A registrant who acquires a vehicle and desires the transfer of identification tags from a vehicle currently registered in his or her name to the newly-acquired vehicle shall, within five (5) business days after the acquirement, request the Director to prepare an application to transfer the valid registration and owner's identification tags to the newly-acquired vehicle.
The request shall be accompanied by the following:
Upon receipt of the request, accompanied by the items listed in § 416.2, the Director shall prepare an application for the transfer containing the information which appears on the certificate for the newly-acquired vehicle and other information that the Director may desire, including the number of the owner's identification tags, and deliver it to the owner whose name appears on the request or the owner's agent.
The acquired vehicle shall not be operated with the owner's identification tags assigned for use on the earlier-acquired vehicle, unless and until a transfer of registration has been issued by the Director.
When a vehicle is acquired from a new car dealer or used car dealer and the required items are delivered to the dealer for delivery to the Director, the acquired vehicle may be operated on the owner's identification tags of the earlier-acquired vehicle for a period not to exceed forty-five (45) days, unless extended by the Director.
In addition to the requirements of §§ 416.4 and 416.5, the acquired vehicle shall also conform to the Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Standards and a temporary registration card shall been issued to the registrant by the dealer, as provided in § 505, and accompany the vehicle while being operated.
The dealer shall deliver to the Director all papers and fees required by §§ 416.1 and 416.2 within five (5) business days after issuance of the temporary registration card.
If one or more of the joint registrants of a vehicle for which a valid registration is outstanding acquires the interest or interests of one or more of the other joint owners by death, the surviving joint registrant(s) shall, within five (5) business days after acquiring the interest, request the Director to prepare an application to transfer the registration.
The request for transfer of interest shall be accompanied by the following:
Upon receipt by the Director of a request for transfer of interest, accompanied by the required items, the Director shall prepare an application for the transfer containing the information which appears on the certificate issued to the owner who has acquired the interest, and deliver it to the owner or the agent of the owner.
When satisfied that the registrant named in the application is entitled to transfer registration to the vehicle described in the application, the Director shall mark the records of the Department accordingly and issue to the owner a registration card marked "TRANSFER" and deliver the card to the registrant or his or her agent.
Identification tags issued in connection with the registration of a motor vehicle or trailer may not be transferred to another owner or owners, except under the following circumstances.
D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 18, r. 18-416