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Motor Vehicle Registrations

MV RegistrationAt the request of the State of NH-DMV, you must present your Photo I.D. for all Motor Vehicle Transactions. ID is required where specified on DMV applications.

Thank you for your cooperation. Together we can help prevent insurance and Registration Fraud by consistently complying with State of NH requests.

PLEASE BRING YOUR RENEWAL NOTICE OR PREVIOUS REGISTRATION WITH YOU WHEN COMING INTO TOWN HALL.

All vehicle registrations must begin at the town/city level with the exception of 20 day temporary plates, moped registrations, and some military personnel registrations. If you are new to New Hampshire, you must declare residency with the town or city where you reside before a vehicle registration may be processed. New residents to New Hampshire are required to complete this process within 60 days of moving to New Hampshire.

  • Motor Vehicle fees are based on the Year, Gross Vehicle Weight, and List Price of the vehicle when it was new.
  • Vehicles are registered every year in the first owner’s month of birth. If you lease your vehicle, your registration also goes by your birth month.
  • We offer mail in and on-line registrations. You will receive a notice by mail with a list of all your vehicles and the cost to re-register. Please check these over carefully and list any changes.
  • We accept cash, check, debit or credit. Checks are made payable to the Town of Sandown. Debit cards have a $2.50 fee and credit cards have a 3% fee.

New Purchase

When you purchase a vehicle out of state or from a private sale in NH that is a model year 2000 or newer you must obtain the title, even if you have a lien holder on the vehicle. You will bring the title to the Town Clerk’s office and we will process the application for the new title listing the lien holder. When the title is made it will be sent directly to the lien holder. Whoever the vehicle was sold to must come to the Town Clerks office to apply for the new title. If there are two owners both people MUST be present.

If you purchase a vehicle in state from a dealership they should process the title application for you. You would then bring the blue or white application for title to the Town Clerk’s Office.

If the vehicle is a model year 1999 or older you will need a bill of sale and either the previous owners registration or a copy of the title. If you do not have one of these items you will need to have a VIN

verification form filled out in full by the local police department or a local garage.

Transferring Plates

When you purchase a vehicle you may transfer your plates onto your new vehicle as long as the new vehicle has the same primary owners name as the old vehicle. We need the old registration in order for you to receive the credit towards registering your new vehicle.Your old registration must be turned in with our work to the state.

New Plates

If you do not have plates you wish to transfer we do have plates available at our office. We offer Passenger plates, (regular number plates), vanity plates, (click here to see if plate is available) and conservations plates. There is an extra $40.00 fee per year for vanity plates and a $ 30.00 per year fee for conservation plates.

Veterans Plates

You will need to provide your DD214 to the DMV stating that you were honorably discharged. There are other forms that are acceptable if you do not have your DD214. Please call DMV and they can help you determine what else can be used.~ You will need to start at the Town Clerk’s Office and pay your town fee. You would then pay your State fee at one of the substations (DMV) as we do not carry these plates.

Trailers

Trailers are registered just like motor vehicles.~ If the GVW of the trailer is over 3000 pounds it does require a title.~ If the GVW is less than 3000 pounds you will need a bill of sale, and either a copy of the previous registration, or we have a Vin Verification form that needs to be filled out.~ This needs to be completed by a NH Police Officer, NH Licensed Auto Dealer, or a NH Inspection Station. The State needs something other than the handwritten VIN #.

For more information on Motor Vehicle Registration please see the Department of Safety website.