What State Is Best For Out Of State Car Registration, And Why is it Montana?

What State Is Best For Out Of State Car Registration? Montana Takes the Lead

Dirt Legal has made a big name for ourselves over the past few years by our innovation and our world-class service in helping people title and tag their vehicles. We have helped thousands of people get their cars back on the road when they had title problems, and register cars to help people save a lot of money. 

But what is the process? How are we able to take you from a paper weight to a certified, street-legal baller? Well, we can’t tell you everything but we can say that our Montana LLC vehicle registration program is what makes that engine run. Let’s take a look. 

No Sales Tax: A Major Benefit of Car Registration in Montana

Whether you want to admit it or not, money savings is the motivating factor for basically every business transaction. Do we want a great experience? Of course we do. But at our core, we all want to make a deal. 

Perhaps the main benefit (at least in the top two) of Montana car registration is that the State of Montana has no sales tax. Back in the day, people started finding out about the Montana car registration “loophole” because owners of high-end vehicles (namely supercars and extremely expensive motorhomes) would register their cars in Montana. This makes a big difference if you are buying a car that costs north of $500,000. In LA, that car will cost roughly fifty grand to register for sales tax. 

But things have changed. No, not the sales taxes; those still don’t exist. No, what we mean is that the face of the industry has changed and now it is totally common for regular cars and trucks to be registered in Montana. 

All Kinds of Vehicle Types Can Be Registered in Montana 

One of the coolest things about Montana is the way they view vehicles. Montana is the fourth largest state in the nation in terms of land area, but it is in the bottom ten in population. The state is extremely rugged, whether you are in the Rockies or the Great Plains. 

Many of the inhabitants of Montana go back several generations and still maintain that rugged individualism that Montana is so well known for. It is the sort of place where overregulation just won’t fly. So, it was well known back in the late 90s and early 2000s that Montana was a state that allowed you to put street-legal motorcycle tags on ATVs and then UTVs. Well, if you were one of those sad kids in high school that wanted a street legal quad in your home state but couldn’t because you didn’t live in Montana, we have got a deal for you: we can do it all for you from the comfort of your own home. 

But it doesn’t stop at UTVs and ATVs. You can get all kinds of vehicles registered in Montana, and you can use our Montana title recovery program for a bonded title if you are missing a title. For this process, we can do all kinds of vehicles including boats! One of our services that is always popular is our military truck and vehicle registration program. 

You can get a surplus Humvee, LMTV, FMTV, or just about any other old Army truck titled and registered through our program.

Montana Car Registration for Out-of-State Residents

There are no limits on who can register out-of-state vehicles through Dirt Legal. We have helped folks from all over the U.S. get their cars registered and it can be for a bunch of different reasons. The most common reasons are cost and regulations. 

Two of the largest states by population are California and New York. And not surprisingly, these have the harshest smog and pollution testing requirements in the nation. This is tough, especially for the working class families. Those states are notoriously expensive for living, and passing smog checks is a tool that only makes it harder. 

Montana has no smog inspections or any kind of state inspections. This matters when you're already struggling to make ends meet. A failed smog inspection might be the death blow to your vehicle, even though there is nothing actually wrong with the car. The cost of the repairs can outpace the value of the vehicle, and in California you also can’t even offload the vehicle (i.e., sell it) if you have a failed inspection unless you sell it out of state. 

Montana will never charge you sales tax, and they will never require you to get any inspections. Also, after your vehicle is 11 years and older the registration is permanent and you never have to register it again. This alone is worth the price of admission. 

Comparing Montana Car Registration to Other States

The other state that we work with is South Dakota. SoDak is a great state to work with, and there are a few unique circumstances where they are the better option but for the majority of situations the Montana LLC registration program is your best bet. 

South Dakota has a four percent sales tax rate which is still one of the lower rates in the nation, but where SoDak shines is that you can more easily register a vehicle there that you have a lien on. You can do it through a Montana LLC, but there are limitations to it and you need a special permission letter from your bank to do it. 

Also, there is no LLC involved with the South Dakota registration, so you cannot prove that you have residence there. If you get pulled over and your home address does not match up with the South Dakota registration, you can get penalized by the state since almost all states require you to transfer title and registration within a certain amount of time. 

This is especially true with UTV and OHV registrations, where the reciprocity argument doesn’t hold much water since it isn’t owned by the LLC. Food for thought, and we almost always recommend Montana registration for all vehicles. 

Final Thoughts: Why Montana Leads in Out-of-State Car Registration

We do use other states for some extenuating circumstances, but Montana offers the best solution for almost all of our programs. Montana has no sales tax, and with reciprocity it offers a great safeguard for owners and operators to prove residency and be afforded reciprocity. 

Make sure to check out our Montana registration program, and see what all we can do for you. Once you have a Montana LLC, you can own an unlimited amount of vehicles in the same asset-holding LLC. Trucks, trailers, RVs, OHVs, and even boats, all owned under the same LLC. Want to know more? Check out our process now!