How to Register an Out-of-State Car in Maryland

Maryland gives new residents 60 days from the move to title and register a car they bring from another state. The Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) handles both at one appointment, but only after the car has passed a Maryland safety inspection, and the bill includes an excise tax that depends on what you already paid where the car was registered before.

This guide takes the steps in order for a car you already own, with the New York details for anyone making that move. The rules come from the MVA, Maryland's Transportation Article and the MVA's title application instructions.

How Long Do You Have to Register an Out-of-State Car in Maryland?

Sixty days from moving to Maryland. The MVA's title and registration page for new residents says the title and registration must be updated within that window, and that missing it disqualifies you from the credit for titling tax already paid in another state and can bring a citation for an out-of-state registration. Your driver's license falls due within the same 60 days.

Until then the car can keep its New York plates. State law (Transportation Article 13-402) lets a new resident drive on valid registration from the former state during the first 60 days, so a car with current New York registration can be driven to its inspection without Maryland plates.

Waiting longer now costs more. Since October 1, 2026, under 2026 Chapter 487, the MVA sends a written warning to Maryland residents whose cars are registered in another state. The owner then has 60 days to title and register, get a nonresident permit or show why registration is not required, and after that a fine of $7 a day runs for up to 60 days, $420 at most. If the car is still not registered 120 days after the warning, the MVA notifies the local jurisdiction, and the county attorney can bring a civil action seeking towing and impoundment or booting. The MVA's Plate Where You Live page explains the process.

Do You Need a Safety Inspection Before You Register?

Yes. The MVA will not title or register the car without a valid Maryland Safety Inspection Certificate from a station licensed by the Maryland State Police. The station sends the result to the MVA electronically, and the certificate stays valid for 90 days, so time the inspection close to your appointment. Emissions testing is a separate program and is not part of it. The MVA's safety inspection page explains how to find a station. Our Maryland state inspection guide covers what stations check, how fees are set and what happens if the car fails.

If the car cannot be driven to a station legally, for example because its New York registration has lapsed, the MVA can issue a 30-day temporary registration for the trip through its Temporary Inspection Waiver (form VR-129), for a fee, and only one is ever issued. A returning resident is the exception to the whole step: a car previously titled in Maryland in your name needs no new inspection.

How Does the MVA Appointment Work?

Titling and registration happen at an MVA branch, by appointment. Booking starts with an online pre-application, where you add the owners and your insurance details, get an estimate of the fees and see what to bring. The MVA suggests printing the confirmation with its barcode and bringing it to shorten the visit.

New residents can book a title and registration appointment or a combined appointment that also covers the driver's license, which saves a trip because the license is due within the same 60 days. To exchange a New York license, bring originals only: proof of age and identity, proof of your Social Security number, two documents showing your name and Maryland address, and your current license, plus a vision screening from the previous 24 months. A valid license, or one that expired within the past 12 months, can be exchanged; one that expired more than 12 months ago means taking the knowledge, skills and vision tests. You hand in the New York license at the appointment. The MVA's license page for new residents lists the accepted documents.

What Documents Do You Need to Title and Register in Maryland?

The MVA's list for new residents is short:

• Maryland license or address proof. A valid Maryland driver's license, or proof of a valid Maryland residential address.
• The out-of-state title. The New York title for the car, or the lender details below if a bank holds it.
• The title application. A completed Certificate of Title Application (form VR-005), if you skipped the pre-application.
• Maryland insurance details. The insurance company's name, the policy or binder number and your agent's name if you have one.
• Payment for the fees. The MVA's list asks for a check or money order.

The inspection result reaches the MVA from the station, so there is no paper certificate to carry. The title application also asks where the car was last registered and what percentage of tax you paid there, which feeds the excise tax below.

What If a Lender Holds Your New York Title?

Then you bring the lender's details instead of a paper title. For a car that is leased or carries a lien, the MVA asks for the lienholder's fax number, your account number and the lienholder's mailing information, along with your current registration card. These come from the lender, so ask for them early in the 60 days rather than the week of the appointment.

