CA Registration: Commercial to personal use

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mike183

Member
Hey guys, I am brand new to this site and I have found a ton of useful info so thank you all. I am planning to purchase a 2019 144" tall roof from a dealer in Montana. I need to register it in the great state of taxes (CA). The van is bone stock therefore I cannot prove its for human habitation. I plan to start the build over the next month of so but the bank will require me to register it ASAP with the DMV.

I have seen various sources list multiple documents that I should bring with me to the DMV including "statement of facts" with section H and G filled out by the dealer, Reg 262 form, and today AAA told me that I need to have "miscellaneous certification" form filled out. Very confusing.

If anyone has recently dealt with registering their newer van with CA DMV then any insight is GREATLY appreciated. Sorry if there is already a thread on this topic. Thank you!
 
CactusJackSlade

CactusJackSlade

Active member
I bought mine from a guy in Idaho, I do not recall needing anything special except a weight certificate. (The local recycler issues one for free) The state has different fees based on weight.... so before your build would be my choice. I did not designate anything special, just a personal vehicle, it was listed as a crew van so I just used that for registration. They did a serial number check...
 
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Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
I did not change from a commercial license. You can save the $80/year by changing to an RV. Commercial plates allow you to park in yellow loading zones which was worth keeping the commercial plates. Since my insurance company rates would not change if it was a RV, I kept the commercial plates.
 
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huskyfrk

Member
you might check w the DMV there was a new law that no car or mtorcycle w less then 7,500 miles could b bought oudt of state and brought in calif and registered. pretty sure it is still in effect. if i am wrong let me know.
 
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mike183

Member
huskyfrk said:
you might check w the DMV there was a new law that no car or mtorcycle w less then 7,500 miles could b bought oudt of state and brought in calif and registered. pretty sure it is still in effect. if i am wrong let me know.
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I believe it says IF the vehicle is not manufactured to CA standards then it needs to be more than 2 years old or have more than 7500 miles. This is a 2019 with 15K miles on it. Hope I am not missing something
 
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99sport

Well-known member
mike183 said:
I believe it says IF the vehicle is not manufactured to CA standards then it needs to be more than 2 years old or have more than 7500 miles. This is a 2019 with 15K miles on it. Hope I am not missing something
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Since the Obama administration all gas powered vehicles sold in the US have met CA standards. Trump has talked about changing this back to different standards, but I don't think it has happened yet. I assume the same is true for diesels as well, so you should not have a problem with the 7500 miles.

I got my van switched to MH (motor home) at AAA. There is also VC (camper van), which would have been a better choice. AAA guy never even went outside to inspect my empty cargo van. They have all the forms at AAA. Dropped the registration almost $200 (weight fees).
 
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mike183

Member
99sport said:
Since the Obama administration all gas powered vehicles sold in the US have met CA standards. Trump has talked about changing this back to different standards, but I don't think it has happened yet. I assume the same is true for diesels as well, so you should not have a problem with the 7500 miles.

I got my van switched to MH (motor home) at AAA. There is also VC (camper van), which would have been a better choice. AAA guy never even went outside to inspect my empty cargo van. They have all the forms at AAA. Dropped the registration almost $200 (weight fees).
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This is the stuff I was looking for! Thank you very much. I looked at a van in san diego and the guy had it switched from commercial to RV. Dropped his Reg by $300. The crappy part for me is that AAA wont do any out of state vehicles. So I would need to get it CA registered before they can do anything. Im open to suggestions or tips if anyone has done this recently.
 
sailquik

sailquik

Well-known member
Mike,
Do you already have this Sprinter in California, or is it still in Montana with a Montana commercial registration and license plate?
If still in Montana it might be easier to have the dealer or seller get the registration changed to private or RV in Montana,
THEN get it registered in California.
Also, where you choose to register it in California can make a difference.
Some of the smaller DMV offices in the smaller towns are alot more fogiving/understanding than the big "get an appointment"
and stand in line DMV offices in the larger metropolitan areas.
Roger
 
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mike183

Member
sailquik said:
Mike,
Do you already have this Sprinter in California, or is it still in Montana with a Montana commercial registration and license plate?
If still in Montana it might be easier to have the dealer or seller get the registration changed to private or RV in Montana,
THEN get it registered in California.
Also, where you choose to register it in California can make a difference.
Some of the smaller DMV offices in the smaller towns are alot more fogiving/understanding than the big "get an appointment"
and stand in line DMV offices in the larger metropolitan areas.
Roger
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Good points made and thanks for contributing here. The van is still in Montana as they complete the break line recall on this van. I am not sure if the dealer can get the reg changed to personal or RV given the van currently sits empty but I am going to ask the sales guy.
 
sailquik

sailquik

Well-known member
Mike,
Ask the Montana dealer if they can get a 30/60/90 temporary private or RV registration on the Sprinter.
I think the temp tag avoids you having to pay full registration and sales tax in Montana or possibly look at
the difference in sales taxes between Montana and Calif. Might save some $$ this way.
Then when you go to register it in CA it will already be classified as a private vehicle (like a pickup truck) or
an RV.
Got to spend the time to find out the regulations in both states and try to use them to your best advantage!
Roger
 
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mike183

Member
sailquik said:
Mike,
Ask the Montana dealer if they can get a 30/60/90 temporary private or RV registration on the Sprinter.
I think the temp tag avoids you having to pay full registration and sales tax in Montana or possibly look at
the difference in sales taxes between Montana and Calif. Might save some $$ this way.
Then when you go to register it in CA it will already be classified as a private vehicle (like a pickup truck) or
an RV.
Got to spend the time to find out the regulations in both states and try to use them to your best advantage!
Roger
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this is awesome. Really appreciate the guidance Roger. Ill let you know how it goes.
 
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nickbokhoven

Active member
Does anyone know in California if the DMV is doing the inspections to flip a cargo to camper? I know select offices have reopened but don’t see if they will do the inspection on the website as my van is at that point to change classification. They are not answering phones until June 15.
 
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mike183

Member
nickbokhoven said:
Does anyone know in California if the DMV is doing the inspections to flip a cargo to camper? I know select offices have reopened but don’t see if they will do the inspection on the website as my van is at that point to change classification. They are not answering phones until June 15.
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I went down to my local DMV in San Diego and stood in the line to get my questions answered. They had a few employees walking up and down the line answering questions. I was specifically interested in how they were doing VIN inspections given we cant make appointments. The guy told me to bring all my paperwork once I get the van and wait in line again to have someone look at it. If I were you then I'd look into AAA and if it makes sense for you then have their local branch take care of all of this for you.
 
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timmy527

Member
One other thing to keep in mind is if MB is financing the van, CA DMV won't let you change the registration from commercial to personal.
I tried via AAA and they were on the phone with DMV for about an hour. I'd called MB previously and asked if they cared, they did not.
The 0% financing was tough to pass up, but this is one downside..
 
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