Yes, if you want take your Maryland auto insurance off of your vehicle you would need to register it in Arizona. Maryland requires auto insurance to be issued by an insurance company licensed to do business in Maryland or an authorized agent of such a company.

In MD when you register or renew a vehicle registration, you must sign an insurance certification. Your signature acknowledges that the minimum vehicle liability insurance will be maintained throughout the registration periods and the vehicle will not be driven without insurance. So Maryland requires insurance from MD on the car and thus would not accept your AZ insurance.

You should contact the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) of the Department of Transportation to find out what you will need to register your vehicle there and if an Arizona driver's license is needed to title and register your car here. To the best of our knowledge you can do it with your California driver's license but you should check with the AZ MVD to see if you need to go ahead and get an Arizona driver's license along with your AZ car registration.

You should be able to get insurance with your California driver's license though if the AZ MVD informs that you need to get an Arizona license than you should get it and notify your AZ auto insurer when your license changes from CA to AZ.

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