More on automobiles
When you have bought your car, the first thing to do is get it insured. Nobody will allow you to drive in their car without insurance, because they can be held responsible if something happens to you. So find an insurance agent or company first (see above section on insurance). The insurance agent will need the car ID number for the policy. In case you have comprehensive (theft etc.) and collision insurance, the car has to be checked by an approved garage within 7 days. The insurance agent will give you a list of garages and a form that they have to fill in. This service is free.
What they will do in the garage (or at the insurance office) is check all the options and general condition of your car, to make sure that you do not claim things that were not on the car. They also will take a few pictures. The insurance agent will give you a (temporary) policy, that has to be with the car all the time. You need the policy number for the next step: the license plates, registration, and State inspection.
Your car dealer, or the car owner, will give you their car ‘Certification of Title’. With this document you have to go to a Motor Vehicle Agency (MVA) within 10 days, fill in a New Jersey vehicle registration application card, on which you have to put the name of the insurance company and the policy number. What a car dealer usually also does is to give you a temporary license plate, to be placed on the back window of the car, that is valid for 20 days. The MVA will be able to give you a new title document with your name on it (do not lose it!) and the license plates in half an hour or so. Fee for this will depend on your purchase price: tax is paid at the MVA. Usually it will be around $ 100. In case you want custom plates (with a preferred name on it), the price will be $ 100 higher, and the custom plates will be sent to your home. Custom plates are often made in penitentiary institutions (prisons). For your information: Most custom plates in New Jersey are made in Rahway prison. You’ll have to turn in the old plates when you pickup the custom one's.
What you also have to do is get the vehicle tested at a Motor Vehicle Test Center (sometimes next door to the Agency), this within 14 days from purchase. At the test center they will check your brakes, lights, wipers, tires, belts and other parts that could be dangerous for you or other traffic participants in case they do not function properly. They will also check engine emission. In case your car fails the test they will give you a red ‘rejected’ sticker on the windshield and the reason(s) why it failed. You have to have the problems fixed and the car re-tested within 14 days. The test itself takes about 15 minutes. You can have it done free at an NJ Inspection Center, but you may have to wait for an hour or so before it’s your turn. You can also have the test done by a garage. This costs $ 25 - $ 40, but you can make an appointment for it so it may save you time.
The NJ inspection was initially required every year. In other states it is less frequent, and plans are to do the inspection in NJ on a bi-annual schedule ('99). If you successfully passed all this, the only thing that still will be required is the driver's license. You will need to get an examination permit from the MVA before you can successfully go through this circus. If you handle it smartly getting the license consists only of a written theory test, within 90 days after the application. The number on your examination permit starting with an ‘N’ will be your license number if you pass the test. Rumours exist about a list of examination questions available within the expat community. See the following pages for the ultimate driver's license update.
Short intermezzo on driving in the USA:
If you are familiar with driving in any major European city (even more if you’re used to drive in Asian or African cities), you will enjoy the simplicity and ease of driving in cities like Manhattan. Most Americans consider driving in NYC a nightmare. For most people who are not afraid of wide one way streets and multiple cars its a piece of cake.
The rectangular street system makes that you cannot get lost. Remember: Three times a right turn is the same as taking a left turn! In fact, the story goes that there are taxi drivers in Manhattan who have never made a left turn!
You will also experience that driving outside the cities requires only an absolute minimum of brain or body involvement. Never forget, though, that your fellow road-users had zero training to use these same attributes in traffic, and will therefore make any impossible or unexpected move you can think of, simply because they do not expect anyone within a 50 meter ‘bubble’ around their car. In this respect, driving can sometimes be dangerous in the US.