> vehicle registration is every second year

For those of us not in the US, can you explain what this means? And why it necessitates a physical visit to an office?

I have owned vehicles in the UK and Norway for fifty years and never had to visit such a place for the purpose of registering a vehicle. Even before it was done online all that was needed to register change of ownership was to send in the registration document. And we don't have to do it again. We have to pay an annual fee to the roads authority but that is now collected by the insurance company automatically in Norway so it cost money but not time or effort.