Drivers License in different states

**jkwilson** · 04-23-2023, 01:55 PM

Originally Posted by spencers45

My wife and I spend about 6 months of each year in Arizona (not our domicile) and the remaining 6 months (and a day) in Delaware. We would like to have a car at each location but given that our drivers license is from Delaware, we would need to have both vehicles inspected in Delaware. Getting the car back to Arizona would be too difficult for us. We were wondering if we could have one spouse keep their license in Delaware and the other spouse would get a drivers license in Arizona? Has anybody done this? What are the downsides?

Thanks in advance

Does Delaware require the inspection in order to get plates? If not, don't worry about it.

**kb0zke** · 04-23-2023, 06:49 PM

I suspect that the proper answer to this type of question is to actually ask the DMV in each State that might be involved. Don't be surprised, though, if the two States give conflicting answers (each one says the vehicle must be registered in their State).

That said, if the Ford is based in Delaware, and only used there, and the Chevy is based in Arizona, and only used there, I would think there would be fewer questions if the Ford and Delaware plates and the Chevy had Arizona plates.

**spencers45** · 04-24-2023, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by jkwilson

Does Delaware require the inspection in order to get plates? If not, don't worry about it.

Hi John, Delaware DOES require an actual inspection of the vehicle

**jkwilson** · 04-25-2023, 06:57 AM

Originally Posted by spencers45

Hi John, Delaware DOES require an actual inspection of the vehicle

I see it’s required before registration, but there is a form to get an out of state inspection

https://www.dmv.de.gov/forms/veh_ser...pdfs/MV210.pdf

**orbsah** · 04-25-2023, 07:14 AM

We would like to have a car at each location but given that our drivers license is from Delaware, we would need to have both vehicles inspected in Delaware.

Are we confusing drivers license requirements with vehicle registration? Here’s my example: While we we RI residents, we purchased a car in UT for our son while he was going to school there. The car was registered in UT, had to comply with UT emissions testing, UT plates, etc. All this and I was the registered owner with an RI mailing address. We did have to get a separate UT insurance policy because our RI policy didn’t cover vehicles garaged in UT (UT was actually cheaper).

I believe UT was happy to take my registration fees whether or not I was a UT resident (I suspect AZ and other states would be the same).

**orbsah** · 04-25-2023, 07:16 AM

Saw a lot of vehicles stored in their car port in Mesa for storage. But plates were removed so I couldn't tell if people registered in AZ or not?

We wintered in Mesa and I was told there was a problem with license plate theft on vehicles in storage. The advice is to remove the plates and toss them in the trunk.

**Walaby** · 04-25-2023, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by jkwilson

I see it’s required before registration, but there is a form to get an out of state inspection

https://www.dmv.de.gov/forms/veh_ser...pdfs/MV210.pdf

This seems to be the ticket and would appear to work for OP. It even has provisions if the state you are at doesn't do Emissions testing.

Only question I have is the form states RENEWAL. So, I would call DMV and ask if I could use the form for initial registration.

Mike

**edontheroad** · 04-29-2023, 06:14 PM

Good afternoon, sorry for the long message and if there is several posts. I had issues posting. Domicile: South Dakota (SD) - Driver's license: - SD - Own property in Arizona. I recently applied for an Arizona ID card. While doing so, the agent recommended that I do not get an Arizona driver's license until I change my domicile to Arizona or I would have to surrender my SD driver's license. He also stated if I get a federally compliant ID, it would cause issues and cause red flags with my SD driver's license. He stated that I could not register my vehicles in Arizona unless my domicile was in Arizona. He recommended tha I get an ID (not federally compliant) and wait to get an Arizona driver's license and wait to register my vehicles until I change my domicile to Arizona.

**Malco1** · 04-29-2023, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by spencers45

My wife and I spend about 6 months of each year in Arizona (not our domicile) and the remaining 6 months (and a day) in Delaware. We would like to have a car at each location but given that our drivers license is from Delaware, we would need to have both vehicles inspected in Delaware. Getting the car back to Arizona would be too difficult for us. We were wondering if we could have one spouse keep their license in Delaware and the other spouse would get a drivers license in Arizona? Has anybody done this? What are the downsides?

Thanks in advance

Don't know about Delaware and Arizona, but I was living in NY and had a house in NC. I was able to register my NC car in NC and my NY car in NY with my NY drivers license. NC has out of state registration.

**jeririgged223** · 04-30-2023, 10:11 AM

Under the new real ID laws most states require you show proof of residency and ID (passport, birth cert) to get a drivers license or ID card. Not sure why you feel the need to change your license just for the sake of a vehicle inspection. Why not apply for an ID card instead of a license. We did that with CA - TX as we went between both because of our adult kids. Since we get all of our bills via email we kept the billing address in CA but showed the physical evidence as being my sons in Texas. We did that for 3 months, which was how many months we had to have to prove residency and then we went to the TX authorities and got an ID card only. As long as the car is titled / registered in Arizona it shouldn't matter if it's an ID card or license.