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.
Traveling nurses and frequent travelers can save big on vehicle registration with a Montana LLC, thanks to zero sales tax and fewer hassles. Instead of navigating state-specific requirements and inspections, Montana’s flexible LLC registration allows you to register vehicles fully online, skipping the DMV lines and high fees. From cost savings to avoiding smog checks and state inspections, this option makes managing vehicle registration easy—no matter where your work takes you.