Iowa Code § 321I.16: Operation pending registration.

The commission shall furnish all-terrain vehicle dealers with pasteboard cards bearing the words “registration applied for” and space for the date of purchase. An unregistered all-terrain vehicle sold by a dealer shall bear one of these cards which entitles the purchaser to operate it for forty-five days immediately following the purchase. The purchaser of a registered all-terrain vehicle may operate it for forty-five days immediately following the purchase without having completed a transfer of registration. An all-terrain vehicle dealer shall make application and pay all registration and title fees if applicable on behalf of the purchaser of an all-terrain vehicle.