It's done. Some (most, all?) of the Ohio BMV offices, including the one nearest our OH townhouse, advertise that they're a "one stop shop". It's actually several different county departments in the same building, each with their own entrance. So, still 3 steps, but relatively painless:
- Went to the office that handles registration, and they also do the "out of state vehicle inspection", which involved an employee writing down the VIN#, make & model, and mileage.
- Took the 'inspection report' to the title office (next door) and transferred title; They notify our home state (CA) automatically, but I'll still let CA DMV know.
- Back to the first office; Long queue for registrations, but I'd logged in online before we left the house, so we were told "you're next". Gave us plates, tag
s and registration.
All the employees we talked with, including the police officer outside who told us which office to go into first, were very polite and efficient.
Oh, almost forgot step 4:
- Swapped out the plates on the car.
There was actually a step 5:
- Called our CA and OH insurance agents to move our policy/coverage to the local (OH) agent.
One small (?) difference in the way OH handles titles ... in CA our vehicles are titled (our choice) as Tom
or Chris; Either title holder can sell or transfer title, and automatically assumes sole title holder in the event that one spouses passes. OH registers in both names, and both must sign before selling or transferring title (in CA this would be handled, by choice, as Tom
and Chris). Although OH has a surviving spouse rule, if one passes, the other has to show up at an auto title office with a death certificate to have the title transferred solely to their name.
