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2014 Honda Odyssey Importing from East Coast

Hello, I would be very appreciative for any advice you might have on the following, as repeated conversations with the California DMV, SoCal AAA, and California- and Maryland-based Honda dealerships have yielded conflicting advice. Here goes.

My parents live in Maryland and own a 2014 Honda Odyssey EX-L that's been driven 16k miles. They would now like to transfer this van to our family in California. We would like to accept the van, but before paying to ship it into LA County from the East Coast want to ensure that we will be able to register it in California. After speaking twice with California DMV officials in Sacramento, as well as local AAA representatives and Honda dealers, we think this should be doable - both because it is a late-model Honda with reasonable mileage, and because it is no longer 'new' (under 7.5k miles) and it is a family transfer. The only negative feedback has been from the Maryland dealership that originally sold my parents the car; they suggest that it is a 49-state model, and that it might be prohibitively expensive to adapt it for California usage.

Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.

Answer:

The California DMV will have ultimate "say-so" on this matter. We recommend speaking with a CA DMV supervisor if you are unable to confirm the information you are seeking regarding registering your USED Honda Odyssey in California from a DMV clerk, and before shipping your Honda to Caifornia. It's true, there is a difference with California legal and Federal legal emission requirements. However, a USED vehicle which has all the Federal required emission components (49-State Emission Legal), can pass the California smog inspection and be legally registered in this state. It is true that California vehicles have different emission components then Federal cars, but this does not mean that these vehicles can't be registered in California. A vehicle which is equipped with the necessary Federal Emission Components is eligible for California registration as long as the vehicle pass the CA smog inspection. A brand new vehicle which is not California Emissions equipped (50-State Legal) may not be registered in California. posted by SmogTips Support

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