trying to wrap my head around the logistics. Ideally, he would want to rent and furnish an apartment, buy and register the car, and transfer his driver’s license before starting his job (when he’ll have significantly less time to run around). We’ll be able to take some time off to help him settle in. He has a good idea where he wants to live, and he can afford to rent an apartment a month or several weeks ahead of the start date (using his sign on relocation bonus) to allow him some time to settle in. He plans to buy (or lease) a new car, and he knows what model he wants. These are the good parts.
The question is, what documents would he need to register a new car in his new residence state? A signed job offer? A signed apartment lease? Other proof of residence (such as bank or CC statements, utilities bills etc?) Does he need to have his driver’s license transferred to the new state first in order to register the new car in the same state? Alternatively, he could buy the car in his college state, which would come handy during the relocation. However, he is still officially a resident of the state where we live now, which is different from his college state. How would he go about his car registration in that scenario? He would like to avoid the hassle of multiple registration and transfer steps. Also, the car sales tax is about 2.5% cheaper at his new job state, but this saving would probably come at the expense of renting an apartment in his new job state a month earlier. I would greatly appreciate some advice.
Go to the motor vehicles website for the new state. It should give you a very clear description of exactly what documents are needed for both drivers license and car registration. It will be cheaper and more efficient to buy the car in the new state and the car dealership will handle the registration process. Based on all the moves we’ve made, I think the first step is to lock down housing and get the utilities arranged. You can then either change his address with his bank or open a new account at a local bank. All of this should give you everything you need for a license.
Thank you, @GRITS80. This was also my first instinct. However, it may require more than a month of leasing a new housing before he gets his first utilities bill and such. Sounds like a very costly solution (both time and money-wise), so I wondered whether there are any shortcuts.
Goat, Wolf, and Cabbage… is that like Fox, Geese, and Corn?
In general, the rules may depend on the state. My car registration was supposed to be transferred within 30 days of moving to state. I also needed my car title, and there COULD have been rules about my odometer reading and emissions testing (but for various reasons I was exempt from those). If I had owned the car less than 90 days, they would need a bill of sale.
I agree that buying in the new state once he arrives probably makes the most sense.
I am reading the DMV site right now, but the rules are very vague. As a new resident, he has 60 days to register his vehicle, and he needs a valid driver license to do so. However, it does not specify in which state this license must be issued. As a new resident, he also has 60 days to get the license from the new state, but they do not list which documents he must provide as a proof of residency (they only provide a list of primary and secondary IDs, none of which contains his current address). Will call the DMV when it’s opened to find out.
If he needs to get an apartment lease, utilities bills and bank statements in order to get his in-state license, which in turn is required to get the car registration, it may easily take up to 2 months, and he needs the car to get to work. Would he need to rent a car for a while? Sounds like another big expense.
Don’t know yet - both types are available, but he would need to go and decide which one he ultimately wants. And it does not help that apartments are usually available immediately or just within a month from the lease date. So he cannot view them and decide in advance. Lots of exciting changes for sure, but also very confusing.
I would probably tell my kids to buy the car, load it up with their stuff and drive to the new place. Then rent the apartment, change the auto insurance. Finally get the car registered and their drivers license changed once settled. That is actually what number one did.
My daughter recently changed residency post graduation. She was able to have enough valid documentation to get her new driver’s license (and voter registration) within a week or so of moving in. Her utilities and renter’s insurance all had to be set up before move in (so they would be in effect the day she moved in), she changed her bank mailing address via their online site, and the same for her credit cards. She had no car to register but I think once she had the license the car would be easy.
I just did all this stuff (moving to a new state, getting a driver’s license, registering a car) – but the car was not new. He could go down the day after he gets his apartment lease and sign up for his driver’s license. With the lease in hand and a valid license from another state, he should be fine. He should take his passport just in case. Then with the temporary license paperwork he will get, he can either register an existing car, or go buy/lease a new car.
