You’ve Got Montana Plates on Your New Ride. Do You Have Tag it in Your Home State in 30 Days?
One of the things that is largely misunderstood about the Montana LLC registration process, and one that we constantly get questions about, is transferring after 30 days. This was always a concern with some of the other states we worked with that after 30 days, the registration would be null to do domicile state laws requiring out of state registrations be transferred.
This poses a serious problem for anyone who was using an out-of-state registration option to get their UTV or other OHV made street legal. See, if you have to register it back in your home state (as would happen with a South Dakota OHV registration), you are kinda screwed since you registered it out of state because your domicile state won’t recognize them or register them.
So, when you register in Montana, do you need to transfer your plates to your home state after 30 days? Short answer: no. Long answer: still no, but read on to find out why.
Montana Vehicle Registration Basics
What does it take for a vehicle to be street legal in Montana? Is it the presence of DOT-required items, passing a safety inspection, or strictly bureaucratic registration processes? The answer is all three.
First and foremost, "street-legal" is not a one-size-fits-all term. For instance, a vehicle that is street-legal in Montana doesn't have to meet the same standards as a street-legal vehicle in California. However, a vehicle legally tagged and registered in Montana (and generally any state) can legally travel through any other state.
The concept of being street-legal is embedded in the legal framework of the state where you register your vehicle. For example, in California, you must pass a smog test to be considered street-legal and registered. There is no such requirement in Montana; you can drive from Montana to California without needing that smog test.
In Montana, there are no inspection requirements for registering a vehicle or maintaining its registration. Once a vehicle is registered, it can be registered permanently after it reaches eleven years of age or older.
However, all vehicles must meet standard requirements to be considered street-legal: horn, turn signals, brake lights, seat belts (except motorcycles), headlights, etc.
The specific equipment requirements for all street-legal vehicles in Montana are detailed in the Montana Code and the Montana Title Manual. Due to the detail and complexity of statutory code, it's best for you to read the code based on the type of vehicle you want to register.
Since Montana has no vehicle inspection requirements and the vehicle does not need to be present at the time of registration, it is entirely up to you, the owner/operator, to ensure your vehicle is adequately equipped.
Chapter 9 covers all the pertinent info.
Supplementary resources:
The 30-Day Rule: What It Means
Okay, so yes, Montana does have its own 30-day rule regarding people moving into the state. But that isn’t exactly what we are looking at. We are talking about every other state. Now, the term ‘30-day rule’ is generic; all of the states have different rules about this.
But generally speaking, the rule is somewhere in the ballpark of a month or less to register it in the home state.
For California, the number is only 20 days, while in New York it is 30 days.
If you registered out-of-state anywhere besides Montana, you would be basically obligated to abide by these rules. However, the secret sauce is the LLC. See, when you register your car through our Montana registration program, the owner is the LLC, and the LLC resides in Montana. It really is that simple.
One important caveat: the areas where we have seen the most trouble with this are vehicles that are outlawed in state, and the cops know it. For instance, surplus military vehicles are forbidden in Colorado and California, so if you go rolling through town with Montana plates, prepare to be pulled over at the least, and impounded at the worst. We have also seen a couple of videos surface of guys trying to run UTVs with Montana plates in Colorado and the local authorities weren’t having it.
If you decided to get a Montana registration for you 2021 Toyota Sienna, the odds are pretty good that nobody would ever bat an eye.
So I Don’t Have to Transfer Montana Plates?
No, you sure don’t!
Because you were smart and created residency in Montana through an LLC, you don’t have to do anything. We like to keep things simple, here. You bought a Montana registration through us because you had a problem that you wanted taken care of.
What kind of problems do these take care of? Well, for one you don’t have to worry about state sales tax. Montana has no state sales tax, so once you register there, you don’t have to worry about it again.
Also, and we have talked about this at length, but this is the best way to get vehicles titled that are otherwise hard to get on the road. Most states do not take nearly as hard of a line on military vehicles as Colorado and California, but they can still be hard to get done in a lot of states since they are sold from the auction houses without titles.
There are million examples why our program is a great option, but here is the key takeaway: when you get an LLC through us, you have fully legal lawful residency in Montana. Residency is not the same as domicile, but it does mean that you can register your vehicles in Montana.
And one final piece of universal advice: the flashier or more unique a vehicle you register, the more scrutiny it will get. If it catches the eye of the police, odds are pretty good that they will pull you over to run the tags. Just be prepared for this.
Parting Thoughts
We still offer registration packages from more than just Montana, but generally we discourage those unless there is a legitimate or extenuating reason to use them.
The Montana LLC and registration package is the best way to protect yourself when you want to register your vehicle out of state and want the legal footing to win in court should it go that way. Because, without the legal backing of the LLC, you are just another guy trying to skirt the rules and you probably won’t win that argument.
Check out our full line of Montana LLC products while you’re here; cars and trucks aren’t the only way to benefit from the process.
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