Question about car/home ownership.

"Rainbow" (rainbeaux) 04/26/2016 at 10:34 • Filed to: None

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So, my girlfriend and I are planning on moving in together within the year. This is going to be my first time living on my own (excluding college) and I’m not entirely sure how to do everything, but I’ll be able to get help as I need it for sure. But for now, one thing is standing out that nobody around here really knows for sure:

My dad is the legal owner of my car, which helps with insurance and whatnot. However, Georgia issues tags by the county, and if I were to move out of the county, the car would need to be re-registered in that new county. Obviously, it can stay Gwinnett (my current county) as long as it still “belongs” to my dad, but that makes me wonder if there could be any legal problems if I, as a resident of, let’s say, DeKalb County, own a car that is registered in Gwinnett.

Of course, I’m going to need to “sell” it to myself eventually and make it my own, and owning my own car should come around the same time as having my own apartment or whatever, but you know. As long as I’m still young enough that it’s cheaper to insure my dad as the car’s actual owner, that’s how I want to do it.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 10:40

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Considering that people will go to lengths to register cars in states they don’t even live in, there shouldn’t be a problem. But then again, I’m not an expert with laws in Georgia, so you should probably get someone who knows for sure.

Party-vi > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 10:43

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Maryland law says as a resident of Maryland, you must register your vehicle for MD plates within 60 days or they will chop off your wiener/assign fines.

I’m guessing GA has similar laws for the individual counties, minus the wiener chopping, of course.

Jarrett - [BRZ Boi] > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 10:44

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I don’t live in the US, but up here, part of what makes up insurance rates include the location that the vehicle is being kept, as well as who the principle driver is. Misrepresenting these could end badly if something ever happened.

facw > Jarrett - [BRZ Boi] 04/26/2016 at 10:45

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Yes, I don’t know if you’ll get in trouble with the state for being registered in a different county, but lying to your insurance company about where the car lives is asking for claims to be denied.

yamahog > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 10:51

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If you want to play it absolutely safe, it should be in your name, at the new place, and insured by you.

If you want to be an asshole like fresh out of college yamahog... Register in new place to get new plate, keep insurance under father’s New York address even though the motorcycle is now in California. Your ass is toast if you ever need to file a claim though.

Justin Hughes > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 10:51

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I went through a similar situation, and even though I was remaining in the same county (not that they mean much in Massachusetts), my dad transferred legal ownership of the car to me when I moved out. My rates went up, but it was more important to ensure coverage by not misrepresenting where the car lived vs. where it was registered. We’d gotten away with it while I was away at school most of the year because that’s expected and accepted, but not when I moved out.

Sadly, I was forced to turn in my single rear license plate from being registered in my dad’s name and get both rear and front plates when it was transferred to my name. :(

E90M3 > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 10:53

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If he still has the title in his name then I wouldn’t worry about it, since it’s the same state. I moved from Corpus Christi to San Antonio and my windshield sticker still says Nueces County, not Bexar county which I now live in. When I moved from Alice to Corpus, I still had the car registered in Jim Wells county until the tag expired. My sister lives in Savannah and still had fulton plates on her car until she my dad signed the title over to her. However when you do register it in your own name, I think you have to pay the ad valorem, might be very small but I haven’t had to deal with titling a car in GA, when I was a GA resident, I was still a college student.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > yamahog 04/26/2016 at 10:57

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Considering how cheap insurance can be in CA, this sounds kind of crazy.

Arrivederci > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 11:04

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The car needs to be registered where the owner lives. Until you own the car, you can’t register it in whatever your new county is. Since your Dad owns your car, it needs to stay registered where he lives. As it is his car, it’s his responsibility to pay insurance and taxes/registration on it. Whomever he lets use it is up to him, as is where that individual uses it.

Once you take ownership of the car, then you’ll need to register it wherever you live.

