expired tags

[The motor guy]

If the registration sticker on your license plate is expired, do you get the current month when you get a new one? I remember one time I was like 2 months late getting a sticker since I wasn't using the trailer and they still gave me a sticker that was 2 months old already. So if someone doesn't get new tags for 5 years, are they supposed to pay for the past 5 years to be current? Just an example.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Not around here. You pay for future coverage, and if it's annual only the pro-rated amount. We can do month-by-month registration and insurance or yearly, or pay an interest charge and have what's called "continuous" coverage paying each month, and if you were to renew and didn't have any arrangement, say, on the third of the month, they pro-rate the cost for the next 27/28 days instead of 30/31. They even eMail you with renewal reminders as they become due.

We no longer have month/year stickers on plates anymore, the cops have scanners in about half the cars, tied into the registration database, so they just drive around and nail people as part of the normal day-to-day duties. They don't even have to operate the machine, it works automatically and notifies them as required that the vehicle ahead has expired tags, and the insurers pay for them, so it doesn't even cost taxpayers anything. In a few more years every police car will have them.

The DMV-equivalent agency also has a van that drives around with the same tech, towing cars parked on the street with expired tags.

Maybe someone from Texas can help you with how it works there.

 

[skyactiv]

I'm in Ohio, have a seldom used utility trailer and it has a Maine plate which saves me a lot of money. For me to use my trailer once or twice a year and pay close to $50 for a sticker is absurd. My Maine plate cost me $60 for 5 years. In Google News, enter Maine trailer plate if your bored.

 

[andyd]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
I'm in Ohio, have a seldom used utility trailer and it has a Maine plate which saves me a lot of money. For me to use my trailer once or twice a year and pay close to $50 for a sticker is absurd. My Maine plate cost me $60 for 5 years. In Google News, enter Maine trailer plate if your bored.
Maine is the Liberia of semi trailer registrations.

 

[danster]

Here, you do pay for any lapsed months. If it has been more than 6 months or more you can re-boot your registration to the current month if you sign the document stating your vehicle has been in storage this entire time and not used on a public road. There are no penalties for storing your vehicle.

I had no plate at all on my seldom used trailer for years and was never bothered. Eventually I did get a ticket.

 

[BigD1]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
I'm in Ohio, have a seldom used utility trailer and it has a Maine plate which saves me a lot of money. For me to use my trailer once or twice a year and pay close to $50 for a sticker is absurd. My Maine plate cost me $60 for 5 years. In Google News, enter Maine trailer plate if your bored.


When I was driving over the road big truck, most all the trailers I pulled had Maine plates.

 

[Chris142]

No. Only the year. They assume you have been driving illegaly and need to pay for that.

 

[Kuato]

Everywhere I've been, it's a renewal so you keep your original month.

 

[OneEyeJack]

Giving tickets for expired tags appears to be more important now than ever before.

I let my vehicle registration get ahead of me. I'd been working nights and the day before my registration expired I drove my Civic to work planning to get to DMV in the morning with an appointment all set up.

A cop came through the parking lot at about 10:00 PM but I was okay because the actual expiration was not until midnight. What I did not find out until the next morning was that the cop came back at 12:30 AM and wrote me a ticket and had my poor Civic towed to the impound lot. This was not a meter maid but a regular patrol cop. I was upset about being stupid but also that a cop equipped to fight crime and serve the people went this far out of his way to come back and write that ticket and on top of that had my car towed away.

 

[earlyre]

ohio tried to make it easier for folks to remember. it's an annual reg, expires on your birthday.
they mail out renewal notices 90-60 days prior as well.
all can be done through the mail, online, or at the local bmv.

 

[53' Stude]

PA did away with registration stickers and shafted the PA resident $5 more for vehicle

 

[eljefino]

In my state if you're late with the registration it renews to the "old" month and you gain nothing. It's related to the excise tax, $50+ that goes to the town, and they really really want that.

If you let the registration lapse 13 whole months, you can then renew it "fresh".

Inspection stickers OTOH are good for a year no matter what, so if you go over you can milk it along every 13 months if it amuses you.

Trailer registrations are cheap-- heck, I have one-- unless it's for a camper trailer, which requires that darn "excise tax". Utility trailers don't. So I could plausibly haul a camp trailer on a utility trailer and as long as the camper wheels don't touch ground I'm good.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Giving tickets for expired tags appears to be more important now than ever before.

I let my vehicle registration get ahead of me. I'd been working nights and the day before my registration expired I drove my Civic to work planning to get to DMV in the morning with an appointment all set up.

