California rego laws

[FIL]

Hey guys.... perhaps some of you Cal locals can help me out with this...

I've been doing a little reading, and it seems that in Cal you can have a 'laid up' rego? Basically a much much cheaper rego on the grounds that your car is in storage... And also that you can pay your rego by the month?

The reason I'm asking this, is because I'm likely to be in Cal around August, and quite likely to be returning every now and then, as my brother now lives in San Jose... Hence, I came up with the idea of purchasing a car to drive while we're in town, then parking it up at his place until we return... Obviously, this is a much more viable prospect if we are paying a significantly lower rate of registration while we're not using the vehicle...

 

[Doward]

Christ, how much is registration there? Here in Florida it's like $50 for the year.

 

[FIL]

i just did a bit more reading, trying to find where i found what i wrote before, and yeah.... i saw numbers around that level for the sort of age stuff i'm looking at (basically, except for supras, most of the vehicles that interest me are old enough to be exempt from smogging *fingers crossed - again, i read that 'somewhere'*)

i had kinda figured rego would be about what it is here in australia, where i pay roughly $450 per year for _each_ of my vehicles... (that does include 3rd party injury insurance, but it's not that big a part of the rego)

if Cal rego is only going to be around US$50 - 100, then I'm not too stressed about paying it, even if we don't go over there every year... plus, then my brother gets to drive the car if he wants to....

 

[Mk3runner]

Yearly papers on a single car can range from 55 to 200 out here.. My supra is 65 my moms truck is 110. Just you gotta keep insurence on it oh after a month DMV will cancel it... I been playing with DMV for years I know..

Hope this helps a little

 

[FIL]

it does, thanks... how much (roughly) is insurance there?

 

[Mk3runner]

It varies person to person. Age record etc comes into play. For around town low miliage use your not talking much. My record isn't pretty I manage under 100 a month for two cars basic coverage. So I assume you'll have better results.

 

[Rennat]

if your car is going to be kept in storage and not driven much during the year, TELL THE INSURANCE, we have a car sitting in my garage under my moms name, and its less than $30 a month for it... its a special kind of insurace for cars that basically just sit.

talk to an insurance agent and get a real quote. registration is usually under $90 for me... and im 19, with a 90.

 

[Mk3runner]

Basically it's not gonna cost much.

 

[thedave925]

My supra is my car when i'm not commuting to work so i pay about 80 a year for registration, 80 to smog every other year, and 1475 a year for basic insurance for both my turbo 90 and 84 porsche 944. registration and smog is the same for the porsche. im 23 with no speeding tickets.
where you live (demographics, higher accident rates/thefts per town, etc) also determines insurance, plus counties control dmv costs.

 

[FIL]

thanks guys... i'm figuring it's probably best if i can convince my brother to "buy", "register" and "insure" the car... i give him the cash, he spends it... that way it would just be another car added to his existing policy, that he doesn't use much... then when / if i decide to bring it back to Aus one day, he can transfer it into my name then...

 

[FIL]

also, he's living in San Jose, and it'd be stored off-street (either in the shed at the back of his property, or in the yard (under cover and protected from the elements)