Thanks - this would be great if it would be that easy. I was worried that DMV would require utilities bills or bank statements mailed to his new address, and/or in-state driver’s license (which would take a while). Will call the DMV to confirm before planning the visit. He would only have about a week to get everything done (apartment leasing and furnishing, new driver’s license, utilities, banking, insurance, car shopping and registration etc).
One more question: how long does it usually take management companies to review applications from prospective tenants? I was wondering whether he would need to submit several applications online before his visit to save time. There are several apartment complexes that look good based on their websites, but all of them require applications (at ~$50 each).
It’s been over 20 years since our last move, so I am completely clueless (as you can probably tell )
I’m sure it varies by state, but for us and our kids, a home closing statement or an original signed lease was enough to prove residency. We brought our passports as well as our old-state driver’s licenses (so no testing). Please check - some states require a proof of social security number, too (ss card, earnings statement, tax return). There’s nothing worse than jumping through the hoops and realizing you’re short a document (ask me how I know!) In our case, we couldn’t get a permanent license plate from the car dealer until we had our new driver’s licenses.
@mycupoftea – I think you are really overthinking this (and also helicoptering). You are basically stressing over non-existent problems that aren’t yours. People move from one state to another all the time. Your son has plenty of time. The biggest logistical problem for him will probably be arranging time off work to go to the DMV to change his driver’s license, depending on how efficient or inefficient the local DMV is.
This really is not your responsibility – your son will be a college grad and can manage these things on his own. He might need temporary housing until he finds an apartment (such as a hotel or a sublet).
My S needed to get resident parking sticker when he moved to Boston after graduation so the transferring of title to him from us, getting car insurance set up (our company doesn’t write in MA) and getting apartment (he sublet for the summer as leases only run from Sept-Sept in Boston) was all done or in the works before he moved. Car registration and state inspection was done the first day he was in Boston to get parking sticker. And to pass inspection - he needed a new catalytic converter @$1500. That was paid for by the bank of Mom&Dad in addition to - first/last month rent on sublet, first/last month rent, plus security deposit and 1/2 of finders fee (his company paid $1k of it) on permanent apt. for a grand total of $9k. It was a very expensive first two weeks. He had a relocation package but it wasn’t nearly enough to cover all those expenses - so we just told him to put the money in his emergency savings account.
But he didn’t bother to get a MA license this fall - over a year after he moved there.
Although your son is getting a signing bonus, it’s important for him to know when he would receive the money. You cannot assume that he will get it before the job starts. Sometimes, it is necessary for an employee to actually be an employee before the check can be issued.
If he will not get the money in advance, consider whether the Bank of Mom and Dad can provide a very short-term loan. If you can’t, he needs to know this up front.
It’s really not as time consuming or difficult as you are making it out to be. He will have at least 30 days to do this and some states allow you to make an appointment to come in. He doesn’t need to move into his apartment 30 days early so mail comes before his job starts. I’m able to access my utility/bank accounts online and can print a statement at any time. What’s important is knowing which documents are required since some states have started requiring something like 6-7 points of identification and different documents are worth different points. You only want to register the car once (in the destination state) or else you will incur extra fees for transferring the title. Based on past experience, a dealership can process a registration in another state if you ask them to. We bought a car in PA that was titled in Alabama and another car in NJ that was titled in FL.
If the destination state is one that follows California Air Resources Board (CARB) emissions, then be careful about buying a new (<7,500 miles) car from a state that does not. For example, California itself says that people moving to California bringing in a non-CARB-emissions vehicle need to have registered it previously in another state.
Can’t he just borrow a car from you for a few months? He doesn’t need to own a car to change his driver’s license or to rent an apartment. And he doesn’t need to change his driver’s licence immediately.
Borrow a car, get settled in a new apartment, establish a month of rent and utilities reciepts, change his driver’s licensr and then buy a new car.
Or is there something I’m not understanding?
Or buy a car in the state where you live, using your address, and then transfer everything after he’s established a new home in the new state. No state expects this to all happen immediately.
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