In this installment of our Montana LLC Registration Service series, we will dig into what is required to register a vehicle in Montana. These are the nuts and bolts required for any vehicle to be registered for street-legal use. Not just cars and trucks, mind you. We’ll cover UTVs as well. Got a motorhome or travel trailer? Covered. Dirt bike? Why not register it in Montana?
Getting your vehicle registered in Montana isn’t any more difficult than in any other state if you live there; all DMVs study the same playbook for their level of service. What sets Montana apart is its requirement for residency. To register your vehicle in Montana, you must be able to provide some proof of residence in the state, whether that be evidence of your primary domicile, a second home residence, or a corporation in your name located in Montana.
From previous articles, we know the best way to register a vehicle in Montana is by using an LLC to establish residency there. But, to enjoy the benefits of the Montana LLC registration program, we need to explore what vehicles are covered and how they are represented in Montana law.
Supplementary resources:
What Is A ‘Vehicle?’
This seems simple, but is it? What is a vehicle in the eyes of the DMV? What is a street-legal vehicle in Montana?
Off-Highway Vehicles (OHVs)
In Montana, OHVs, including ATVs, UTVs, and dirt bikes, can operate in designated off-road areas; however, they may also be made street legal. So, OHVs are vehicles.
Equipment-wise, to make a factory-produced OHV street legal, the vehicle must be equipped with all standard DOT safety features (horn, lights, mirrors, license plate holder with lights).
Dirt bikes are a popular OHV to make street legal, especially for our friends in California. Dirt bikes are a great base vehicle to tag and register for street use since they are decent on fuel economy (four-strokes anyway), easy and convenient to ride around town, and look much cooler than a moped. It’s true. Why drive a 50cc scooter when you can burn just a bit more fuel on a 125cc dirt bike that can perform?
Montana is a free state that is pretty relaxed in its standards. OHVs are a way of life in a state that is 99.8% rural land, so it is no surprise that Montana has allowed OHVs to be street legal for a long time.
UTVs are a popular OHV to make street legal in Montana and one that you can register easily and quickly through a Montana LLC. Having a Montana LLC allows you to avoid costly taxes and fees, and because not every state allows UTVs to be tagged, it offers many people a unique opportunity to get legal.
Vintage and Pioneer Vehicles
Montana recognizes old vehicles in two distinct categories: vintage and pioneer.
Vintage vehicles are defined as any vehicle over 30 years in age and manufactured since 1934. That is a pretty broad range, and strange to think that any car built before the early 90s is now vintage.
Pioneer vehicles are anything built in 1933 and earlier. ‘Pioneer’ has a nicer sound than ‘antique.’ Well done, Montana.
Custom-Built Vehicles
Montana does recognize custom-built vehicles in a few different ways:
Kit cars
Street rods
Specially constructed vehicles, including motor homes, trucks, and buses
Unconventional Vehicles
Montana will register a wide variety of vehicles that are considered ‘unconventional’. This list is not all-inclusive but includes dune buggies, karts, Japanese mini-trucks, and Japanese mini-vans.
The main distinction on this category is that they cannot be both off-highway vehicles and street-legal vehicles simultaneously. The owner has to choose which they want it to be and register accordingly.
Street Legal, Defined
So, what exactly does it take for a vehicle to be street legal in Montana? Is it the presence of DOT-required items, passing a safety inspection, or strictly bureaucratic registration processes? Well, it is all three.
First and foremost, street-legal is not an all-inclusive term. For example, a vehicle that is street legal in Montana does not have to meet the same standards as a street-legal vehicle in California. However, a vehicle legally tagged and registered in Montana (and generally any state) can legally pass through any other state.
So, the concept of being street legal is embedded in the legal framework of whichever state you register your vehicle in. For example, you must possess a passing California smog test to be considered street legal and registered in California. There is no such requirement in Montana; again, you can drive from Montana to California without needing that smog test. Make sense?
In Montana, there are no inspection requirements for the vehicle to be registered or to remain registered. Once the vehicle has been registered, it can be registered permanently after reaching eleven years of age and older.
However, there are still standard requirements that all vehicles need to meet to be considered street-legal: horn, turn signals and brake lights, seat belts (not motorcycles), headlights, etc.
Regarding the standard equipment required for all street-legal vehicles to be registered in Montana, all required information is located in the Montana Code and the Montana Title Manual. There is no short answer because of the detail and complexity of reading statutory code, so I will not attempt to paraphrase it here. It’s best for you to read the code based on what vehicle type you want to register.
