How to Move Your Leased Vehicle to South Dakota

For various reasons, Paige and I wound up leasing our Jeep Cherokee to be our toad. So, if you are moving to South Dakota (either for real or as your domicile) with a leased vehicle and want to know how to get plates, this is the article for you!

1. Get the money together.
   You'll need to pay about 4% in excise taxes on your vehicle, based on the amount of your payments, and a few other factors, upfront. Your monthly payment may go down if you are in a state that charges a sales tax, but you'll need to muster up some dough today to get South Dakota plates.
2. Fill out the out-of-state title transfer form and send it to your bank.
   This form isn't available on the official South Dakota DMV web site, but I've got you, fam (click to download). This old school Word document is the first step to getting your shiny new South Dakota plates.
3. Wait forever.
   Seriously, it took so frickin' long for this part to happen. Basically, the bank has to get a paper title from your state's DMV, and then forward that title to the South Dakota DMV once they receive it. It was a very frustratingly opaque process. I probably called our credit union three or four times to make sure paperwork didn't get lost.
4. The South Dakota DMV will e-mail you with a stack of papers.
   Among these were: the title application (available online, but our DMV rep gave us specific instructions to satisfy the requirements of the lease), a copy of the lease agreement itself (better hope you still have yours), power of attorney from your leasing company, and copies of your drivers licenses, passports, or other acceptable forms of identification.
   
   Fill these out, and return them to your friendly DMV rep! (we got 5 star service from a guy named Spencer, maybe you will, too)
5. Pay over the phone, or mail a money order.
   Once Spencer had finished processing our paperwork, he let us know and we were able to call in the next day and pay over the phone with a credit card. The other option is mail a money order, but our Colorado temporary plates had already expired.
6. Receive and install your plates!
   South Dakota is a "front and back" state, so make sure you install both the front and back plates you receive.
7. Call your bank or credit union and tell them to stop collecting sales tax from you.
   In Colorado, we were paying something like a 7% sales tax on our lease payment. You should call your bank and tell them to stop collecting this money from you. You'll likely need to provide them with proof of payment, so keep the receipt showing your excise tax from South Dakota for them.

Overall, I think it took us about 1.5 months from the time we got a hold of the South Dakota DMV to the time we got our plates. There was a weird mail forwarding snafu in there, but most of the waiting time was definitely caused by the State of Colorado needing to generate a paper title.

Some Helpful Tips:

• If your car lease is through a credit union, you very well may be part of a CULA lease. CULA stands for Credit Union Leasing of America. If you are in one of these leases, CULA is the actual owner of your vehicle. You are the lessee. Your bank is merely the lienholder. Make sure you get all your ducks in a row on who owns, liens, or leases what. The power of attorney becomes important here, because the PoA must come from CULA, not your bank.
• The South Dakota DMV is super friendly. Don't be afraid to e-mail them or call them with questions!
• Patience is key.
• Consider refinancing your vehicle, and the banks might sort some of this out for you. I have no experience with this situation, so please don't blame me if it goes horribly for you. :-)

Whether you are actually moving to South Dakota or simply domiciling there, getting your car registered properly is an important step of the process. Hopefully the advice here will make this part of your journey a little smoother!