I expect that Charlie will recommend that you plan on bring lots of donuts to make friends at your local DMV office.
Here are my 3 observations regarding registration of vehicles outside the normal ones.
- Every state is different! No matter what people say about the process where they live, the only comments that are relevant are for the state where you are registering the car.
- The individual employee who you encounter makes all the difference in the world! If your luck of the draw connects you with someone who simply wants to process regular registrations and cannot be bothered by your special case, leave and try again a few days later. On the other hand, if you get someone who is willing to work with you and explore the nuances of the regulations so you can register the vehicle, do everything you can to keep working with that person. For example, if you have to go back and the facility uses a queue process that simply sends you to the next available agent, let the people behind you go ahead and wait until you can get with that agent. Or determine if you can communicate directly with that agent via email or phone.
- Do as much research as you can before you go. Most states have pretty good information on their vehicle registration websites. It will help you guide the discussion with the agent.
The second and third points seem to work well in any state.
