Greetings, Friends.
For those of you who didn’t see my facebook post, here was my experience at MVC this afternoon when registering my “motorized bicycle” formerly known as a class 3 e-bike:
Today I went to the NJ MVC to register my “motorized bicycle”, formerly known as a class 3 bicycle. Good news and bad news: the good news is that the 3 workers I spoke with during the course of my transaction were very nice and professional and that I was called to the window about 10 minutes before my actual appointment time. And I walked out about 30 minutes after being called to the counter. The bad news: when I walked up to the window, presented my paperwork, and stated my reason for being there, I thought I detected an anxiety ridden vocalization. Within a short period of time, a second worker got involved and talked the person at the counter through the process of the title and registration process. When I was finally handed my paperwork, I noticed that the license sticker had the text “low speed electric bicycle” printed below the license number. Wanting to be a good, law abiding citizen and not wanting any problems I informed them that my bike is a “motorized bicycle” according to the law. I was asked if the bike has a throttle and I said it doesn’t; that it’s a pedal-assist bike with a max speed of 28 mph. She said it’s a “low speed electric bicycle” since it doesn’t have a throttle. She also said I didn’t need to have liability insurance. I told her that was not correct. She seemed confused and said that what I have is a moped. I corrected her again. At that point a third worker entered the conversation who seemed to be a higher up. She seemed to grasp what I was saying and processed the paperwork, eventually giving me a title and registration/license sticker. The word “Moped” was printed below the license number. I’m not sure this is correct, but decided I’d check that out later. The third woman told me that the e-bike registration is new and that they have been told different things on different occasions. Again, all the women I spoke with were nice and professional. They clearly have not been adequately trained/educated by their supervisors who themselves may not be completely familiar with the law. Any anger should be directed toward those people, not the women behind the counter who are doing the best they can.
In addition to making sure you have all required paperwork when registering your e-bike, be familiar enough with the law so that you can avoid issues when registering. BTW, although I brought proof of liability insurance, I was not asked for it. I wouldn’t assume you won’t be asked to show it. Also, if you don’t have a bill of sale or documentation that you paid sales tax for your bike, you will have to pay sales tax at registration. I was asked how many miles were on the bike and they were willing to accept an educated guess.
Have fun; stay safe.
Warm regards,
Michael
