Transferring Custom Plates & Pending Renewal

[TheSeg]

My existing 2007 Focus SES I plan to trade in with custom plates is up for renewal + SMOG. As the due date edges against when my Mach-E will arrive, I wanted to make sure I got my plan and contingency set in place.

Information:

• My current 2007 Ford Focus SES will be traded in towards my Mach-E at the dealer.
• My custom special interest plates (1960's legacy, non-sequential) will transfer from the Focus to the Mach-E.
• Current Mach-E build week is Feb 22nd, putting delivery range between March 22 and April 9+.
• The Focus' car registration -- with STAR SMOG -- is due April 2nd.

If my Mach-E delivers before April 2nd:
I do nothing for registration or SMOG testing. No penalty fees by the dealer. Let's hope this happens and this post was moot!

If my Mach-E delivers on or after April 2nd:
Register my Focus as PNO on April 1st. Don't use the car until I drive the car to the dealer on delivery day. The dealer says they'll accept a PNO with no penalty.

I can deal without having a car to drive in April. Not like I'm going out much due to COVID. As someone who works from home, I'm much further back in the vaccine line anyway.

If I do nothing at all, after April 2nd:
The dealer says the fees for late registration are charged back to me for the trade-in. I also run the risk of getting caught and cited for lack of registration. I would like to avoid these situations.

Am I correct? I should PNO if it comes to it?
Checking my work and making sure I'm not missing something.
I should still be able to transfer my custom plates (1960's legacy, non-sequential) to my Mach-E. I believe I still need to wear the "paper plates" on the Mach-E for a few weeks as the DMV clears the paperwork.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

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[macchiaz-o]

My custom special interest plates (1960's legacy, non-sequential) will transfer from the Focus to the Mach-E.

Giving this a small bump for you.

I've no suggestion for your situation whatsoever. I've never registered any vehicle in California.

But I was intrigued by your custom special interest plates from your 1960's legacy and whatever the heck non-sequential means...

Until I Bing'ed it and saw what you meant.

So I'm no longer interested in your family legacies or anything like that, for now anyway.

Cool plates though!

 

[RyZt]

You'll need to get a no-fee one-day vehicle moving permit. With the current pandemic, I don't know how involved it is to get one.

 

[ten8bike]

My existing 2007 Focus SES I plan to trade in with custom plates is up for renewal + SMOG. As the due date edges against when my Mach-E will arrive, I wanted to make sure I got my plan and contingency set in place.

Information:

• My current 2007 Ford Focus SES will be traded in towards my Mach-E at the dealer.
• My custom special interest plates (1960's legacy, non-sequential) will transfer from the Focus to the Mach-E.
• Current Mach-E build week is Feb 22nd, putting delivery range between March 22 and April 9+.
• The Focus' car registration -- with STAR SMOG -- is due April 2nd.

If my Mach-E delivers before April 2nd:
I do nothing for registration or SMOG testing. No penalty fees by the dealer. Let's hope this happens and this post was moot!

If my Mach-E delivers on or after April 2nd:
Register my Focus as PNO on April 1st. Don't use the car until I drive the car to the dealer on delivery day. The dealer says they'll accept a PNO with no penalty.

I can deal without having a car to drive in April. Not like I'm going out much due to COVID. As someone who works from home, I'm much further back in the vaccine line anyway.

If I do nothing at all, after April 2nd:
The dealer says the fees for late registration are charged back to me for the trade-in. I also run the risk of getting caught and cited for lack of registration. I would like to avoid these situations.

Am I correct? I should PNO if it comes to it?
Checking my work and making sure I'm not missing something.
I should still be able to transfer my custom plates (1960's legacy, non-sequential) to my Mach-E. I believe I still need to wear the "paper plates" on the Mach-E for a few weeks as the DMV clears the paperwork.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

There are many forms on the DMV website. I sent one in to (hopefully) get a personalized plate.

We have bought and sold cars in CA with the personalized plates. Sometimes the dealer will just put them on for you (if they already exist), and the other times we waited until the DMV issued plates arrived, and went to DMV to get the issued plates swapped out for the personalized plates.

A planned non-op may be the way to go for the short term.

 

[TheSeg]

Resurrecting my old thread, but some progress now that I'm getting close to getting the car.

The ETA on my tracker states April 5.
The "reservation" UI from Ford gives a March 27 - April 1st window.
April 2nd is still the end date of my old car's registration.

I spoke to the dealer last Tuesday. They said not do any renewal, even if it's after the 1st. Not even the PNO.

I'm nervous the lack of registration will mess up transfering my current custom plates to the Mach-E or for getting HOV status. Can anyone talk me down and tell me I'm being paranoid?

 

[R7206]

Resurrecting my old thread, but some progress now that I'm getting close to getting the car.

The ETA on my tracker states April 5.
The "reservation" UI from Ford gives a March 27 - April 1st window.
April 2nd is still the end date of my old car's registration.

I spoke to the dealer last Tuesday. They said not do any renewal, even if it's after the 1st. Not even the PNO.

I'm nervous the lack of registration will mess up transfering my current custom plates to the Mach-E or for getting HOV status. Can anyone talk me down and tell me I'm being paranoid?

You could always "sell" the car to the dealer on 4/2, prior to registration end date, and do without a car until the 5th. You just want to make sure the dealer doesn't "ding" you on the trade for expired registration penalties if you decide to keep it.

