Submitted by Anonymous_Otters t3_z4pxhc in Pennsylvania
The PennDOT website is a complete failure to me. I know it's possible to swap tags from one car to another, because there is a price for it in the service charge lost, but literally zero instructions on how to do it anywhere on the website and nobody answers the phone.
How do I go about doing this? I totaled a car, bought a new one, and want to transfer yhr registration. I have the old tags.
So no PennDOT needed? I can just pop in and get it done?
The "DMV" in this state is semi-privatized. PennDOT does not accept applications or provide customer service for title transfers. This is all handled by private companies serving as Authorized Agents-Messengers.
lol lies…. I work at penndot, and roughly 50% of my job is title transfers for people who just moved here from out of state or just purchased from out of state…
Even when you go to an authorized agent to do your application, a large majority of the time it gets mailed to us in Harrisburg for processing, unless they are an online agent and can do it right there.
You can also walk into the Harrisburg location and get title transfers done at the counter.
It’s just that the only “PennDOT” location for motor vehicle is Harrisburg, the rest of the PennDOTs don’t do title transfers because they are drivers licensing centers.
That’s not true. There are locations that handle it. Maybe not one near you, but you can go to PennDOT.
Okay, the PennDOT Driver License Centers won't do it, but PennDOT headquarters in Harrisburg will.
LMAO. Downvote my comment then repeat what I said to a T? 🥴🥴🥴
I did not downvote your comment, I actually upvoted it because I didn't know it could be done in Harrisburg.
Oh well Reddit is weird and the votes fluctuate I guess.
But yeah the website for penndot needs dumbed down. I say it everyday. It’s all over the place and too hard for most of the general public to understand or find things.
Even as an employee when I need a form that I don’t have saved already, 99% of the time I just google the form name and PA. So much easier than navigating that terrible website.
Yeah, as a notary myself, I know it's very frustrating.
[deleted]
Yeah I think they call them “on-line agents” or some weird term on the website. They’ll get you sorted out. They may need some sort of fax of the title from the bank, but they’ll handle that.
Cool thanks. I'll make some calls tomorrow.
Yeah and don’t feel bad. It’s impossible to learn anything from that website. Just went through all of it and it was maddening.
I suggest AAA. It's like $25/year and free towing/gas/charge. They'll do the tag transfer and whatever else paperwork at basically cost.
Yes, as long as the new car is insured in PA, the title & tag shop will take care of everything.
Also note; you won't be switching the old plate to the new car. You'll turn the old plate in and receive a new plate.
Not true. You can transfer the old plate to the new car. There are certain ranges of plates that are being retired due to the peeling issue and Harrisburg won’t approves a transfer for those ranges. But if the old plate is not in those ranges, it can be transferred. It’s cheaper to transfer than get a brand new plate.
I wish they'd just reissue a new plate. My mother just transferred hers to a new car, it's a 25-ish year old plate, from when they just swapped away from gold on blue. We asked about getting a new plate, and the tag place said we couldn't without de-registering it, and then getting a new one (which isn't guaranteed) as it's a vanity plate.
Go to a satellite third party penn dot type deal like Jack mags on 51. It’s faster and easy, I’ve done this before so just roll over
Go to tri county tag or AAA they'll do it in those places.
I just went to a notary and they did all the leg work for me. It wasn't extremely cheap. About $200 but it was worth not having to deal with the hassle.
This 👆🏻
Go to a notary.
Not all notaries are PennDOT Agents.
But most in PA can transfer plates if not them they can point you in the right direction.
Yeah, many full-time notary businesses are also PennDOT agents.
Completely off topic but you are the first person I have seen that has an actual profile picture
They would normally do that as a part of the process of buying the new car. Didn't they bring that up when you transferred the title?
You can't do it yourself over the website. You'll have to go to a title service.
The shop with my car was closed the day I bought thr car, so did not have the tags.
How did you buy a car without registering it at the time of purchase? Was it a private purchase and you just did a title transfer? If you take your plate and paperwork to a notary or title transfer place, they can do it. You can’t do it yourself on the web.