Recording the lender's interest on the Maryland title costs $40 for each lien, according to the MVA's title application instructions (VR-005A).

How Much Excise Tax Do New Residents Pay?

Less than a buyer, as long as you title within the 60 days. Maryland charges a 6.5 percent excise tax when a vehicle is titled, the rate the MVA has applied since July 1, 2025. Transportation Article 13-809 credits tax already paid to another state on a car that was titled and registered there, when its owner has been a Maryland resident for no more than 60 days. Under the MVA's title application instructions, that owner pays only the difference between the rate paid in the other state and 6.5 percent, applied to the car's NADA clean retail value, with a $100 minimum, and $100 when the earlier rate was 6.5 percent or more. A car 7 or more model years old that arrives within the 60 days is taxed $41.60.

On the title application you name the state where the car was last registered and the percentage of tax you paid there. The MVA's excise tax page lists New York at 4 percent in its table of state tax rates, and the pre-application gives you an estimate before the appointment. Miss the 60 days and the credit is gone: the tax becomes 6.5 percent of the clean retail value, the same as for a car that paid no tax where it came from.

Active-duty service members get more: the MVA's page for military service members says the excise tax is waived on a car titled in their name in another state, with no change in ownership, when they title and register it within one year of moving to Maryland. Buying a car in New York after you already live in Maryland is a different case, because this credit does not cover it, and our guide to New York's nonresident exemption for dealer purchases covers that decision.

What Are the Title and Registration Fees?

The title fee is $200, and each lien recorded adds $40, under VR-005A. Registration depends on the vehicle's class, its weight and the registration period. On the MVA's fees and payment options page, a passenger car costs $120.50 a year at 3,500 pounds or less, $125.50 between 3,500 and 3,700 pounds and $191.50 over 3,700 pounds, and those amounts include a $40 yearly surcharge that funds Maryland's Emergency Medical Services system. SUVs and other multipurpose vehicles have their own class on the same page.

The MVA quotes these as one-year amounts at titling, and a registration can also be renewed for two or three years. On top come the excise tax or the new-resident difference above, and an annual surcharge for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The pre-application estimates the total before you go.

What Insurance Does Maryland Require?

The car must be insured by a company licensed and approved to do business in Maryland, with at least $30,000 for bodily injury to one person, $60,000 per accident and $15,000 for property damage, according to the MVA's auto insurance requirements. Insurers report coverage to the MVA electronically, and cancelling the policy without first returning the Maryland plates brings penalties.

Set up the Maryland policy before the appointment, because you bring the insurer's name and the policy or binder number with you. Keep the New York policy in force until the car is registered in Maryland.

When Does the VEIP Emissions Test Come Due?

After registration, not before. The Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program covers Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne's and Washington counties and Baltimore City, and the MVA mails the first notice about three months after you register.

A car arriving on a New York title counts as a used vehicle, because Maryland treats as new only a 2019 or newer vehicle titled in Maryland by its original owner and never titled elsewhere. Used vehicles test every two years.

What Happens to Your New York Plates?

Maryland issues its own plates, registration card and stickers when registration is complete, and nothing on the MVA's titling pages asks for your New York plates or registration. The MVA leaves the old plates to the state that issued them, and New York expects its plates back once the car is registered elsewhere. The order matters: surrender them before you cancel the New York insurance. Our guide to returning your New York plates covers the steps.

How Does Shipping the Car Fit the 60 Days?

The 60 days count from your move, not from the car's arrival, so a car that follows you south a week or two later is already using part of the window. Book the safety inspection for soon after delivery, and keep the signed bill of lading from pickup and delivery with your title paperwork.

Rivalane coordinates door to door transport from New York to Maryland with licensed, insured carriers. A carrier is normally assigned one to three working days into the booking, and once the car is loaded it usually reaches Maryland in 1 to 3 days. Pickup and delivery dates are estimates, not guarantees, so leave room inside the 60 days. Our page on shipping a car from New York to Maryland covers the I-95 lane, our page on car shipping in Maryland covers deliveries across the state, and the car shipping calculator prices the move.

Frequently Asked Questions