Getting a Connecticut Motorcycle License

This list is our own experience of what we had to do to get my husband a motorcycle license in Connecticut.

We have to go through the stages from beginning to end, so we might as well write down what we learn in the process.

If you are a first time rider then this information may be useful to you.

We are registering a 1979 KZ 400 LTD, that we bought in the Bargain News, and has no registration or title. All we have is a Bill of Sale.

Get a Driver's License
The first thing you have to have is a Connecticut Driver's License.

Get Motorcycle Insurance
Get insurance on your motorcycle. We added the motorcycle to our current automobile insurance.

Learning Tip: When they email you the proof of insurance for you to print, make sure you look at the start date, so you don't make a wasted trip to the DMV like we did, to find out the insurance started the next day. Time wasted at DMV = 1 1/2 hr

Get the Motorcycle Registered
Go to the DMV to get your motorcycle registered. If it's never been registered before, they give you a TEMPORARY plate, good for 2 weeks, till you can bring the motorcycle down to the DMV and have them see the VIN for themselves. This temporary plate cost us 26 dollars. Time spent waiting at the DMV = 2 hrs.

(If you don't have a Learner's Permit yet, it was suggested that you ask a friend with a motorcycle license to drive your motorcycle to the DMV for them to check the VIN. We have a van, so we're just going to load it up and go.)

If it has been registered before, they already have proof of the VIN and they will give you regular motorcycle plates.

Learning Tip: If you can bring your motorcycle with you when you register it, they can check the VIN then.

We piled the motorcycle into the van, took it down to a DMV on Thursday night. The DMV was packed. They gave us a VIN form and a new registration form to fill out. They said to pull the van around front, and have the inspector check the VIN, so we did. The inspector checked it, and signed the VIN form. We went back inside, but it was too packed to stay so we left. Time spent at DMV = 1 hr

Saturday morning we decide to leave early, before it opens. When we get there, there is a huge line outside already. Once we got inside, we didn't have to wait in our seat too long though, since we were one of the first ones there. Registering the motorcycle cost us an additional 74 dollars. She gave us real plates and a new registration with sticker. So that's good till 2006.

Learning Tip: Don't go to the DMV on Thursday nights. And if you go on Saturday, be one of the first ones there. Amount of time spent at DMV Saturday to register the motorcycle and get a written test and new motorcycle license = 2 hrs.

The Title
If you don't have a TITLE, they won't require you to have one if the motorcycle is earlier than 1980? If you do have a title, you do a Title transfer, or Title search, which is going to cost ya.

The Learner's Permit?
Pick up a CT Motorcycle manual while you are at the DMV registering your bike. Study it. As far as the Learner's Permit, here's what happened when we went down to the DMV. We had a Learner's Permit form filled out, and they said it was the wrong form. They had us fill out another "application for a Driver's license." They asked for 40 bucks. Then he was called to take the written test, and he said it was tricky, so study, study, study. He amazingly passed it. and they gave him a Learner's Permit with a Motorcycle Endorsement. It looks just like a regular driver's license, and there is no expiration date on it, but you have sixty days to take a road test we found out.

Total cost so far:
$26.00 - temp plate & regis.
$74.00 - official plate & regis.
$40.00 - Motorcycle license
--------------------
140.00

Learning Tip: Don't always believe what you hear, Connecticut is changing the rules and regulations all the time.

Connecticut Motorcycle Road Test and Motorcycle Schools

Save time and money! Shop Online with Peapod in Connecticut