Our current domicile is in Illinois. Illinos does not recognize our Side by Side (OHV) as a street-legal vehicle, but several states like Arizona, Utah, South Dakota, Idaho, Montana…and many more….do! Having a street-legal and licensed OHV can open the door to many more adventures!
This is simply our journey and what worked for our situation. If yours is similar, perhaps this will help you.
Street-Legal OHV
Not all states recognize OHV’s – Off-Highway Vehicle – as street legal and do not issue license plates. OHV’s are things like motorcycles, ATV’s, Side by Sides, rock crawlers, dune buggies, etc.
We knew our travels would take us to places where OHV’s are considered street-legal – Utah, Arizona, South Dakota, Montana – to name several, and if we had a plated, street-legal vehicle we could drive it on the roads with no issues and not have to trailer to the trailheads. Our home state doesn’t allow for licensing our Side by Side, so we looked at our options – paid services or Do It Yourself (DIY) methods.
I learned it is pretty simple to register your OHV in South Dakota on your own if you don’t have any ‘weird’ circumstances.
So our options at the time were:
- Dirt Legal – $250-$300 depending on your situation. It was $1000 at the time I was researching and how I ended up going the DIY route.
- Montana Tags\Street Legal SXS – $895 for their service, they guarantee you can drive your SxS in any state with this method. I follow their FaceBook group and see the posts and responses.
- America’s Mailbox – We already have their mail forwarding service, and vehicle registrations are a service they also provide. Most vehicles are a $135 fee + actual registration expenses.
- DIY – do it myself! $0 + actual registration expenses.
There are pros and cons to each. Dirt Legal seems like an excellent service with lots of support and backing and is used heavily in the OHV community. America’s Mailbox is just a simple service, you provide what they need, they fill out the forms and act as your agent to conduct the transaction(s). DIY has no support, you have to make the calls, find the paperwork, complete the forms, etc. If you have it all, this might work well for you. If you have a less-than-normal situation, pay a professional to do it for you.
Things to Consider when Choosing how to Register
This post is about what worked for us and how we approached it. This is not the answer for everyone, you need to do some research to determine what’s best for you.
In our case, we have a South Dakota address, so we used that to register it. South Dakota does allow you to register from out of state without a South Dakota address. But if you domicile in another state, that state will likely tell you that any vehicle must be registered in that state within 30-90 days. So this likely won’t work for you.
“The Montana LLC” route you hear about removes you as the owner and the business setup as a Limited Liability Corporation, or LLC, in Montana is now the registered owner of the side by side. So in theory, if you live in Iowa and have an SxS owned by a company in Montana, you do not need to worry about the 30-90 registration rule.
I find it all a little confusing and highly recommend you consult one of the companies that offer this service and get legal representation to validate it all for you. We had our personal reasons for not going this route at the time.
Getting Started
There are many ways and places to do this, but I will focus on South Dakota. Some South Dakota counties allow non-residents to register vehicles there via mail. Do your research, if SD works for you, this will hopefully help you with the process (as of March 2023).
- You must have the title to your OHV (it can be done if you have a lien on the title, but it takes more steps and costs more)
- You will need proof of sales tax paid at the time of purchase (if within 24-months). If you did not pay tax or do not have proof, you will pay the SD sales tax at the time of registering.
- Your OHV will need to meet the ‘street legal’ requirements, including headlights, turn signals, etc.
Next, you pick a county in South Dakota that accepts out-of-state registrations. We used the county of our mailing address: Pennington County.
Titles and registrations happen at the Treasurer’s Office, not the DMV! This was definitely different than Illinois, so just be aware.
South Dakota Forms
I started with the Pennington County Treasurer’s Office website that provided the list of forms I’d need to register our 2023 Can Am Maverick X3 in South Dakota as street legal and receive license plates.
This is going to be specific to my experience registering an out-of-state OHV in Pennington County South Dakota. I had purchased from a dealer and had the original Illinois title in my name in hand (no lien).
The FAQs may answer some questions for your specific situation.
Here is what you’ll need to prove you exist for all owners listed on the title:
- State issued ID or driver’s license (from any state)
- Proof of Social Security Number (copy of card) if you do not hold an SD state issued id or driver’s license
This is what forms and information you need to submit:
- Cover Letter
This indicates why you are submitting this information and what you want to accomplish. - Original Out-of-State Title
If the vehicle is financed, a Title Request Form must be sent to the lienholder to request the original title be sent to us. (Title request form) - Bill of Sale
I’m not positive this needs submitted, but it validated the sales price and tax collected. It is not acceptable to prove tax paid, you need the actual tax receipt from your state. - South Dakota Application for Motor Vehicle/Boat Title & Registration (MV-1001)
- Applicant’s Tax Payment Verification (MV-2007)
- Required only if the issue date on the out-of-state title is within the last 24 months.
- For Illinois, I included the ST-556 Sales Tax Transaction Return provided by the selling dealer. You can also request it from the State.
- Low Speed & Off-Road Affidavit (MV-1015)
Verification you meet the ‘street legal’ guidelines of South Dakota.