450X_FTW > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 11:11

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Why would you need to re register the car for where you live if the car is registered to your dad in the county he lives in? That tags are for the county the owner is in, not the county the car is physically in.

luvMeSome142 & some Lincoln! > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 11:17

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Leave it in your dad’s name as long as he’s OK with it. Do you have to take it back to Gwinnett for inspections or anything?

jariten1781 > 450X_FTW 04/26/2016 at 11:19

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Huh? Everywhere I've lived car registration is required (with some legal verbiage akin to): "where the car is garaged or primarily operated". There was never a provision for where the owner claimed residence. There was usually some period from 30-90 days to get it done.

iSureWilll > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 11:20

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Like others said, if it is still registered to his house then it could be a problem with claims payments if anything were to happen. You could add your name to the title while keeping him the primary owner.

My dad lives in Indiana and I live in New Jersey. When I got it the loan company said that he had to be the “primary” signee and I had to be co-signer. The car is registered in Jersey and insured in Jersey under my name however the title technically has him as the primary owner. As long as his name is on the title somewhere then you should still be able to cover the car on his insurance whether you drive it or not.

450X_FTW > jariten1781 04/26/2016 at 11:24

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Not for me. In Michigan I lived on the other side of the state from my parents during college and had my truck with me, even though my truck was registered and insured through them.

Even people that went to school in Michigan that had cars from Illinois didn’t have to re register their cars for where they were parked.

jariten1781 > 450X_FTW 04/26/2016 at 11:29

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Ahh, I didn’t mention that, but students and military are typically exempt from re-registering.

Edit: Here’s some from the local code

Section 4-17.2-1. - Local vehicle registration license fee.

There is hereby imposed by the Board of Supervisors a local vehicle registration license fee upon every motor vehicle, including but not limited to automobiles, trucks and motorcycles, regularly garaged, stored, or parked in the County. Notwithstanding the imposition and collection of this fee, the Department of Tax Administration (DTA) shall not require the display of a physical local vehicle registration license decal on the windshield of any vehicle subject to this article. (12-10-4.)

Section 4-17.2-2. - Exceptions; local vehicle registration license fee.

1.

Provisions of this Article shall not apply to the property exempted from State registration under the Code of Virginia, Article 6, Chapter 6 of Title 46.2, as amended. Provisions of Article 17.2 shall also be subject to the restrictions set forth in Virginia Code § 46.2-755, as amended.

2.

The local vehicle registration license fee shall not be applicable to the following classes of vehicle:

(a)

Any motor vehicle owned by the state or any political subdivision thereof or is owned by the United States government;

(b)

Any motor vehicle, owned and used for personal or official purposes by accredited consular or diplomatic officers of foreign governments, their family members and employees, who are nationals of the state by which they are appointed and are not citizens of the United States;

(c)

Any motor vehicle whose owner is on full-time active duty in the military service absent from his state of residence or domicile, which vehicle is normally garaged, stored or parked in the County or on a United States military base within the geographic boundaries of the County and registered in this state or any other jurisdiction. The local vehicle registration license fee shall also not be applicable to a qualifying spouse of a military service member pursuant to this subsection. For purposes of this subsection, a qualifying spouse of a military service member shall mean that a spouse of a servicemember shall neither lose nor acquire domicile for purposes of the local vehicle registration license fee by reason of being present in Fairfax County solely to be with the servicemember in compliance with the servicemember’s military orders if the domicile is the same for the servicemember and the spouse.

(d)

Any motor vehicle owned by a person who is granted tax relief in accordance with Chapter 4 , Article 16.1 of the Fairfax County Code for that vehicle. Within any given household, this relief shall apply to one and only one vehicle;

(e)

Any motor vehicle used as a daily rental passenger vehicle;

(f)

Upon proof of State qualification and payment of the appropriate personal property tax, the following eligible applicants are entitled to exemption from the local vehicle registration license fee on one and one only vehicle:

(1)

Any disabled veteran, as defined and licensed under Virginia Code § 46.2-739 and 46.2-755(B);

(2)

Any honorably-discharged prisoner of war as defined and licensed under Virginia Code §46.2-746;

(3)

Any person awarded the Medal of Honor as defined and licensed under Virginia Code §46.2-745;

(4)

Any member of the Virginia National Guard as defined and licensed under Virginia Code §46.2-744; and,

(5)

Any owner of antique motor vehicles as defined and licensed under Virginia Code §46.2-730.

