California DMV Vehicle Registration Renewal

How to Renew Your Vehicle Registration in California. You can renew your vehicle registration in California online, through the mail, or at the DMV office in your California town.

Just when you think you've gotten all of your bills paid up, then comes that dreaded letter from the California DMV - you need to renew your vehicle registration. Darn it. And in California, things aren't as simple as they are in other states. California requires that you have an up to date smog test on record every two years in order to renew your registration in addition to the hefty fee they want you to pay. Apparently these two things help to pay for the weather in California, or at least they help to send mechanics and those in the DMV out to Tahoe to their vacation condo.

By Mail: How to Renew Your Vehicle Registration in California

The most common way to renew your vehicle registration is by mail - and California will let most everyone do this. What you need to do is to make a copy of your current car insurance policy card (don't send in your copy - you will never get it back) and put it into the envelope. Sure, they might tell you that you don't need to submit it, but do it anyway. California is notoriously slow about sending vehicle registrations back on time. Of course, you'd be slow too if you had to process as many forms are the CA DMV has to. When you go to get your smog test on your car, make sure they give you some sort of proof that you passed the test. This way, in case the information doesn't get to the DMV, you can shove it in their face at a later time that they were WRONG.

The mailing address to use is:

California Department of Motor Vehicles
P.O. Box 942869
Sacramento, CA 94269-0001

Online: How to Renew Your Vehicle Registration in California

You can also renew your registration online if you're a tree hugger. You can save a stamp and some paper, even though the DMV is just going to send you the paperwork anyway. Of course, if you're late on getting your registration in be the deadline, and many hippies seem to forget a lot of things, online is the best way to turn in your renewal at the very last minute.

Of course, you can also head to the actual DMV office for your vehicle registration renewal, but it seems that this is an exercise in frustration. Why not just mail it in or go on your computer? If any of the registration information has changed, just call 1-800-777-0133 to see what you need to do. You might not need to go in at all.

The fees for renewing your registration can range from $32 to $2064.