i thought that i had things under control in and i read that other moving post and :nutts. so my questions are about the car thing. my birthday is in march so i would have just renewed my plates before we more and i was wondering if i would have to switch them over as soon as we got there. we are moving to cali so how do we get a smog test and do we still need to get one if we have ohio plates. i know i will have to renew/get new plates in march of 07, so would i just wait until then for the smog test. and what happens if you fail. is it a once a year test or is it a one time deal? also how about changing you dl? what goes on with that? don't cha just love me? oh there are many more to come, i bet you are all counting down for aaron to get home so you'll be able to take a break from all my questions.

I totally understand I have a billion questions too but if I asked them all at once it would be crazy. I don't know about california but here in washington you have to do the smog test every other year when you renew you tags or if you buy a new car or put a car in your name. If you fail you don't get tags which means you will get a ticket if you drive your car. It really sucks. If your car is newer I wouldn't worry about it. maybe give a complete tune up first that always makes the score better

i thought that i had things under control in and i read that other moving post and :nutts. so my questions are about the car thing. my birthday is in march so i would have just renewed my plates before we more and i was wondering if i would have to switch them over as soon as we got there. we are moving to cali so how do we get a smog test and do we still need to get one if we have ohio plates. i know i will have to renew/get new plates in march of 07, so would i just wait until then for the smog test. and what happens if you fail. is it a once a year test or is it a one time deal? also how about changing you dl? what goes on with that? don't cha just love me? oh there are many more to come, i bet you are all counting down for aaron to get home so you'll be able to take a break from all my questions.

Many people keep their same plates etc. Supposedly you have to fall within the rule of 3 which is 2 of 3 things must match. So if your Insurance is CA, and your license is home state and plates homestate then you should be fine. Alot of places tell you to change your DL over but I havent ever and not once have I gotten in trouble over it. It does vary but even in WA state where I was in a major accident my VA license and military ID was sufficient....I changed my license 1 time. When we moved from CA to VA when we were first married. I then found out I technically didn't have to so I havent since then. I have held a VA license for 10 years now.

Depending on your home of record you don't have to change your license/plates.

so if i keep my parents house as home of record then how would i go about renewing my tags each year...does it mean that it would be ok with ohio plates, like i would just get a new sticker. i hope so that would be super.

Your HOR doesn't mean jack only your DHs
And in Cali you have to get a smog test before you can get on base no matter where you have tags for
Cali tags are pretty cheap and usually it is benefitial to change them over. I wouldn't until you have to but when we were there they were only 34 a year for military

If it's your car you can keep your OH plates and registration. It's usually just easier that way since you will more than likely be moving around every few years. We are keeping our's PA. Kept it PA when we lived in IL nad now here in CA. BUT I would call OH DOT and find out about military registration. In PA they let you keep it PA, but at your new address (like mine is CA). There is no change in cost and I just think it's easier. Also for your DL, we area keeping ours PA. Again, PA is very good with military and when we renew we just fill out a renewal application and they send us a new DL without a pic, but if you ever need to shpw your ID you have to show it with your military dependent ID card.
Again, that is PA and I'm glad we are keeping everything as PA (except our insurance, it has to be CA since we now reside in CA.)

Here's the link with the numbers to Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. I would just call and ask. ;) OHIP BMV (http://www.bmv.ohio.gov/misc/bmv_contacts.htm)

HTH :D

Michigan lets us keep our plates b/c the vehicles are registered in his name also. I haven't changed my license either. Some states don't require you too. MS doesn't. I think MD does but I never did it.

The nonphoto ids in most states are for AD only.
Call your state and make sure all info is correct. Every state is different.
Like I said though we find it easier to change as we go cause we tend to live in crappy states that are strict about that kind of stuff

CA requires a smog check for all cars that are brought into the state, bought here or are over a certain year.

You are required to have CA insurance and they do require the spouse to change your DL over to a CA one but I haven't done that yet. I don't plan on doing it either unless I have to. I do know that some employers here will not hire you if you do not have a CA DL but thankfully the job that I ended up taking doesn't care.


Here is a good site for you to check out that should answer all your ?'s
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/militaryvr.htm

My best friend who's from Cali said that your DL and license plates are supposed to match, but then DH told me that they make an exception for the military. I had Oregon plates, an Oregon DL and Oregon insurance, 'til I found out that if you get a job in Cali, you're required to get a Cali driver's license within 90 days of the start of employment. When we bought a car in Cali, we registered it in Cali, and I still had my Oregon DL, and they called it a "Golden Rod" whatever that means . . . it's legal. Of course, we had to get Cali insurance.

But DH said it depends on the state you're coming from whether or not you have to change registration right when you arrive, because I think you can wait 'til the registration is going to expire to change it to Cali. But I'd contact the DMV of both states to double check.

The nonphoto ids in most states are for AD only.
Call your state and make sure all info is correct. Every state is different.
Like I said though we find it easier to change as we go cause we tend to live in crappy states that are strict about that kind of stuff

Yeah VA just keeps my same photo so in my DL I havent aged at all :hehe I love it! I am still 21 in that picture! They just change my addy and the expiration date as needed. I do have to pay for an eye exam and of course the fees. But I do it all online

i recently called ohio's bmv and i was told all i would have to do was call the registration office to give them my new address so they could send me a form to renew my plates every year. because my birthday is right before we leave i won't need to renew my license for the next four years so i'll cross that bridge when i get there. it looks like we just have to find out about getting a smog test to get on base and getting new cali insurance. so thanks so much.

The smog test IS required.
But be aware if you get pulled in cali they CAN give you a ticket if you do not change your DL.

are you for serious. can i still not change my plates. and does the base give us a grace period from the time we get on base to get the somg test and what not

are you for serious. can i still not change my plates. and does the base give us a grace period from the time we get on base to get the somg test and what not
In CA you can't get decals without a smog test. We didn't change our plates from MI till we got a new car. I still have my MI drivers license too. It iexpires on the 1st so I'm just going to get a CA one. As for insurance we had MI plates with CA insurance with no problems.

You can get a temp pass for the base. They gave us a coupon for smog so it was only $20, but if you are going to register your car in CA then it is $40 I think. You have to pay extra for a certificate or something.

yeah you gt 30 days I believe
but like I said about the DL IF you get stopped and have and out of state license but live in Cali you can get a ticket.
I took my chances in VA I refused to get theirs and i am doing the same here cause I got it in 2004 in NC and it doesn't expire until 2012 so why should I get another ;)

I haven't changed my license. I guess I'll just play dumb if I ever get pulled over. Do they check if we have a job when they pull us over? I didn't have a smog test and still got base decals.

If your vehicle is so new I don't think you do cause most companys already make them with what ever it is that fixes the problem with the older ones

thanks again ladies, i check that one off my list!!! only about five more things left on that thing. yeaaa!!