On the tint - the plates on your car make it legal if you are out of state. The commerce clause in the Constitution makes sure that laws from one state are respected across the borders. The tint on Florida cars would be illegal in most states but we don't get stopped when in NJ or others states with draconian tint laws. If I were ever to move to a different state where what I have is not legal, upon registering the vehicle I'd have to fix the tint to conform to that state's laws.
Old post but since this was bumped will chime in.
Unfortunately the above is not true.
Technically by federal law adding a tinted film to any glazing (a window in legal car speak) is illegal. This is however not enforced on that level.
Individual states are simply allowing a level of light penetration and the matter in which it is installed is not what they are setting. They then choose not to follow the federal guidelines in their regulation of those limits and allow for it being an added film.
That being said if you read the actual tint laws in almost every state (almost being key), the regulation in regards to tinting and the allowable light levels states specifically vehicles
registered in that state. This is how you can get away with driving in say NJ who has laws that do not allow for any front window tint with a vehicle registered in Florida and legal window tint in that state.
Now you also have states like Georgia. Originally the law here was vehicles
registered just as most other states. Sometime around 2005 I believe someone was stopped and ticketed for tint below the legal limit in GA with a vehicle registered in GA. They fought this ticket on the premise that the law was biased against residents of the state and that this was in fact unconstitutional. It escalated and eventually they ruled that in fact GAs tint law was unconstitutional and it was removed. For about a year GA had no tint law. Since they could not easily ticket operates of the vehicles they targeted the installers who were illegally applying a film to a vehicles windows under federal law. I'm not sure if any of that stuck but they tried.
After this year of no specific tint law on the GA books it was added back. However this time the wording was changed from registered to
operated. This is a HUGE key change here in the wording and does now mean that if you are driving from Florida with your legal tint in that state that you can and will be fined in GA.
People have tried to fight this law based on exactly what you have said. When I moved here I was under the same impression as well that this was not legal but so far it has held up for the last 5 years.
You can not believe me all you want but just be aware one of our own staff members who was living in NC with his A3 registered in florida still was stopped twice and ticketed twice for illegal tint in GA with Florida plates and registration.
