Vehicle Registration Plates of The United States - Temporary/transit Registrations

Temporary/transit Registrations

When a person buys a vehicle from a dealer, the dealer is typically authorized to issue a temporary registration to allow the buyer to drive the vehicle until the government agency in charge of vehicle registration processes the registration forms.

Similarly, when a person buys a vehicle outside his state of residence, he can usually obtain a "transit registration" from the authorities of the state or jurisdiction where the purchase took place. This transit registration will allow the new owner to drive the vehicle and to properly register and obtain license plates for the vehicle from his state of residence.

The physical indicia of such temporary or transit registrations can take a variety of forms, such as:

• a cardboard, paper or lightweight plastic license plate, to be removed at the end of the temporary registration period;
• a standard metal license plate with temporary validation, in which case the government agency needs to issue only a validation sticker rather than a license plate; or
• a form or decal to be applied to a window of the vehicle.