 

[Sobeer]

In California you own the personal license plates, you can keep your plates even if they are not registered to a car. You will just need to pay the renewal fee for your personalized license plate.

21.200 Personalized License Plates Retention (CVC §5109)
A personalized license plate owner may remove and retain his/her license plates without reassigning them to another vehicle provided the license plate retention fee is paid each year (CVC §5106(b)).

Retentions—The procedures below be must followed:

• A Special Interest License Plate Application (REG 17) form, which shows the personalized license plate configuration and requests of the license plates.
• The retention fee. The fee is due for each year whether or not the license plates are assigned to a vehicle.

 

[TheSeg]

Today I did the deed, and with less than a day to spare!

I do have to hold on to my metal custom plates. I can't transfer until the DMV sends me new metal and then manually transfer them. This also means I have to wait even longer for HOV status, but that's what I have to deal with.

Thankfully I don't need to worry about late fees on the registration of the Focus!

 

[R7206]

Today I did the deed, and with less than a day to spare!

I do have to hold on to my metal custom plates. I can't transfer until the DMV sends me new metal and then manually transfer them. This also means I have to wait even longer for HOV status, but that's what I have to deal with.

Thankfully I don't need to worry about late fees on the registration of the Focus!

I transferred my personalized plates on another car in January before I got my metal plates. I got the metal plates and the new registration from DMV within a few days of each other. You don't need to wait on metal plates to fill out the form and send it in.

 

[lwilliams0514]

My existing 2007 Focus SES I plan to trade in with custom plates is up for renewal + SMOG. As the due date edges against when my Mach-E will arrive, I wanted to make sure I got my plan and contingency set in place.

Information:

• My current 2007 Ford Focus SES will be traded in towards my Mach-E at the dealer.
• My custom special interest plates (1960's legacy, non-sequential) will transfer from the Focus to the Mach-E.
• Current Mach-E build week is Feb 22nd, putting delivery range between March 22 and April 9+.
• The Focus' car registration -- with STAR SMOG -- is due April 2nd.

If my Mach-E delivers before April 2nd:
I do nothing for registration or SMOG testing. No penalty fees by the dealer. Let's hope this happens and this post was moot!

If my Mach-E delivers on or after April 2nd:
Register my Focus as PNO on April 1st. Don't use the car until I drive the car to the dealer on delivery day. The dealer says they'll accept a PNO with no penalty.

I can deal without having a car to drive in April. Not like I'm going out much due to COVID. As someone who works from home, I'm much further back in the vaccine line anyway.

If I do nothing at all, after April 2nd:
The dealer says the fees for late registration are charged back to me for the trade-in. I also run the risk of getting caught and cited for lack of registration. I would like to avoid these situations.

Am I correct? I should PNO if it comes to it?
Checking my work and making sure I'm not missing something.
I should still be able to transfer my custom plates (1960's legacy, non-sequential) to my Mach-E. I believe I still need to wear the "paper plates" on the Mach-E for a few weeks as the DMV clears the paperwork.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Dude...... seriously? I work at a car dealer. What is your registration? Like $150-200 bucks? just pay it on the day it is due if your MME is not here yet. If you don't pay they start tacking on penalties. All this to save a little money....?

Personalized plates the dealer should be able to transfer for you. If not, wait for new plates and then head to DMV or AAA to transfer. Should cost you like $40 to transfer the personalized plates.

 

[mdolan92869]

Dude...... seriously? I work at a car dealer. What is your registration? Like $150-200 bucks? just pay it on the day it is due if your MME is not here yet. If you don't pay they start tacking on penalties. All this to save a little money....?

Personalized plates the dealer should be able to transfer for you. If not, wait for new plates and then head to DMV or AAA to transfer. Should cost you like $40 to transfer the personalized plates.

I just did mine last weekend at AAA, cost $58 to transfer mine. Took the new ones in, handed in the form (REG-17), wrote out the check and then put the old ones on that afternoon. Easy, peasy.

 

[krafty81]

I just did mine last weekend at AAA, cost $58 to transfer mine. Took the new ones in, handed in the form (REG-17), wrote out the check and then put the old ones on that afternoon. Easy, peasy.

Do you have to be a AAA member?

 

[mdolan92869]

Do you have to be a AAA member?

Probably. I showed them my card by default, it wasn't the normal check-in because of COVID stuff. Couldn't hurt to ask them or just try without.

 

[krafty81]

Probably. I showed them my card by default, it wasn't the normal check-in because of COVID stuff. Couldn't hurt to ask them or just try without.

Called and you do have to be a member. Turns out you can print out a form and send it in to the DMV for the transfer. Fee depends on the plate. Mine was $78.00 but some are more. When they cancel my check, I will swap the plates.

Question - is expiration of my transferred plates the same as the ones that would have been on the dealer issued plates? My special plate expires Aug 21 but the dealer issued are Apr 22. If not the case, I wasted eight months of registration fee.

 

[mdolan92869]

Called and you do have to be a member. Turns out you can print out a form and send it in to the DMV for the transfer. Fee depends on the plate. Mine was $78.00 but some are more. When they cancel my check, I will swap the plates.

Question - is expiration of my transferred plates the same as the ones that would have been on the dealer issued plates? My special plate expires Aug 21 but the dealer issued are Apr 22. If not the case, I wasted eight months of registration fee.

The guy at AAA gave me new stickers with the month when I did it because it‘s the car that was getting the registration. I peeled off the old ones as I waited for him to print out the paperwork. Probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry.

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