A cop came through the parking lot at about 10:00 PM but I was okay because the actual expiration was not until midnight. What I did not find out until the next morning was that the cop came back at 12:30 AM and wrote me a ticket and had my poor Civic towed to the impound lot. This was not a meter maid but a regular patrol cop. I was upset about being stupid but also that a cop equipped to fight crime and serve the people went this far out of his way to come back and write that ticket and on top of that had my car towed away.



They ticket you on private property? Can't do that here.

Expired tags are an issue everywhere, but here you get insurance and registration at the same time, and you never see cars with no tags at all. First time I travelled to the southern US I was amazed to see so many cars with no plates. Was explained to me that you have 30 days to get them (Arkansas) and people just lie about when they bought the car if stopped.

Originally Posted By: eljefino
In my state if you're late with the registration it renews to the "old" month and you gain nothing. It's related to the excise tax, $50+ that goes to the town, and they really really want that.

If you let the registration lapse 13 whole months, you can then renew it "fresh".

Inspection stickers OTOH are good for a year no matter what, so if you go over you can milk it along every 13 months if it amuses you.

Trailer registrations are cheap-- heck, I have one-- unless it's for a camper trailer, which requires that darn "excise tax". Utility trailers don't. So I could plausibly haul a camp trailer on a utility trailer and as long as the camper wheels don't touch ground I'm good.


Municipalities have no right to tax in Canada, save for property taxes alone, so nothing "to the town".

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad
They ticket you on private property? Can't do that here.

They sort of can in Regina. An RV or a vehicle on private property, if not registered, is considered a nuisance, and they ticket you for that. Obviously, they don't want yards to be filled with vehicles no one ever has an intention to drive.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad
They ticket you on private property? Can't do that here.

They sort of can in Regina. An RV or a vehicle on private property, if not registered, is considered a nuisance, and they ticket you for that. Obviously, they don't want yards to be filled with vehicles no one ever has an intention to drive.


Wouldn't that be via the Fire Marshall, not the Police? In other words, it's not a traffic or parking ticket, but some other kind of citation related to a bylaw on RVs or yard nuisances. Or no?

I know they have some kind of RV bylaw here, but don't know the details as I don't need to. But it's not a parking ticket or traffic offence, it's some other mechanism.

I'm not even sure I would oppose something like what you describe in Queen City, since here on the prairies you can find storage for an RV within 10 miles of town for almost nothing. I know a guy with a fenced, monitored compound that charges $50 a month, 20x50' spot, indoors a bit more.

 

[Garak]

It's just done by a city bylaw enforcement officer, the same people that do the parking tickets. I'm sure, given that it's a city bylaw, the police could enforce it, and even the fire marshal, but that would be a foolish use of their resources.

Truth be told, I doubt it's ever enforced except for those situations when people start to accumulate eyesore vehicles in their yards. No one is going to check something like my F-150 for registration when parked in the yard. I get two or three more of them and start stripping them down for parts, and my neighbours don't like it, I'm going to run into trouble with the city unless I register the things, and that's certainly understandable. I have a house, not a salvage yard.

For those just reading along, in Saskatchewan, if you have valid plates, you also have valid insurance, which does simplify things.

 

[SeaJay]

In New York they send you a letter and an email 2 or 3 months before the expiration and let you pay online for the renewal. About a week later after paying online, the new sticker arrives in the mail.

 

[CincyDavid]

In Ohio, leased vehicles are tied to the leasing company, so our leased Hondas are both due at the end of June every year. I prefer the registration tied to MY date of birth like on the owned cars.

I'm just glad I'm not in MO any more...personal property tax was a big expense, and couldn't get plates without showing proof that you had paid the two previous years of personal property tax. They also hit you hard if you didn't retitle a vehicle quickly enough...fines up to $200. In OH I was slow to retitle a car and got fined, get this, $5.

 

[PumpPusher]

When you renew, they use the original registration date. If you expire in January, but don't renew till May, you will still expire January of the following year. The only difference (I think) is if you have expired registration for more than a year, which then they treat if it was first registered when you pay your due. You don't pay any back registration as long as you don't drive. Even then, it is a small extra fee if you need to be honest.

 

[Garak]

As a matter of historical interest, years ago, in this province, all plates expired on the exact same date. Given this was long before internet payments, you can imagine how much of a mess this was at the SGI offices, with stragglers. Then, it went to expiring at the end of the month, one year after you renewed. Then they brought in shorter periods, but due dates at the end of the month. Now, it's just whenever. The only vehicles that have a set registration period like the old days are snowmobiles.