I know it's been a minute since I've been really active on here but I'm Active Duty and currently stationed overseas. My Miata (pictured) has been in a climate controlled storage facility for the last year in Alabama. I am very soon going to find myself in the San Francisco Bay area (Vallejo, CA) for the next 8 months or so while my ship is in dry dock.

Would it be a terrible idea to pull my Miata from storage and ship it to CA to drive while I'm there for those 8 months or so? Or is it just not worth it and should try to get a beater?

My car is OBVIOUSLY MODIFIED but registered in Florida and being Active Duty should exempt me from needing a CA Drivers License while I'm there as I maintain my Florida residency (at least it has everywhere alse I've been stationed). I really just hate paying close to $200 a month to store my car knowing I'm back in the States.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/driver...in-california/

 

Thanks. I probably worded it wrong but I'm curious if I were to pull my car out of storage and drive it in Vallejo/ SF area with my valid FL Plate and License would I be looking at getting pulled over and ticketed everyday for the way it looks? Is it really as bad as you hear about?

 

In my experience you'd only get pulled over for something else and then get hassled about noise/emmisions. Seems pretty rare that CARB would be the sole reason for a stop. I've known people that have driven their out of state car for years (when they 100% should've titled them in CA) and they've never had any problems.

 

i'd second that.

there are a lot of people here, and a lot of wreckless drivers. Stay in the 75th percentile of knuckleheads, keep your exhaust tame, and you'll be fine.

 

There's a certain amount of selective enforcement that goes on. Old, bald, white guys who aren't doing anything stupid are unlikely to get pulled over just for having an obviously-modified car. Younger folks of other races who are perhaps being a bit more enthusiastic about their driving might have a different experience.

That said, my impression is that if the car is legally registered in another state, there's not much the CA cops can do about it. If you had a CA driver's license they might hassle you about out-of-state registration, but I know there are exceptions to the "must register in CA law" for military folks, and I'd guess you probably fall into them.

--Ian

 

Off Topic: Gorgeous Car, FrankB.

DNM

 

It's gonna get some attention but I expect as active duty military in a Florida-plated car with a Florida license you'll not get ticketed even if you do get pulled over.

Such an awesome car.