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Today we stopped in at the drivers license office in Rapid City, South Dakota and got our new SD DL's. Note: If you are going to register a vehicle in SD you will need a SD drivers license so that is why we went to the drivers license office first.

They are not open on Mondays so the crowd was huge. They open at 7am and we were met at the door by one of the greeters and he helped us figure out what we needed to do so when our number was called and we went to the registration window we were ready. The first thing we did was complete and application form, of which I'll scan and post when we get back to El Centenario in October. Make sure you get all of your endorsements from your old license checked on the form such as motorcycle etc.

Next we dug out or current MN license's, passports and social security cards. We also had to have two documents that showed a utility bill or any other documents that showed we were or could get mail in South Dakota. Our USA mailing service address is in San Ysidro, CA was not accepted. You need to have an address in SD. There are several mail forwarding services in SD but we didn't have one of those. We were prepared to show our Baja utility bills for the address but NOT accepted. Because we were doing the NON-Resident process we were allowed to show our one and only hotel receipt. We did not have our hotel invoice as we hadn't checked out yet. We thought we were screwed and would have to go get it and come back. By now there were hundreds of folks in line. He said why don't we have the hotel fax us your receipt showing both of our names on the bill. Within minutes we were good to go. He accepted that one and did not request the required second document. So now our drivers license shows that we live at the Celebrity Hotel in Deadwood SD .... cool our favorite place is now our home away from home.

We also asked for the "Affidavit for non-residence" form and DO NOT complete it until you are in front of the examiner. He our she will act as a notary for you. After he entered our info into the SD state system we took and eye exam and got our picture taken. Five minutes later we were handed a nice SD Drivers license and we were on our way. An hour and a half from the time we walked in we were outta there. The other thing to plan on is that you will need to go to the DL office for the first time you get a SD license. The license is good for 5 years.

Next stop was the Vehicle Registration office. One very important thing to know before you register a vehicle is to find a county that has no wheel tax. PDF file of NON tax counties in SD The other thing to plan on is that you will need to go to the county of the address on your SD drivers license which in our case was Lawrence county where Deadwood is located. We were staying at the Celebrity Hotel in Deadwood so it was no big deal. If we would have stayed in Rapid City we could have done everything in Rapid City. You will need to go to the vehicle registration office to register your vehicles for the first time. We register our pickup, boat and trailer and our enclosed utility trailer. We told the person that was helping us that we were going to be in the USA for two months and we needed to get the papers ASAP before we headed back to Baja. She asked where we wanted the new documents mailed to and was very helpful. On our new enclosed utility trailer that we bought in Sturgis we had a 30 day temporary plate. We needed to get the permanent plate also before we left and she called the company that we bought the trailer from and had them mail the documents to her office directly instead of us getting the documents and then having to resend them back to her. She took our money and we signed all the necessary papers along with the plate and placed it all in the vault until she gets the dealer registration information. Then she will mail the plate to us in Minnesota so we will have everything we need to cross back into Baja in October.

All in all it was a great day and the SD staff were great to work with.

Warren and Jan Lee Jorgenson
El Centenario BCS

Originally Posted by wrjorgen

Note: If you are going to register a vehicle in SD you will need a SD drivers license so that is why we went to the drivers license office first.

Not so. I've had my Baja Beater registered in SD for three years and I've never been there. Did everything online.
My tags expired last February, which I didn't notice, so I called them a couple of weeks back, gave the the CC info and got my new tags a week later in the mail.

I have a live California DL, in good standing.

Wow - great info! A lot of folks are interested in this. Someone posted somewhere that South Dakota was talking about requiring a South Dakota drivers license at some point. Maybe they do now???

It appears that they will do anything to help us non-residents out.

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

Maybe they do now???

I don't think so. Less than a month ago, I printed out the application for a buddy here and he had no problem with any of it over the phone.

How to Register a Vehicle in South Dakota

Updated on Thu, 4/28/2011
http://www.dmv.com/sd/south-dakota/vehicle-registration



South Dakota law requires that motor vehicle owners must register their vehicle with the South Dakota Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) before taking it on the road. Both new and second-hand vehicles must be registered, regardless of whether they are purchased from a dealer or an individual. In addition, new South Dakota residents who have registered their vehicle in another state must register their vehicle in South Dakota.
The initial vehicle registration must be done in person, but registration renewals can be done in person at a County Treasurer's office, by phone (only in some counties) or by mail.


Warren Note: Now they have an online process posted on the website.

INITIAL REGISTRATION

If you are registering a motor vehicle in South Dakota for the first time, you must complete the following steps:

1. All vehicles in South Dakota must be insured while being driven. When you register your vehicle you must provide proof of insurance. The easiest way to do this is to obtain auto liability insurance.
2. Collect the necessary paperwork. If you bought your vehicle from a dealer, then the dealer will have sent the necessary paperwork to the South Dakota Motor Vehicle Division. In all other circumstances you will need to collect the following additional papers:
3. A completed Application for Motor Vehicle Title and Registration form.
4. If someone other than the vehicle owner will sign the registration, you will need a power of attorney.
5. A Bill of Sale, purchase order or sales contract (if you purchased the vehicle out of state).
6. Visit your local County Treasurer's office with your completed forms.

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

Wow - great info! A lot of folks are interested in this. Someone posted somewhere that South Dakota was talking about requiring a South Dakota drivers license at some point. Maybe they do now???

They did not indicate to us that we had to have a SDDL. We just got ours in SD because we wanted to cut our strings with MN. MN has income taxes even if you are not living in MN any longer and you can only get out of that situation by cutting as many connections as possible.

Originally Posted by DENNIS

I don't think so. Less than a month ago, I printed out the application for a buddy here and he had no problem with any of it over the phone.

We are also residents of South Dakota. As far as the drivers license, I believe it depends on which county you register your vehicle in. Some don't require a DL to register your vehicle, and it can still be done via mail.

Originally Posted by BigWooo

We are also residents of South Dakota. As far as the drivers license, I believe it depends on which county you register your vehicle in. Some don't require a DL to register your vehicle, and it can still be done via mail.

I have to think that's correct. I've heard various regulations coming from different jurisdictions.
The county I deal with is Cook County and it's hassle free.

Google-----Clay County, South Dakota Treasurer.

I said Cook County....It's Clay County. Scoooseme.

Thanks for the update wrjorgen.

I didn't know how to pick our SD location when we were planning our retirement so I choose a mail forwarding service that I liked first, and Sioux Falls became our county base of operations for our US domicile address, driver's licenses, car reg's , etc. The folks we encountered there couldn't have been nicer and it was very easy to get things accomplished in a couple of days on our first visit.

The only bummer I can think of is having to return every 5 years in person for the DL. Sioux Falls is "nice" but very F-L-A-T and windy. If I didn't like our mail service (our "home address") so much I'd switch to a more scenic county like the Deadwood area which might make the every 5 year visits more like a vacation.

I love the Deadwood area but the Black Hills outside Rapid City is my favorite. At one point or another in my life I have driven all over that area of the country...