Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Tips on Auto Registration of new car (Tesla) in Hawaii - Things to do

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
nanimac, I don't know if that's going to work. Mine was white. An e-copy and they gave me trouble about it. I explained mine had been here a while but not driven, and we tried to get an original from Matson but it had been too long. Where are you going? Ala Moana Sat City? I recommend it. Barry said that the SC had made a connection with a lady there and she was starting to understand how TM does these things. So it was getting easier there. All you can do is try. But since you don't have yellow, I would go to Ala Moana and use it.
I hope this helps.

P.S. Is 1.21 working on the Gray P85? I've heard nothing since I sent him a Private Message.

Am going to the tax office first. Did you have problems with it there?

As for gray 85, I think he's thinking about it but only has week to decide (per Robert). It has a few more options he doesn't need and the rims are silver, even though it says grey. Told him might as well order what you want especially for spending that much. Would only take a couple months to get anyway.
 
Going to pay my taxes tomorrow but have a Bill of Lading question. I didn't get a yellow copy from the service center. My document is white and says "combined transport Bill of Lading".

Is this the right document?

Nanimac, when I went to the tax office, they didn't even look at the bill of lading. The gal at the Ala Moana Sat City looked at all docs and was satisfied with the white copy. She was a little annoyed about the registration form being xerox copy but I explained that Tesla was trying to be helpful to us, not realizing that it needs to be the original form, not a copy. She seemed fine after I told her I was happy to fill out an original. Overall, thanks to all of the input from previous posters like JKam, DSmith and Akikiki, the tax and registration process was a breeze. (sorry if I missed anyone)

There was only one glitch that I ran into. Since I have a General Excise Tax license, I could not use the G26 form, but rather the G45 form. Hope it goes as smoothly for you.
 
Nanimac, when I went to the tax office, they didn't even look at the bill of lading. The gal at the Ala Moana Sat City looked at all docs and was satisfied with the white copy. She was a little annoyed about the registration form being xerox copy but I explained that Tesla was trying to be helpful to us, not realizing that it needs to be the original form, not a copy. She seemed fine after I told her I was happy to fill out an original. Overall, thanks to all of the input from previous posters like JKam, DSmith and Akikiki, the tax and registration process was a breeze. (sorry if I missed anyone)

There was only one glitch that I ran into. Since I have a General Excise Tax license, I could not use the G26 form, but rather the G45 form. Hope it goes as smoothly for you.

Thanks everyone for all the input. Didn't have a chance to go today. I have a GET license too so thanks Hawaiiskibum for the info on the different form.

Just got back from paying my taxes. It took longer to walk there from my office than the whole process there ---around 16 minute walk and less than 15 mins at the tax office! BTW, all she looked at was my config page (which was on top) and my tax forms....nothing else!
 
Last edited:
Folks, after these most recent new owners have paid their taxes and received their registration, I think its safe to say that this process is getting easier for Tesla owners. State and C&C are getting used to seeing requests for this new car and this is making the process faster for those coming after us. Yay ! Success !
 
Thank you to all those that patiently stood in line before me, and were kind enough to share their experience! Glad to hear the C&C and State are learning...slowly.

Now we just need the EV parking law to have some teeth written into it during the next legislative session, so we can get the mandatory 1% EV spaces law enforced!
 
I guess there may be some inconsistency at the tax office. I took a completed G-45 form because I have a GET license. The clerk told me that I needed to complete G-26 and G-27 forms. No biggie; it took all of 1 minute to complete and she was really nice about it. Other than that, it was a breeze (barely a glance at my Tesla docs). I walked into the building today at 1 pm and was walking out 20 minutes later.

I ran into an issue with my temp safety check though . . . the garage I went to would not accept my printed insurance card. I just added the car at the beginning of the week and only have the printed pdf of the card that was emailed. I may try somewhere else tomorrow, or just wait until I receive the cards.

Thank you to all who contributed to the very helpful list and for paving the road for the rest of us.
 
