When you move to Indiana, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles says you have 60 days to apply for an Indiana title, or to file a completed Request for Title on State Form 1014, for every vehicle you own that has an out-of-state title. Miss the deadline and the BMV charges an administrative penalty. The application is in person at a branch. You also have 60 days to get an Indiana driver license if you hold a valid license from another state.
Proof of financial responsibility is required before the branch will sell you a plate and a registration certificate. The Department of Insurance states the minimums, for policies issued or renewed after June 30, 2017, as $25,000 for bodily injury or death of one person, $50,000 for two or more persons, and $25,000 for property damage in one accident.
What has to happen, in order
- Get a policy that meets those minimums. The BMV calls the proof "financial responsibility information." It does not say an out-of-state card is enough.
- If the car will be registered in Lake County or Porter County, complete the emissions test. The new-resident page does not require that test anywhere else.
- Bring the vehicle to the branch for a VIN inspection. If the vehicle cannot come in, have law enforcement complete State Form 39530, Physical Inspection of a Vehicle or Watercraft.
- Bring the out-of-state title, proof of address, and proof of your Social Security number or federal identification number if the branch asks for it under Indiana Code 4-1-8-1. A license or ID works as proof of address only when the address on the card is already correct. Otherwise the document must be dated within the last 60 days and must be on the BMV's approved list.
- Pay the fees the branch calculates. The new-resident page links an estimator and does not print one statewide passenger-car fee.
The registration page uses two clocks. A newly acquired vehicle that is not yet registered must be registered within 45 days of the purchase date. Vehicles you already own must be registered within 60 days after you become a resident. Online registration at myBMV is described for a sale less than 60 days old that is not a lease. A new resident transferring an out-of-state title is told, on the new-resident page, to visit a branch.
Inspections
The VIN inspection is statewide for this transaction. Emissions testing is not. Only Lake and Porter counties are named. The new-resident page does not list which model years or fuel types are exempt. It sends you to the emissions program page for that. There is no separate safety inspection described beyond the VIN check and, in those two counties, emissions.
Tax
The new-resident page does not state a sales-tax or use-tax rate, and it does not state a credit for tax paid to another state. The estimator link is where the BMV tells you to look up cost. Ask the branch which taxes apply to a car you already owned versus a car you just bought out of state. This page will not fill that gap.
A shipped car
The 60 days run from the move, for each vehicle that still has an out-of-state title. A car that arrives on a truck still has to be at the branch for the VIN inspection, unless law enforcement completes State Form 39530 instead. Lake and Porter counties still need the emissions test before registration. The new-resident page does not describe a temporary permit for the drive from the delivery point to the branch. See car shipping in Indiana and the cost calculator.