How can I drive a car in CA before my license plates arrive in the mail?
Some clarifications: I talked to the DMV and they will register it for me if it passes a CA smog check, which it already has. I forgot to ask them about temporary plates when I was in there, and their phone hotline is unusable. It is actually easier to register an out-of-state car if it is older rather than newer. If it is new (which, according to the DMV, means it has less than 7,500 miles on it), then it has to have been specifically manufactured to meet California emissions requirements and it has to say so on a sticker under the hood. If it is old, it just needs to pass a standard smog check.