I guess there may be some inconsistency at the tax office. I took a completed G-45 form because I have a GET license. The clerk told me that I needed to complete G-26 and G-27 forms. No biggie; it took all of 1 minute to complete and she was really nice about it. Other than that, it was a breeze (barely a glance at my Tesla docs). I walked into the building today at 1 pm and was walking out 20 minutes later.

I ran into an issue with my temp safety check though . . . the garage I went to would not accept my printed insurance card. I just added the car at the beginning of the week and only have the printed pdf of the card that was emailed. I may try somewhere else tomorrow, or just wait until I receive the cards.

Thank you to all who contributed to the very helpful list and for paving the road for the rest of us.

Most places should take the printed out insurance form - and if they needed confirmation, they could just call the insurance company listed to verify. Seems strange. I haven't had issue to date.
 
I guess there may be some inconsistency at the tax office. I took a completed G-45 form because I have a GET license. The clerk told me that I needed to complete G-26 and G-27 forms. No biggie; it took all of 1 minute to complete and she was really nice about it. Other than that, it was a breeze (barely a glance at my Tesla docs). I walked into the building today at 1 pm and was walking out 20 minutes later.

i did the same thing with G-45 but already had my other forms filled out too. I told her it was for personal use, not business, and she took my other forms. Seems like after lunch is the best time to go. I went around 1:30 and was done within 15 mins.
 
Just registered my car at the Wahiawa DMV. Took about an hour since the clerk had only done a couple EVs and never did a Tesla before. FYI. I think it was mentioned before but you will need to fill out an original application for registration so if someone else is on title with you, they'll need to be there to sign it. Also, I had to sign a vehicle delivery form since I didn't have a delivery receipt but she took a copy of the bill of lading.

Went to the service center to get my plates installed..met a couple tesla owners who weren't on the forum yet. One of them had a green one..I never thought about getting that color but it looked really NICE!!
 
I went to the downtown satellite city yesterday. Ran into an issue with the CA application for registration. After some discussion and consultation with one of his colleagues, the person helping me returned the CA application to me and said "I'm going to pretend I never saw this." He seemed to believe that the form presented a barrier to registering the vehicle here. The rest of the process went smoothly and it took 30 mins total. He said it was his second Tesla registration and that the branch had processed around 10.

This morning I went to get my safety stickers. Had to show the garage the Hawaii Administrative Rules provision allowing for mounting on a license plate bracket because the employees insisted it was illegal. It took some persuasion, but they finally believed me.

Glad to be done and official.
 
Did anyone get their safety check for a two-year period, like you normally do when you buy a new car from the dealer? If you did, did you have to specifically ask for it?

Per HRS 286-26(b), new vehicles get a two year inspection period, but it's usually done by the (st)ealer, so just wondering how we get the two year sticker we're entitled to on our MS?
 
Did anyone get their safety check for a two-year period, like you normally do when you buy a new car from the dealer? If you did, did you have to specifically ask for it?

Per HRS 286-26(b), new vehicles get a two year inspection period, but it's usually done by the (st)ealer, so just wondering how we get the two year sticker we're entitled to on our MS?

When we got our safety check done by Kahala Shell, we were only given a 1 year sticker. When I asked about the 2 year sticker for a new car, I was told that only dealers have those stickers and that they were unable to get them. I'm chalking it up to the price to be paid for a non traditional dealer setup and sucking up the safety check again next year. Probably can't be fixed until the service center gets registered as an official safety check station / dealer and can do safety checks for Teslas.
 
Another tip that I learned is to make sure the Bill of Sale and the Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin have the same names. Since the car was going to be registered under my name and my wife's name, both names needed to be on both forms. I had to have my wife sign a copy of the DMV form (since Satellite City Hall didn't accept the copy of the form from Tesla) and bring it back. However, the Bill of Sale only had my name on it. I had to have Tesla send me a new Bill of Sale with both our names on it.
 
If anyone wants to get a safety check pretty close to the service center (5-minute drive), I recommend Keith's Service & Sales at the Waipio Business Center (ste 321) near Kaiser and Costco Waipio. I went there after I picked up my car (on a Saturday) and got my temp safety check really quick. It's a one-man shop but he was very accommodating and great to deal with :)