[rokndad]

When you bring in an out of state car, your first encounter will be with the local DMV. Someone will direct you to the side of the building, and will come out with a clipboard and checklist and look for things like VIN, any smog cert stickers or manufacturing info, and they may also do a headlight, turn signal, horn test. If they do, then most likely the CHP won't duplicate that inspection.

The CHP inspection is to determine whether or not they use the manufacturer's or out of state VIN or assign a new CA VIN and affix two permanent plates to your car. A special CHP officer will make that call after he/she has inspected the VIN documentation. That at least is the way mine went. In general, if the car appears to the average eye to be a complete and street worthy automobile, the DMV is usually the only inspection you will get and that is on the initial visit when you get your first of hopefully several TOP's until you can get an SB 100 number on the 2nd. Good luck, you really shouldn't have any issues if you progress through all the steps in sequence.