(g)

The local vehicle registration license fee shall not be applicable to vehicles owned by the following:

(1)

Vehicles owned by volunteer rescue squads;

(2)

Vehicles owned by volunteer fire departments;

(3)

Vehicles owned or leased by auxiliary police officers;

(4)

Vehicles owned or leased by auxiliary police chaplains;

(h)

The local vehicle registration license fee shall not be applicable to vehicles owned by the following:

(1)

Vehicles owned or leased by active members of volunteer fire departments; and

(2)

Vehicles owned or leased by active members of volunteer rescue squads

(3)

In the case of active members of volunteer rescue squads and volunteer fire departments, applications to the Department of Tax Administration (DTA) for exemption from a local vehicle registration license fee shall be accompanied by written evidence, in a form acceptable to the locality of their active membership, and no member shall receive a fee exemption for more than one and only one vehicle. (12-10-4.)

Birddog > Party-vi 04/26/2016 at 11:38

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Bajrebus that’s harsh!

yamahog > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 04/26/2016 at 12:04

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“Cheap” was not the word I’d use to describe the motorcycle insurance quotes I got for a 22 year old living in Inglewood...

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > yamahog 04/26/2016 at 12:44

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I forgot how many foreigners got duped by the California dream. I’m sorry. So many cities near or on the coast that look okay on paper... Let me guess: No garage, either.

CA has a wonky insurance situation, but I guarantee if you knew where to look you could have got it for a lot less unless it was insured with your father as the driver, in which case you were just deferring the suffering.

My insurance has always gone down when I’ve lived in SoCal and up when I moved elsewhere. Pretty much everywhere else was twice as expensive as CA.

yamahog > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 04/26/2016 at 12:54

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Bless your heart, I’m a New Yorker. I knew it was a shit neighborhood (and the complex did have a garage) but it was cheap and close to work. I did my time in LA for work (aerospace industry) and then moved literally the first day that I could, so after getting a few crappy quotes I just decided not to bother. Not exactly some starry-eyed kid from Iowa waiting tables between auditions and living in a closet, lol.

Rico > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 04/26/2016 at 13:03

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Motorcycles don’t get used year round in NY like in Cali.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > yamahog 04/26/2016 at 13:48

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Even people from NY get duped by CA pretty often (I knew some). There’s this image that was created in the media that they’ve somehow maintained in spite of it being far in the past (at least 40-50 years) and never really existing for the vast majority of the population.

I’m impressed it had a garage. There are an epic ton of dingbats (with car ports) and small single-story mini-apartment complexes (most without garages) in that area.

Curiously, in the last 15-20 years, I haven’t encountered as many of those starry-eyed dreamers, but you still get a lot of people dreaming of a sort of carefree beach bum lifestyle pretty much anywhere near a beach in SoCal.

I’m glad you realized it was hell and decided to get out. I grew up in the LA area and could probably never live there again...

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Rico 04/26/2016 at 13:50

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I guess that’s a point.

Then again, I now live in a place with a lot of inclement weather and people ride year-round here.

Meatcoma > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 14:36

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I’d just leave it in your dad’s name and on his insurance. I drove a car that was in my mother’s name, with her tags and her insurance for like 2 years and lived about an hour away.

That's gonna leave a mark! > facw 04/26/2016 at 16:35

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Yes, some insurance companies allow the car to be located primarily in a different location - say someone is off to college. Need to check. I would worry more about your insurance coverage. Since the car is “yours” only in your mind (the name on the title is basically the only thing that counts), you would still be driving your dad’s car. His car registration remains the same unless he moves.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Rainbow 04/26/2016 at 21:57

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Insurance companies have basically decided that the only young people who insure cars in their own name are such terrible drivers that their parents refuse to let them use their insurance. So for the rest of the young, responsible drivers trying to insure in their own names, it’s expensive enough that it’s almost not possible. This needs fixing. For the extra $100/year or whatever it is (less than $1/day), do the responsible thing and insure it in your own name. It's also not entirely legal to do it the way you are in most jurisdictions.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Rainbow 04/27/2016 at 16:12

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In California, there exists a provision whereby an automobile can be transferred as a gift between family members and no sales tax is paid and no emissions test is required.