The DMV

When you move to Virginia, there are a number of things you have to do within 30 days to be square with the DMV, and there is a ton of documentation required.  After doing 2 real estate deals and a ton of relocation paperwork, the DMV guantlet was most unwelcome.

The good news--it can be done! We spent about 4 hours in the DMV, including a trip home and back to get passports we didn't know we needed.

So here's the skinny:

To move your car to Virginia, you need to do the following:

--Get your car inspected by a certified state inspection station.  A lot of gas stations also provide this service.  This inspection is required every year.  They put a big yellow sticker in the middle of the bottom of your windshield with the month and date your next inspection is due prominently displayed (see above).

--Get an emissions test by a certified emissions testing station.  This is valid for two years, and most stations that do the regular inspection also do emissions tests.

--Take the two papers you receive from the tests to the DMV.  Word is that the offices in Leesburg or Chantilly are not as bad as the DMV offices in Fairfax and Sterling.  I learned that one while standing outside the Sterling office in 25 degree weather.

Here is what you need when you go to the DMV.  If you don't have these documents, you will wait in line for nothing.

--Your California title paper (pink slip)

--Your California registration paper

--Your California driver's license

--Your passport.  If you don't have your passport, you have to bring your birth certificate.  And if your driver's license name doesn't match your birth certificate, you have to bring your marriage certificate.  Seriously.  We had to go home and retrieve our passports, but when we came back, they let us "fast-pass" to the front of the line.

--A receipt or bill that proves you now have a Virginia address.  Your name has to be on it.  Your spouse's name won't get it done for you.  They prefer utility bills -- we used a bank statement from a local bank and our Verizon bill.

--proof of car insurance in Virginia

--While the paperwork burden is oppressive, the people in the DMV office were suprisingly patient and helpful.

--Once inside the office they take away your California title document and replace it with a Virginia title document.  You need to know the VIN number and mileage of your car.  The good news is that the VIN number is on the title form, and the mileage is noted on the certificate you get from the state inspection station.

--Re-titling your car doesn't cost anything

--They will give you a 2-year registration and it only cost us $93...for both years

--We didn't have to take the driving or written test.  Our new license cost only $32! and it is good for 7 years!

--They punch a hole in your California license but they don't take it (that one hurt--branded)

--They take your photo, test your eyesight.  Then they give you a temporary paper license.

--My permanent license arrived one week later.  And it is HIDEOUS!  a black and white mug shot.  No smiling allowed.  It makes the California license photo look like a professional portrait. 

--Lastly, they hand you your new plates and registration stickers right then and there.  Again, they didn't confiscate our California plates.

I put the new plates on my car...bittersweet...but at least I'm no longer worrying about being profiled as an idiot Californian.

Last note:  supposedly, everything required for the future can be done online.  Annual inspection certification, emissions, license renewal, etc.

Now, I'm going online to get my EZ Pass for the Dulles Tollway...Which costs $2.00 to get from Reston to the I-66.