What are the DMV requirements moving to Utah?
What do you need to do? If you’re moving to Utah about your car and your driver’s license? Well, today, I’m going to answer those questions about registration for your vehicle, how much time you have to get your driver’s license, which may be a surprise to you like it was to me, and all things car. So make sure you stay tuned.
Hi, this is Melissa Ballman and I am a realtor here in the greater Salt Lake City area. So what that means, if you’re looking at making a move to the greater Salt Lake City area and surrounding areas, I’d love to connect with you. You can send me a text, email, whatever you want to do, just get in touch with me and let’s talk about your real estate goals.
But first, one of the big questions people have when they move to a new state is, how much time do I have to get a driver’s license? How do I register my vehicle? And more. So today, I’m going to talk about that.
So first, when it comes to registering your vehicles, according to the Utah DMV website, it says you have 60 days to register your vehicle here in Utah and some states may not have emissions tests, or smog test, if you’re from California, but we do here and that can change. They did away with safety test and so we no longer have to do a safety test with your emissions. But to give you an idea, if you’re bringing a car in, as of now, the odd year of vehicles, need to have an emissions test.
Now there are ways to get an exemption on the emissions test, like vehicles over the age of 1967 and older, certain diesel, older vehicles, things like that. But make sure you check the DMV website, if you have a question about those one-off situations or older vehicles, things like that, and what is required for an emissions test.
Now you do have to make appointments, thanks to COVID. Everything is by appointment only, at this time, with the DMV and the Driver’s License Division. So don’t necessarily think you’re just going to walk up and get in there. Check their websites to make sure if you need an appointment or not.
Now, if you’re moving to the Salt Lake City area and you’re on Facebook, make sure you subscribe to a group called Salt Lake Life and we talk about all things related to living in Salt Lake City. We’d love to have you join the group and if you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the bell, that way you’re alerted each week when I drop a new video.
Now let’s get into driver’s license. If you’re anything like me, the thought of having to take a written test is just awful to me. Whenever I have to renew it, I hate it. So, as of now, again, at the time of the recording of this video, if you’ve never had a driver’s license in any state, you’re going to have to do a 50 question written test.
If you have had a driver’s license in another state, then they dropped that to a 25 question written test. Make sure you check the website. It’s actually DLD, like driver’s division, .utah.gov. So again, DLD.utah.gov, for all the rules and regulations on your driver’s license. Make sure nothing has changed, if you’re not watching this video currently at the time of the recording.
Now, one thing that really shocked me when I was doing the research for this video is there is no grace period for how long you have to get your driver’s license. According to the website, if you intend to live in Utah, you have to get a license right away. Some states they say like within 90 days of moving there, things like that. Utah does not do that, so be aware of it.
The other stipulation is, if you live in Utah for six plus months out of the year, it doesn’t have to be six consecutive months. Just if you’re living in Utah for six months or more, you need to have a Utah driver’s license as well.
Now, when you go to get your drivers license, you are going to need two proofs of your address, proof of your social security number, things like that. Again, make sure you check the website, but be prepared with those. And you know, and usually you can use a utility bill or something like that to show proof of your address.
Now, another common question I get from people that are looking at moving out of state is about car insurance. If you know anything or you’ve watched any of my videos, Utah has some really crappy drivers. So, but on top of that, we have winter months and so you have to deal with ice and snow, so our rates are higher. Now, I don’t know. I’m not an expert at car insurance, so you’d want to reach out to somebody, but I would assume the ice and snow has a lot to do with our accident rates as well.
But to kind of give you an idea, I had a family member move to Utah from California in 2019, and their insurance rates actually went up in price from California, from San Diego. So to give you kind of an idea for a newer car, the newer the car, the more expensive it’s going to be. But we have a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee that I drive and I pay right at a hundred dollars per month for car insurance. Now, of course everybody’s driving record is different, insurance carriers, things like that. So again, make sure you check with an insurance professional, but that’s just to kind of give you an idea of what it’s going to take to move to Utah with cars, driver’s license and what you can expect kind of in insurance rates.
So if you, again, have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. I’m always here to help. I hope you enjoy today’s video. As always, make it a great day and I look forward to hearing from you.