vehicle registration woes
January 19, 2011 6:42 PM Subscribe
Question about renewing NY state car registration while currently living in Canada.
I moved from NY to Vancouver on a temporary work visa about six months ago. According to both BC's registrar of imported vehicles and the border dudes it is totally fine for me to have my NY registered and insured car in BC for up to 36 months if I'm living there on a temporary visa. Any longer than that and I have to import it, which is another issue altogether.
I can't import the car right now because I financed it when I bought it in the States and the bank won't let me.
My current problem is that my New York registration expires at the end of April, my car is 3000 miles away from where it's registered, and I have no idea how the hell to renew my NY registration if 1) the car and I are not living there and 2) I have to have an annual emissions inspection done by some special NY DMV-sanctioned inspection place (which I'm pretty sure don't exist in BC).
What the hell am I supposed to do? I imagine that letting my registration lapse will come back to haunt me once I am ready to apply for permanent residency and import my car for good. Can I cross the border and register my car in WA if I'm not actually living there? Did I royally screw up by not dealing with this issue before moving? Would it be easier to just drive it to WA and sell the damn thing?
I moved from NY to Vancouver on a temporary work visa about six months ago. According to both BC's registrar of imported vehicles and the border dudes it is totally fine for me to have my NY registered and insured car in BC for up to 36 months if I'm living there on a temporary visa. Any longer than that and I have to import it, which is another issue altogether.
I can't import the car right now because I financed it when I bought it in the States and the bank won't let me.
My current problem is that my New York registration expires at the end of April, my car is 3000 miles away from where it's registered, and I have no idea how the hell to renew my NY registration if 1) the car and I are not living there and 2) I have to have an annual emissions inspection done by some special NY DMV-sanctioned inspection place (which I'm pretty sure don't exist in BC).
What the hell am I supposed to do? I imagine that letting my registration lapse will come back to haunt me once I am ready to apply for permanent residency and import my car for good. Can I cross the border and register my car in WA if I'm not actually living there? Did I royally screw up by not dealing with this issue before moving? Would it be easier to just drive it to WA and sell the damn thing?
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posted by birdherder at 6:50 PM on January 19, 2011