Since Montana has no vehicle inspection requirements, and the vehicle does not need to be present at the time of registration, it is entirely up to you, the owner/operator, to ensure your vehicle is adequately equipped.
Chapter 9 covers it all.
Insurance Requirements
Look, rolling around without insurance is dumb.
I like government mandates less than almost anyone, so I won’t use their rules to appeal: insure your vehicle to protect yourself and those you love.
Like everywhere else, Montana has a minimum requirement for insurance detailed in Montana Code.
Montana’s basic liability coverage requirements at the time of writing are:
$25,000 because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident and subject to the limit for one person;
$50,000 because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident; and
$20,000 because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident.
Again, even though we might not care for all of the rules and laws, carrying minimum insurance is a law for any vehicle registered in Montana, and any violation is a misdemeanor offense.
A significant threat to you as the owner of a car without insurance is the threat of a lawsuit. In addition, should you be involved in an accident and are uninsured, you have painted a massive target on your back. Just have insurance.
Registration Options
Montana is unique in offering several options for registration durations.
All trailers, street-legal motorcycles, and street-legal quadricycles (including UTVs) must be permanently registered. That isn’t bad! Once you have used our services to register your UTV, you are done! No more annual registration headaches!
Nice.
Quarterly Registration
If you reside in another state and are visiting or working in Montana temporarily, you can choose to register your vehicle every quarter. You will need to display a Montana license plate and the plate from your home state on the vehicle simultaneously. Contact the MVD for more information.
12-Month Registration
A more common registration cycle is the standard twelve-month cycle. You will need to pay all fees and taxes due every twelve months.
24-Month Registration
Montana also offers a two-year registration cycle, which makes your vehicle good to go for a full twenty-four months at a time.
Permanent Registration
Vehicles at least 11 years old can be permanently registered in Montana. There will be no renewals or inspections, and a new registration will only be required if the vehicle is sold to a new owner. Unfortunately, this is not available to all light vehicles; you must wait until the vehicle is eleven years of age or older. Or, if you are buying an older vehicle that has already met this benchmark, you may do it right away.
Remember, You Must Be a Montana Resident
Registering a vehicle in Montana is a straightforward process if you are already a resident. However, if you are not a resident, you will need to do a little more work for it.
The reasons you should want to register in Montana are significant: there are no state inspections (smog, safety, or otherwise), there is no sales tax, and it’s one of the only ways to register certain vehicles like UTVs street legal.
However, if you recall, there is a legal difference between domicile and residence. Your domicile is your permanent dwelling, your home base, your home. You may have multiple residences, though. These might be in the form of vacation homes, investment properties, or in Montana's case, a corporation registered in-state.
“But I don’t even have a business,” you might think. It’s ok.
A corporation does not necessarily need to be formed as an active company. It can also be for an asset holding company, which is a company that will never produce a single material good or service. It is simply a placement tool, a subsidiary company to safeguard assets. In this case, durable, physical assets.
The beauty of using an asset holding LLC is that you, the company owner, can put as many assets under the LLC as you want, and they don’t have to be cars or RVs; you can also put motorcycles, quadricycles, construction equipment, boats, and even aircraft in them! Those vehicles can then be registered in Montana to your LLC even though you live elsewhere.
Ordering our Montana LLC Registration Package is best to protect your assets from prying bureaucratic hands. Having a few assets you would like to keep untarnished is beneficial. For example, are you buying a fifth-wheel and tow vehicle? Put them both in there! Maybe a Harley or Indian as well? Those will go in the LLC, too. And if you have a UTV that you would love to hit the road with, it can go in the LLC and be registered for street legal use through Montana all in one step!
We make the registration process as quick and painless as possible, so you don’t have to work hours just to hit a snag or have your application kicked back. All you need to do is hit check out, fill out the included paperwork, send in the documents we need, and wait for your registration to arrive! That’s it. We handle the rest so you can get on to more important things.
This article is part one of our series of blogs on the Montana LLC registration process. We know that there are a lot of questions floating around about this program, and we aim to answer those questions and get rid of the common misconceptions. Check out the rest of the series here!
John McCoy is a lifelong car and truck enthusiast and has a strong mechanical background off the road. He spent over 13 years in the U.S. Air Force as a crew chief, assigned to the B-1B Lancer, affectionately known as the Bone to those in the community, and the KC-135R Stratotanker. He resides on a small farm in Eastern Kansas where he (sometimes) enjoys fixing ancient farm equipment.