My 23 year old son is moving from AZ to CA - he plans to live and work out there for at least a couple of years. He currently drives one of our family vehicles which is on our family insurance and registered in AZ until July. My plan is to gift him that vehicle. He will, of course, have to register/insure it in CA.

The safest way to do this, I guess, would be to go to AZ DMV office and transfer title to him, then have him register/insure for himself in AZ. He could then move to CA and re-register/insure at his new address.

I understand that any AZ registration fees he paid would not be refunded by AZ DMV after a move out of state, but I am not clear if he would have to pay for a full year of registration when I pass AZ title to him, or only pay registration for the time until next renewal is due (July).

Can anyone who has done this offer advice on whether there is a more efficient and cost-effective way to do this?


PS: The vehicle is a 2015 and just serviced, so I am not worried about it failing CA smog testing.

Figured it out - gonna transfer title here and get a 30-day temporary AZ tag. My insurance will cover him until he registers in CA.

ETA: We went to the AZ DMV today and they would not issue temporary "leaving" tags to someone with an AZ license. They said the original plates and registration are good; all I had to do was sign the title over to my son in front of a notary (CA requires the title to be notarized), then my son can use that AZ title to register with CA DMV. I have to submit a "sold" notice to AZ DMV.

One other task: I had to dig out and mount the front number plate holder... CA requires plates front and back. Luckily I never throw anything out

where do you get or submit a "sold notice"?

https://servicearizona.com/

Scroll down the above link. It also allows registration payment.

Years ago I moved to Ca with a vehicle I had not owned for 6 months, had to wait to transfer title. Don't know if that is stil the case but probably hasn't changed for the better.