Completing the Forms
I’ll share how I filled out the required forms to make this process quick and painless for you. Note: I had purchased from a dealer, title in hand, no lien. So your experience may vary some.
Cover Letter.
Explains why you are submitting this information and acts as a duplicate to contact information. I also used it as a checklist for all the required information.
Vehicle Title. I had the original Illinois title in hand, in our names, with no lien.
In our case it was only a title transfer from IL to SD, not ownership, therefore we did not sign the title. Submit it as-is.
Check the current state title requirements. If you are registering this for the first time after purchase, the seller likely needs to sign it, and provide odometer reading, and that’s what you’ll submit.
Form 1001: South Dakota Motor Vehicle/Boat Title and Registration Application
Section A:
- For the SxS, it’s a ‘Motor Vehicle’
- For us, it’s an Out of State Transfer (currently licensed in IL, transferring to SD).
Section B:
- Include the VIN, year, make and model, and color.
- The ‘Previous State’ is where you currently have it titled; ours is IL.
- The Body Type is UTV. Include the CC, you do not need the weight for a UTV.
- You need the Odometer reading if 11 years old or newer.
Section C:
- We titled under both of our names, so each person is listed as an Owner.
- Type of Ownership in our case is And (this means joint ownership)
- Identification # is that person’s social security number
- Address – the address you want it titled in. This can be your out-of-state home address, it does not need to be a South Dakota address, nor does it need to match your submitted proof of identity (state-issued ID or driver’s license). My driver’s license is IL, but I used our South Dakota mailing address through America’s Mailbox.
Section D: only if you need the title mailed somewhere other than the address you used in Section C.
Section E: Your contact information in case they have questions, and to contact you with the total amount due. Be sure to include a valid email address, that is their preferred contact method.
Section F:
- Use your Sales Contract to complete this section, and state-issued form indicating the sales tax paid when initially registered (if done).
- You will have either paid enough sales tax already and don’t owe anything additional, or you will owe South Dakota.
Section G: Lienholder information if needed.
Section H: Each person listed must print and sign their name.
Form 1007: South Dakota Tax Payment Verification
You only need to include the name of one person on the title.
Include the tax amount paid, the type of tax (in Illinois it is ‘Sales’), and what state it was paid to. This amount must match the official state tax receipt you will also include.
Form 1015: South Dakota Offroad Affidavit
This form is used for you to verify you meet South Dakota’s street legal requirements.
Section B: Your name and address. I used the same address as the one I submitted for the title (Form 1001 Section C)
Section C: Enter your vehicle information. For the Title Number, I used the current IL title number that I was submitting for transfer.
Section D:
- A SxS is the Off-Road Vehicle section. Ensure you have all the necessary equipment installed and check the boxes.
- I self-installed the street legal kit, so I used my own name and home address in Illinois.
Section E: One of the owners must sign and date, you do not need both owners to sign this form.
Our Final Mailing
Here is what we included in our final mailing to Pennington County Treasurer’s Office:
- Cover Letter
- Form 1001: Motor Vehicle/Boat Title and Registration Application
- Form 1007: Tax Payment Verification
- Form 1015: Low Speed & Off-Road Vehicle Affidavit
- Original Illinois vehicle title in our names, no lienholder, as-is (unsigned)
- Illinois ST-556 Sales Tax Transaction Return for proof of tax paid
- Dealer bill of sale
- Copy of IL Driver’s License and Social Security Cards for each owner listed on the title application
Our Final Costs
I sent all the required documents through USPS Priority Mail with tracking. This was around $13 and took 3 business days to arrive.
I received an email from Pennington County in about 2 business days (after the document arrived) indicating they’ve received all the necessary paperwork and have calculated the costs to transfer the title and issue plates.
Fees are estimated as follows:
- Tax/Title: $10.00
- Plates/Registration: $29.50
- Admin Fee: $25.00
- Post/Handling: $5.00
- Total estimated due: $69.50
You need to then call into their office, reference the title transfer and make a payment over the phone using a credit card. I needed to call in multiple times before I got in, they are a busy place.
Once I paid the fees, they completed processing the paperwork and the plates and registration arrived just a few days later. The South Dakota title arrived in about 8 weeks.
Summary and Thoughts
After completing the DIY registration of our OHV it was pretty easy, but just finding the information took a lot of effort. I hadn’t found anyone that had done it themselves AND documented the steps. The Pennington County Treasury Office’s website is very helpful once you find the information, and they are great at responding to questions. Overall they get a 9/10…the 9 is only because it was so hard to get through to them on the phone, but they were very nice, helpful, and professional.
If I had to do it again, I’d seriously consider using Dirt Legal now that their pricing is realistic. Having the security of the support they advertise seems worth the extra cost.
Overall I’m still struggling with “OHV” vs a “Street-legal Can Am” when finding out if I need a permit, can ride in certain areas, etc. For example, some places, like Ouray, CO, still frown upon driving your street-legal OHV to the trailhead. I’m still figuring it out…..
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