Bought it financed from a dealership. They set up temporary registration. I have no title because the car is financed. I know you can't do it yourself on the web ... if I could I wouldn't br asking how to do it. I also clearly stated that there is no information on thr PenDOT website.
Heads up if it’s financed and the title is not in your name yet or you bought it out of state, you won’t be able to do it all in one day unfortunately. You have to get the title mailed to the notary or to Harrisburg, then they can transfer the tag.
Unless it’s already titled in your name in PA. If your bank holds a PA title in your name and you just need registration/to transfer your plate, you’re good to go and they can do it for you at an agency within a few minutes.
For a new car when trading in, the dealership did it for me. But I’m not sure how it works
The shop with my car was closed the day I bought thr car, so did not have the tags.
Oh I apologize I just actually don’t know
Only if you are local to Harrisburg can you get it done at Penndot (the Harrisburg location on front street) otherwise you need to go to an authorized agent like AAA or any other notary or tag place that does paperwork for penndot. The form you need is a controlled form that cannot be printed from the internet because it’s a 3 part carbon copy form.
Go to a notary.
[removed]
Usually a screwdriver will work
Such a stupid law. Plates should stay with the car, unless the person paid for custom plates.
Plates should stay with the owner. That would make car buying a much simpler process.
Disagree. Lived in CA for 20 years where plates stay with the vehicle. Much easier.
Be much easier if I just had a plate registered to me, and when I bought a new car I go online and apply a new vin number to it. Vs having to jump through hoops hoping to find a private company that’s open to pay extra fees to.
I've already recently paid for a two year registration, it is possible to transfer that registration, so I'd rather do than than pay and go though a whole months long waiting process with trying to get new registration.
[removed]
Your first mistake was coming to redit for advise on this.
[removed]
While PennDOT will publish the necessary forms to transfer titles/tags, they won't accept them if you just fill them out and mail them in. When my mother transferred the title of her car from my fathers name to hers, we mailed in the necessary forms (notarized and everything), because my father had passed away, there was no cost from the state involved, but they pretty much told us we had to go through an authorized tag agent, and their fee was about $100
sounds like a waste of time.
can you explain the situation? like you wrecked your car bought a new one and you went to transfer plate over to the new car you bought? you’d need to take the titles and registration for both and the old plate to a notary near you and they will be able to help
My car bottomed out and cracked the oil and transmission pans and misaligned the framing. Repairs were starting at 70% of the car's value, so it was totaled by the insurance company. They cut me a check. I had the weekend to secure a car before my rental ended. I wanted to pick up my old tags and go buy the car to do it at the same time, but the insurance co neglected to tell me they were closed on the weekend. I needed a car, so bought the car and it has a temporary registration. I want to transfer my old registration and tags to the new car since the registration is still good for another year+. I no longer have the old car's title as part of the insurance stuff was transferring them the title so they can scrap the car. I have a loan on the new car, so I do not have the title.
I am glad you trust Reddit to give you the correct information. It’s there on the PADMV website if you just take the time and look it up.
The website is really confusing. (Not to mention, googling anything about any DMV leads you to scammy fake websites.) I just had to transfer a title for an out of state lease and even the title agent had no idea what to do. I’m not confident they filled out the right paperwork, but I got my plates so … whatever.
PA is decades behind other states when it comes to car/licensing/titling. I can’t believe how much work and research it took just to a) get a license in a state where I previously held a license and b) get a leased car registered here.
I work for penndot, and even I think the website is extremely confusing…
Guess you didn't take the time to actually read what I wrote. If you have nothing useful to contribute, kindly fuck off with your sarcasm.
Yeah downvote me for defending myself from an asshole. Do me a favor, you downvote this comment too so I can block your toxic useless ass and never have to interact with you again, and then you can fuck off too.
Bird_Brain4101112 t1_ixs7vz5 wrote
Look up your nearest title and tag place and off you go.