Poppy girl

No worries we will get there sooner or later lol.

Jersey girl this is your stomping ground.

http://www.dmv.org/nj-new-jersey/app...p#Non-Citizens

Jerseygirl

It doesn't make any difference Pops...he's wanting to drive in New Mexico. I presume he doesn't drive in NJ...although how he gets around is a mystery.

Scot_in_NYC

In Jersey they have this magical underground train called the PATH....or I walk....or I get a cab

Thanks for all your help guys, but from the answers on here, the conflicting info on the internet, even the rental company not knowing where I stand, I think teh decision will come down to whether I chance it or not as the clearest thing seems to be that nobody seems to know for sure!

Thanks for all the suggestions though!

Jerseygirl

Yeah I figured you must live in that sort of area...how do you go on for travelling around Jersey...not just locally but to see the sights of the Garden State?

neil

but.. if, in the event of a claim, the insurance company could do some digging, decide that they think he should have had an NJ license and refuses the claim based on that. I don't know if that would happen though. Some visa situations are exempt from getting an NJ license. I think that's if it's less than a year though so at 13 months he's pushing it.

Edit to add: An NJ license is easy to get, just a written test if you show your UK license, and doesn't cost much - might be worth getting.

Scot_in_NYC

the fact an insurer/police could decide i should have a licence is exactly what im worried about!

Bob

are the DMV's out there as hateful as they usually are else where? and on a tangent, what's the skinny on vanity plates out there? cheap as chips in Maine, way to pricey and hassle in Mass...

Scot_in_NYC

I live in Jersey City, work in New York so it's the path in and out of work. I do almost all my socialising in NYC and just use Jersey as a base really.

In Jersey I've been to Jersey City and Hoboken and that's it. I know there is more to see in NJ, I just haven't got round to seeing it yet! In my day to day life, living five mins from the PATH, there is just no need to own a car.

I thought I'd miss having a car having had one in the UK for ten years but I don't really.

On previous trips during my time here I've had American friends drive so I've never needed to worry about the licence situation.

md95065

Wouldn't the sikplest thing be to just get a New Jersey license?

Quite apart from anything else it is *really* useful to have a state driver's license as a form of ID, the test is really easy and it doesn't cost much.

Michelmas

That was really my point. You need a licence to support an IDP which is no good by itself, and in my experience, the US wouldn't care about the IDP.

starky

The RMV as they call them selves in MASS as a rude as the best of them. I was here 3/4 days, had bought my car, but was not able to take it till I'd gotten insurance, and some other forms, brought them all to the RMV and paid a sales tax of $700 which they were very quick to forget to tell me about in the place I got the car.
The the woman in the RMV would not take my debit card for the sales tax. I had to write one of those starter checks. I only got 3 of them and had two left. I messed up the writing the check and she said in a thick Boston accent: "why did you fill it in like that, I mean they will send that back, you filled it in wrong. Dont they have checks where your from honey?" I tried not to laugh. Of course we have them but they are a bit different. So I had to use my third and final one to write it out again. I only had one more chance to get it right, otherwise it would have been a trip to the bank for a money order! very stressful ....
The joys of trying to buy a car in MASS :-)

AdobePinon

Now define 'home'. You'll probably be fine*, but getting a US license would not be a bad idea. BTW, if you're planning to go to Old Mexico, you need to have another discussion with the rental firm.

* but I'm not a lawyer.

neil

When I first came over I hated the DMV - the rule at that time was all foreigners had to go to a regional centre to get a license and the place was chaos (plus that information was only given to me at another DMV). They don't have that rule any more. I also had to fight with them about registering a vehicle without an NJ license which I had confirmed was OK with the MVC in Trenton.

Having said that, since then I've not had any issues and it's been quite pleasant going to our local office - I get there around opening time and am usually only there for 10 minutes.

My vanity plate cost a $50 one time fee. They get the prisoners to make them apparently so it takes about a month. It was all done through the post.

Bob

I had our insurance guy pay a runner to get the car registered and plated etc, best $15 ever spent...I only had to go there to get my Maine licensed switched to a Mass one.

Bob

$50...well if I move I might get another one then. In Maine it was $20 to punch a plate and then $20 extra on registration a year, so $40 all in every year...hard to come up with a plate though as everything was taken.

In Mass, it's something like $100 to punch a plate and then about that to keep it on to of registration a year and has to be registered every november regardless of when you move....on the plus, you can get some great plates as hardly anyone has them here because of the cost and hassle.