I have a Mercedes-Benz lease that is ending soon in NY. When I turn in the vehicle, does the dealership usually take care of returning the plates to the DMV or is that something I have to do myself? I’m not originally from NY so I haven’t returned a lease here before. Is there anything I need to do personally with the DMV?
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I saw the DMV website. Are you saying dealership does not take care of it?
Wait I thought we don’t have to return plates, or is it state specific ?
NY is easy… just walk into any DMV and get a number to wait on the plate surrender line (usually not a long wait) and you give them the plates and they’ll give you a receipt. When you call insurance to remove the car off the policy, they’ll ask for that receipt number that the DMV gives you.
You can also mail them in like stated above but obviously turn around time is longer
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Took around 2 weeks last time I surrendered plates by mail. Beats going to the DMV (the locations near me were always packed).
Plates fit in a USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope…$7.50-8 definitely beats waiting in line. You get tracking and takes 2 days. Don’t remove from your insurance until you see they are received by the DMV.
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Everything related to plates and registration is state-specific.
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When I lived in NY insurance wouldn’t even let me remove the vehicle without providing confirmation that I actually surrendered the plates. The DMV will give you a receipt that has a confirmation number on there and insurance will ask for that.
You have to have insurance while you have plates in NY, otherwise they fine you daily .
I know the DMV sucks, especially with covid now, but the surrender plate line is a separate line and usually moves quick. I’ve never spent more than 15-20 min waiting to surrender my plates.
Up to you if you want to pay to mail them and also pay for insurance while you’re waiting for your confirmation. If you have the time, go on down and just get it out of the way.
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Alright so it sounds like this is something I have to do myself, and it’s not something that the dealership does for you.
Yeah, it’s state specific, some states just let you keep your plates.
I recently surrendered plates in NY ,my DMV office had a table set up at the entrance, fill out a form, put it in an envelope they provided and drop it in a box right there took all of 10 minuets , received the FS21 plate surrender receipt in the mail in 4 days .
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I ended up doing this as well. They have drop boxes right now, but sometimes you have to stand in some line to do it in person.