I (NJ resident) just bought a used car from a CA dealer. It was a lease return, if that matters. Straight cash deal. All I paid was the selling price, $85 doc fee, and $52 for title transfer fees ($15 for the CA DMV fee and $37 to the third party vendor that handles it I believe). No sales tax or anything else, and I would be handling titling and registration in NJ myself. I had to give the dealer some CA DMV transfer form (“REG 262”) and they told me that I’d get the relevant CA paperwork in the mail directly from the CA DMV, which I’d then take to the NJ MVC to get it registered. When I got the car, it still had the previous owner’s/lessor’s now expired plate on it, and their expired registration was still in the glove box. Didn’t think anything of it because maybe plates don’t need to be returned in CA. Then, about a week later, I got a new registration from the CA DMV in the mail under my name and NJ address, with a new one-year registration sticker for the CA plate that was on the car. Is that normal and to be expected? I assumed I’d get a CA title, not a CA registration. For what it’s worth, the registration shows that a $800+ registration fee was paid to the CA DMV. I definitely didn’t pay that.
CA registration is tied to the vehicle, not the person. Plates stay with it. Did you get the title? If the reg expired while they had it, they would need to update it.
Doesn’t sound normal. I would contact the dealer if I were you.
No title. CA registration expired in May while the car was for sale, about a month before I bought it. I’m just wondering if the registration is part of the process, i.e., there needs to be a current registration before the title transfer can happen, or something like that. Maybe the bank still has the title in hand and that’s why I don’t have it yet.
I am pretty sure that the expired registration has to be sorted before they’ll release the title
This must really complicate people who are out of state and want to sell their car