I found I will need my bill of sale because it will be a newly purchased vehicle within 90 days, and I know I’ll have to do this within 30 days of moving- I’m just confused on the order of how I should do everything 😃

Register first. Your current insurance will cover you.

I did drivers license first (which you need for the title and registration) and changed my insurance before getting my title/registration. (Also did that last step pretty late, probably not recommended 😅).

🤙🏼 appreciate ya!! Yeah, that makes sense. Like I said it asks where it’s registered to when I quote my insurance- and the difference in rates between Michigan and Washington are tremendous, so I definitely would want it registered in Washington. I’d just change my address on my insurance first, then register the car, then change insurance… correct?

That seems correct

Haha word! Thats good to know… in that case I suppose if I go get my license first then I can just ask them how to proceed with the rest :) thank you!!

You will pay a ton to register a new car in Wa. Just saying

It is what it is 🤷‍♂️

I'm assuming he means the use tax, i.e. sales tax paid after the fact by a purchaser. A car registered in Washington less than 90 days after purchase will require a use tax to be paid when the car is registered, however any sales tax paid at the time of purchase or initial registration in another state may be credited against that tax I believe. So make sure you have the receipt from the Michigan DMV that shows how much sales tax was originally paid and you may not end up owing as much. I'm not 100% certain about this but that is how I understand the process works.

I'm not sure what can be done online and what has to be done in person, but you can probably get your car registered as well as your voters registration done at your county auditor's office. Unless you are going to King or Thurston county it should be easy, I've never waited more than a few minutes in Clark county.

You will really like how voting is done in Washington compared to most of the rest of the country. All voting is done by mail-in ballot, if you lose your ballot you can go to the county auditor's office and get a new one. The ballot comes with a return envelope that doesn't require a stamp, just drop it in the mail by election day and you're covered however there are ballot drop boxes located around your county. Also around the same time the primary ballots are mailed every address with a registered voter will receive a voters guide, this has every candidate and every ballot measure for the whole county, even ones you won't be able to vote in. Also there is no party registration in Washington, all primaries are open and the top 2 vote getters move onto the general election.

Back to your actual questions. You will probably have to go into the DMV to get a new license, I believe most of them offer appointments so schedule in advance and save time.

If you only want to call your insurance company once you can probably wait until after you get your car registered, however if the price difference is that significant you may want to call before you move and tell them the date you will be in Washington and they can make it effective in advance for you.

I don't believe that the order on any of those 3 items are critical to the state, but the costs involved with insurance may make that one more critical to you. The license and registration are both supposed to be handled in either 15 or 30 days after moving.

Edit: reading some of the other replies it appears you are probably supposed to get your license before registration, but I find it hard to believe that it is required as I know it's possible to get a Washington registration while living in another state but that may be just for a commercial vehicle.

you got like six months of grace period before Washington requires you to register you car with the state. If it were me, I'd get moved here first and then after I got myself situated I'd go get all the licensing and insurance items taken care of, especially if you end up buying a new vehicle after you've moved here. let the dealer take the trade and deal with all the licensing, so much easier for you that way in my opinion.

Not related to your questions but make sure to update your bank or credit union and let them know your moving so you don’t get an alert for fraud.

Also look into the app called Jerry when your searching for new rates on insurance