DC DMV; how to get temporary tags for car purchase

[Anonymous]

My son purchased a car from a friend who is also a DC resident. It was a cash transaction, paid in full. He just got the car along with the car title yesterday. The previous owners' tags are still on it but he needs to take those off and give them back. He was able to get a DMV appointment for title/tags/registration but it's not until the end of May. What does he do in the meantime? I've read over the information on the DMV website but I can't figure out what a new car owner does while they wait for their DMV appointment. Is there a way to go online and get temporary tags so the car can be driven, or does he have to park it and just wait for the appointment?

[Anonymous]

Temporary tags are only for cars coming from out of state. Your son should keep the old valid tags until he gets new ones from the DMV. The car is still legally titled to the previous owner until the DMV issues a new title.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Temporary tags are only for cars coming from out of state. Your son should keep the old valid tags until he gets new ones from the DMV. The car is still legally titled to the previous owner until the DMV issues a new title.

Definitely not. Those tags are the property of the seller, they aren't yours. The seller should have kept them.

[Anonymous]

I ran into this problem and there was no easy fix. OP, if you can keep the tags from the seller on the car, that is the best option. Let your insurance company know to cover the car in your name though.

Alternatively, what I did was take one tag off of one of my other cars, and put it on the new car. (so one tag on the other car, one tag on the new car). It was fine for a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

A lot of things are fine if you don’t get caught. The old tags belong to the old owner and you cannot switch tags between cars. I’ve been there before to help a friend move a car and the car got towed in route. Bad luck.

You should be able to download a temporary paper registration that he can carry around until the car can be fully registered and new tags issued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of things are fine if you don’t get caught. The old tags belong to the old owner and you cannot switch tags between cars. I’ve been there before to help a friend move a car and the car got towed in route. Bad luck.

You should be able to download a temporary paper registration that he can carry around until the car can be fully registered and new tags issued.

There is no downloadable registration. DC requires you to visit a DMV center in person to get tags. Since the car is already a DC car it should have a valid inspection and they won’t even issue a temporary tag, straight to the full license plate.