Spouse managed to total her car, and it got sent to a recycler. Since then, we’ve gotten several bills from the state tollway for that license plate. Guess what? Someone pulled those plates and is using them to drive on tollways. The lesson is that if your car is totaled, DON’T RELEASE IT WITHOUT REMOVING THE PLATES! If someone needs some identification for the car, the VIN will do fine.
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Who would get rid of a car without removing the plates? I don’t think common sense needs a PSA.
On that note, however, I got a bill a while back from some toll agency down around Houston. I’m in central VA and the car’s never been to Houston. The plate number they had was right. But apparently some typo had it in the wrong state. They fixed it.
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When I joined the Air Force In 1971, I sold my car and hung the plates up in my parent’s garage. A couple of months later, someone broke into the house and stole some stuff, mostly tools. They also tried to steal my motorcycle, but the front fork was locked hard to the left so it would only turn to the left… I did not want my “unlicensed” little brother taking it for a joy ride…
A month or so later, a neighborhood kid was caught in a stolen car with my license plates on it. It did not take long for the police to figure out who broke into my parents’ home…
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Me. In Minnesota the plates go with the car so the junk yard registers the junk title with the state. Just keep the paperwork in case you need to do an affidavit.
I am replying here because this is the only thread I could find. The website is completley unrecognizable, full of symbols I don;t know what to do with and can\t navigate. What happened?
If you mean asking the tow truck to give you the plates, then fine. That’s assuming you have your wits about you enough to remember to do so. An accident significant enough to total a car is severe enough to rattle anyone enough to forget to ask for the plates. Also, if the recycler has the plates they should be on the hook for any misuse.
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You’d like to believe the insurance company, or the repair shop you truck it to would give you the plates. As in, hey, don’t leave without your plates! Who would get rid of a car without removing the plates? Um, lots of folks. Think harder.
I think you’re right. When I have asked friends and acquaintances, “Did you remove the plates before you junked that car?”, quite a few of them gave me blank looks and then admitted that they had not done so.
Clearly, this differs from one US state to another, but in NJ, the process of surrendering plates is actually quite simple. You go to any State Inspection Station, turn the plates in, and get a receipt proving that you surrendered the plates. You don’t even have to wait in the inspection line, as you can drive up to their back door to take care of this quick transaction.
Hi oldtimer-11:
There have been several threads on the recent increase in very intrusive ad activity on this site.
Several solutions are:
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Switch to a browser like DuckDuckGo. I don’t know if it blocks all ads by default or if you need to set a few knobs to tell it to block all ads.
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Get the “uBlock Origin” adblocker extension for your browser. It’s a free open-source product and it’s amazing how well it works.
Weird. Thanks.
I’m just in my second day of using DDG, but it seems to be blocking all ads without my having to do anything other than downloading and installing it.
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DDG blocks all ads and erases the browser history every time you shut down. Those features ca be turned off if you want to in settings.
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I experienced a similar problem years ago, letter from the city of San Diego claiming I owed a find for a parking ticket. I was actually in San Diego at the time, but the car cited was 1000 miles away. SD dismissed the ticket.
Like I said I sold a car to a guy for $200 with plates good for quite a wile. Six months later got a summons for unpaid parking tickets. Took a whole vacation day proving I sold the car and forcing the transfer through dmv, plus about 150 miles.
You make it seem like physically having possession of your plate(s) is necessary for a toll agency or parking agency to come after you for fees/fines/penalties. Sadly, that’s not the case. Either due to incompetence, clerical errors, or people making counterfeit plates, many people have found themselves in this catch-22, even with their original plate(s) still on their car. And getting these fines/fees/penalties removed is often a battle in futility.
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Back in the 90’s we were sent a notice from the city of Seattle that our car that was in storage on our property and hadn’t left the property for at least a year before the supposed ticket 60mi away. Called the city and sent in proof of the accident that put the car off the road and they still said we had to pay and sent it to collections. Took someone at the state AG’s office to get the situation resolved.
I think you can keep plates and force new owner to get new plates when he transfers title. If you transfer title and tell dmv you need plates I’m pretty sure they will give you plates. For a fee
It depends where you live. In MD you have to return the plates to the DMV. Your insurance can’t be dropped until the plates are returned. And yes, the DMV and insurance companies communicate with each other to verify that the plates were returned.
I just transferred ownership (title) of a car 2 days ago with current tags on it to a family member, all we had to sign was the tittle over and he had to buy new plates, the county clerks office handed him his new plate and said nothing about the old plate, but the vehicle is now registered with a new tag registered to him and the vehicle… My old plates are now dead (void, no good), and I can do with them as I please (trash, hang on garage wall, whatever)…