Due to production and supply chain delays, the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) has an extremely limited number of 30-day temporary license plates for use when selling vehicles that will be registered in another state in its branch office inventory. The agency has been shifting around inventory to try and meet demand in all parts of the state, but we’ve recently been made aware that the order of 30-day temporary plate stock we anticipated receiving next week from the vendor has been further delayed.
The SCDMV is working with its vendor network to attempt to quickly replenish its 30-day temporary license plate stock. We will send out a notice as soon as that occurs.
As a temporary, short-term fix, the agency is quickly developing an alteration to its EVR program that will allow dealerships to issue the 45-day temporary license plates to out-of-state customers. This programming effort will take several days, and your service provider will notify you once this option is available for use. Your service provider will communicate the process with you as soon as details are available.
While the SCDMV pursues both of these solutions, we need the help of every dealer in ensuring the remaining 30-day stock can meet as much of the demand as possible. The branch offices have been instructed to sell the remaining stock in very limited quantities. Please do not pursue any bulk purchases at this time.
Dealers should ensure out-of-state customers understand that the customer’s home state may have laws requiring a vehicle to be titled and registered in a time period shorter than 45 days. Customers must follow the law in their home state to ensure that the vehicle is properly titled and registered in a timely manner.