How do I register my new car in Colorado?

On April 24th, 2015 / By Blog Editor

Congratulations! You just bought a car. Now you are probably asking yourself “How do I register my new car in Colorado?”

You are currently driving around with a temporary tag and it won’t be long until you need to get some official plates on that sweet new ride. Here at Prestige Imports we begin the registration process by checking all of the documents associated with the purchase. Once all of the documents have been verified for accuracy, the paperwork and title are completed.

If the purchase was paid for via bank wire or certified bank check, the completed documents are sent to you via certified mail. If you paid via cashier’s check or personal check, the completed documents are filed according to the date of sale. Generally, within ten business days after the date of sale, these documents are sent to you via certified mail. Note, if city and/or county taxes were collected during the purchase transaction, for cities other than Lakewood or counties other than Jefferson, a separate check, payable to the appropriate entities, is attached to the title documents.

Once these documents are received you must bring all the documents to your local Department of Motor Vehicles office (DMV), including any tax checks that are attached.

If you leased or financed your vehicle the process is a little different. Once the documents are checked and verified for accuracy they are put in a file awaiting funding from the appropriate bank/loan company. Once Prestige Imports has received notice of funding, the documents are completed and sent to the appropriate County DMV for completion. Once the County DMV has completed the titling process, most counties will send a notice to the customer informing them that they can, at that time, come in and register their vehicle. If you do not receive a notice, we recommend calling your local DMV for status. Most counties also report to the Prestige Imports Title Clerk upon completion, so if you haven’t received notice you can contact Karen Spelman and she can possibly provide more details. Note, the administrative tasks for leased and financed vehicles must be completed within 30 days, and then the documents have to be sent to the appropriate DMV for processing. Some counties take longer with paperwork than others, so give at least 45 days before checking the status of title and registration paperwork.

In either purchase scenario described above, you will have to visit your local DMV office. You will also need to present your Driver’s License and valid proof of insurance for the new vehicle. If you have plates from a traded-in car that you would like to re-use, you will also need to bring in the latest registration for those plates.

For your reference, we have provided a list of links to local DMV offices from counties throughout the state of Colorado…

***

Did you find this article helpful? Did we miss anything? If you have questions, or ideas for future articles, hit us up in the comments. We are here to help!

This article was written by Karen Spelman, Title Clerk at Prestige Imports.

Image – Copyright Jim Bowen/flickr

Posted in Articles for Car Shoppers