I am moving to California from Maryland. When I title, insure, and get new plates for my car in California, do I really have to return my MD plates? What happens if I chose to keep my MD plates as souvenirs?

Yes, you will need to return your Maryland license plates to the MD Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) once you have moved to California and registered and titled your vehicle there unless you want to receive fines and fees from the state of Maryland.

According to the MVA you must return your license plates to them before you cancel insurance on the vehicle if you have sold a vehicle and retained the plates or moved away. Maryland law is extremely strict and uninsured motorist fines begin at $150 for the first day a vehicle is not insured. You need to return the license plates to the MVA and retain the receipt, before canceling the insurance coverage on the vehicle. Once you obtain California insurance on your car you of course would want to cancel your Maryland insurance on the vehicle and thus before doing so you need to turn in the plates since your MD insurer will inform the MVA of your cancellation.

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You can return license plates in any of the following ways:

• Return them in person to any MVA branch office, including express offices.
• Return them to any MVA authorized tag and title service.
• Drop them in one of the MVA license plate return drop boxes. Currently, drop boxes are located at the Glen Burnie, Gaithersburg, Columbia, Essex, Waldorf and Salisbury offices.
• Mail them to the Glen Burnie MVA office. Sending them by certified mail with return receipt requested is recommended.

Since you will need to wait and return your plates, and your registration card that the MVA states specifically that must be returned with the license tags, it appears the last option of mailing them through certified mail is what you must do.

When you return your plates you may be eligible for a refund if your license plate expiration date is more than 12 months away. You will be unable to discuss with a MVA customer service agent about a refund in person since you will be mailing in your plates after registering and titling your car in CA so you will need to complete the MVA form titled Application for Registration Plate Refund and include it with the license plates you are returning.

Maryland law requires you to return your license plates to the MVA when your vehicle's insurance is cancelled, when you move out of Maryland, or when you no longer need the license plates so you will need to do so and not keep them for souvenirs. If you really want to keep them for some reason though you can contact the MD MVA directly to see if there are any exceptions to the law that would allow you to only send back the registration card for the vehicle however we doubt this is possible. One reason that states require plates to be returned is so they know the tags will not be placed on another car such as an uninsured vehicle and driven around as if the car was valid for the roadway.

See our Life Stages page titled Car Insurance and Your Move to get helpful information on obtaining insurance after you move. As you prepare for your move get answers to frequently asked questions about moving and auto insurance. Then find out how you can save on auto insurance at your new address in California.