i guess, but we are certainly testing the cars differently in California than they were back in the day. our saving grace is that its just a steady 15mph and steady 25mph, its very easy. Colorado has the IM240, which gets the car up to like 60mph on the dyno, not sure how that isn't dangerous... hard to pass that one, you actually need to accelerate pretty hard.

that is correct to "catch" you they need to prove that you arrived more than 30 days ago, which used to be impossible. nowadays they have cameras and could probably prove it if they wanted. California does look at it as tax evasion, although you get a letter in the mail asking to register this car here.

as a complete aside in my neighborhood the police occasionally announce that they aren't going to enforce traffic violations (its a budget thing), and as a second aside in the before time there was a significant percentage of cars with New York plates....

 

actually the other thing with California lately is the amount of paperwork they send you now, its incredible. i had one car i registered, and then sold, and the amount of paperwork they sent me has to be about 4" thick (oh and they still want money for a car that i don't own, and isn't even in the stare anymore)

so keep your out of state registration as long as possible. not only is CA expensive, and there is a fiddly emissions test, but they are a pain to deal with too.

 

Nope, Under California law, you are required to obtain a California's drivers license within ten days of moving to the state, or immediately if your profession involves driving ( any commercial driving + lyft and uber drivers ) . So yes they will catch you because under state law, if you have a driver's license you can no say " i got here less than 30 days ago officer" because your licence has a date of issue. Theoretically, you can keep that car registered for a max of 40 days in WA , until its pretty obvious by the fact you were required to obtain a license that your vehicle has been here more than the 30 days, again, I wouldn't advise anything regarding tax evasion. The huge loophole claim had for decades was the temp tag that just required a piece of paper with the dealer logo or brand logo. People would literally not pay any tags or smog etc because it they got pulled over they would just lie and said they just bought the car,. Cali cracked down on that though hand now all temp tags have a number with a visible expiration date on them .

Well now that I think about it, you can lie and say you didn't move to California but I don't suggest doing that because that delves into other legal issues and I don't feel like explaining the rabbit hole. Point is LLC's don't work, Lying about being a visitor doesn't work, keeping your car registered i another state wont work, you gotta register that bastard here and if there's no ECU you can always find a "guy" , and that's not going away because A. Cali allows corruption to an immense degree and B. If they did they would criplle the landscaping industry, all of them cars aint smog legal.

 

Cali law may require you to change your license within 10 days, but how can the authorities check on your date of arrival? Unless you are a Uber Lyft or commercial driver where the employer has to check that you have a Cali license, how could they catch you?

I'm thinking of moving back to L A because I loved surfing. That's why I ask.

 

works fine if its not your primary car

 

Because your license has a date of the issue date , you can't say you arrived less than 30 days ago if your license has a day older than 30 days, unless you lie and say you bought the car from WA in where they will require you to provide proof of insurance/bill lof sale.

Time line is
You arive Day 0 ________ Day 10 required to obtain a drivers licence / foreigner under 18 years old required to register vehicle _________________ Day 30 Required to register vehicle .

After day 10 the police literally have a date to reference your arrival. which can theoretically be 40 days if you waited until the last day to obtain your license under the law.

Again you can stretch this out by violating the ten-day rule and again violating the 30 day rule but that gets you into more issues such as having your car impounded and arrested for driving w/o a valid license. Plus you kind of need a valid license/ ID to open a bank account, obtain a bank loan, pay rent etc.
What I'm getting at is there's no LEGAL way to keep your car registered under WA and the only plausible way to get away with it is by not obtaining a valid drivers license in CA .. i mean it's up to you if you want to get your car impounded / and you arrested if you get pulled over without a valid license.

Do I know people who have been here years without a license, yes, a long time ago when undocumented individuals were barred from obtaining a license.. after they were allowed to obtain them, the state cracked down hard on unlicenced drivers . Mind you in north Cali police pull over cars with Oregon and washing ton plates over a lot, and in so cal ( san Diego) the same goes for Mexico plates. Police are trying to find out if it's a tourist or a tax evader!

 

Bali has waaay better surf... and they don't give a hoot what you drive.

 

Bali, as in a 6 hour jet flight? I liked surfing, but not that much, and I wasn't that good of a surfer.

And I don't get this Cali license thing. Why couldn't I just keep renewing my Alabama license, and Alabama car registration. Would the man bother with a sub $5000 or sub $500 car for tax evasion? That's what the Alabama DMV assessed my car at.

Who needs an instate bank account? If you are required to have an in state driver's license to rent an apartment, but you have to have the instate residence for the driver's licnse , sounds like a catch-22.

 

California wants the $$$. i don't think you need a CA drivers license to rent a place in CA, like i say i live in a college town and there are tons of out of state plates around that nobody cares about/

 

the date a license is issued and the date that you crossed a state line have nothing to do with each other.

i could have a license from east Germany from 1987, but maybe i got to California yesterday.

the authorities need to prove that you have been here for more than 10 days, or 30 days, and that is not very easy. now if you get pulled over for anything, and you have the out of state junk, then the clock is ticking...