NJ MVC -- Turning in license plates?

When a person does this, following the sale of a car, do you have to have documents ready?  Do you have to wait in a long line?  Or is there just some big bin that you toss them into?

Trying to figure out how effortful this will be.

Thank you for any tips you care to offer.

I did this a few weeks ago at the office in Springfield. It was super quick. Hand them to the person at the front desk and she/he will give you a print out/receipt showing you turned in the plates and then throw them into a bin. I was in and out in maybe two minutes. 

On a related note - any experience with moving plates from one car to another?  What do you have to do paperwork-wise and how long does it usually take?

You have to turn in NJ plates? (I still have mine when I sold my car down here in FL.)

To keep your plates:

http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Vehicle/Transferringplates.htm

To surrender  plates:

http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Vehicle/SurrenderingPlates.htm

j_r said:

To keep your plates:

http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Vehicle/Transferringplates.htm

I couldn't find anything on that page that tells me what I need to do, just that the ownership must be the same.  I'm actually interested in swapping plates between two cars after I buy a new one but keep the old one (because the old one has Wildlife plates that I'm fond of.)

sac said:

j_r said:

To keep your plates:

http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Vehicle/Transferringplates.htm

I couldn't find anything on that page that tells me what I need to do, just that the ownership must be the same.  I'm actually interested in swapping plates between two cars after I buy a new one but keep the old one (because the old one has Wildlife plates that I'm fond of.)

If you're buying a new car and trading in your old one, the dealership should be able to deal with it for you. Otherwise, you should be able to bring your old plates to the dealer and they will register the car with the old plates.

ParticleMan said:

sac said:

j_r said:

To keep your plates:

http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Vehicle/Transferringplates.htm

I couldn't find anything on that page that tells me what I need to do, just that the ownership must be the same.  I'm actually interested in swapping plates between two cars after I buy a new one but keep the old one (because the old one has Wildlife plates that I'm fond of.)

If you're buying a new car and trading in your old one, the dealership should be able to deal with it for you. Otherwise, you should be able to bring your old plates to the dealer and they will register the car with the old plates.

OK, but what about the old car I'm keeping that gets the new plates?   

So... you have Car A  and Car B, You're buying Car C to replace Car A. You want the plates from Car B on Car C and new plates on Car B? Is that right?

mwoodresident said:

I did this a few weeks ago at the office in Springfield. It was super quick. Hand them to the person at the front desk and she/he will give you a print out/receipt showing you turned in the plates and then throw them into a bin. I was in and out in maybe two minutes. 

 +1. It was the easiest and most efficient government-related thing I've ever done in NJ. In retrospect, I shouldn't have bothered paying the meter. 

I just handed the plates from car A to the dealer and they dealt with attaching them to car B. If I remember correctly, there was some small saving for not getting new plates. No car C involved, but I still have the plates from two cars ago, if you need a set. ;^D

@sac, I did it for the same reason -- love my Garden State vegetable plates!

I just did this - mailed my plates from CA to Trenton DMV with a self addressed stamped envelope and they sent me a receipt.

ParticleMan said:

So... you have Car A  and Car B, You're buying Car C to replace Car A. You want the plates from Car B on Car C and new plates on Car B? Is that right?

 No, I have Car A and I'm buying Car B in addition to Car A.  I want to move the license plates (wildlife plates) from A to B and put new (standard) plates onto A.  (Then, after all that, I plan to transfer title on (old) car A to my adult child who currently drives it, but I don't think that affects any of this.)

To transfer plates from car a to car b you will need to transfer the registration from a to b, then re-register a if you want to use it, or wait until you transfer title to your kid and leave car a unregistered off public roads in the meantime... to be honest with you, it will be much easier if you just get new wildlife plates on car b and leave car a as is now... because if you want to get new standard plates for car a, you will have do fresh registration (since your registration will be transferred to car b) and then pay for full term on car a, which as you said you will give to your kid on his name and he will have to register again, thereby losing the registration money you put in ... 

I have special plates that i cannot easily get without state approvals so i always transfer when I buy a new car, sometimes it becomes a complex transfer like yours.. as for surrendering plates, maybe things have changed, but back in the day you couldjust destroy them yourself... 

I had thought that I could get the new car with new plates and then just go to MVC to swap the plates between the two cars.  No?

sac said:

I had thought that I could get the new car with new plates and then just go to MVC to swap the plates between the two cars.  No?

 Call the DMV. They can tell you what's needed.

I only surrender 1 plate and I make sure to bend it up nicely. In the late 80s my father surrendered plates in Springfield and they were reissued to a guy with a '69 Camaro that liked to illegally park in Secaucus. All of the tickets were unpaid and either copies of the tickets or a copy of the bench warrant for my father's arrest from unpaid tickets showed up at my house. My father never owned a Camaro. Took alot of phone calls to get it resolved.