Moving to Delaware: Insurance, Registration and License Deadlines

Every vehicle you bring must be titled and registered with the DMV within 60 days of taking up residence. Missing the deadline is its own offense, with a fine of $400 to $600 for a first offense. Military members and their families keep their home-state registration.

You have the same 60 days to exchange an out-of-state license, and you must surrender the old one when you do. Military members and their dependents have 60 days from separation from the service instead.

Every vehicle coming in on an out-of-state title goes through a DMV inspection lane, and the DMV says all of them get a safety inspection regardless of model year and weight; the model year and weight only decide whether that is a full inspection or a VIN verification. After that the statute requires inspection before each registration or renewal, but lets the DMV waive it for new vehicles and for vehicles no older than 7 model years, so in practice the inspection returns once the vehicle passes that mark, on a one- or two-year registration cycle.

Unusually, the emissions test is run by the DMV itself, at its four inspection facilities, at no charge, in all three counties. Vehicles in their first 7 model years are excluded, as are motorcycles, mopeds, battery and solar electric vehicles, anything built before 1968 and diesels built before 1997. 1996 and newer gasoline vehicles get an OBD-II scan; older ones get a curb idle test, and 1975-1995 vehicles also get a gas cap pressure test.

One agency does everything. The DMV issues the license, titles and registers the vehicle, and runs both the safety and the emissions inspection in the same building, so a new resident's vehicle and license can be handled in a single visit.