Going to get rid of them, any one else save plates for apparently no value? IL motercycle plate never used!
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I don’t save any of mine. I’m just not a collector. I failed the truck question though from social security because I didn’t know what license plate I used to have. They wanted me to make a personal visit to confirm my identity. I said I already know who I am.
But gee, put some shoes on.
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My flea market vendor experience say most anything at all will sell, eventually, so if you can wait long enough for a buyer to turn up, you can probably make a little loot on your collection. Me, I’d either toss 'em, or use for anything requiring a flat sheet of thin metal. Like a shed-roof drip edge.
This comment brought back memories of the past. My teenage ex girlfriend back in the days said the same thing to me when she saw my feet for the first time 
I don’t collect license plates, either, and I always chose to keep the same license plate.
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Heh heh, I don’t try to sell anything anymore. It was city celebration time with garage sales all over. I replaced my corded hedge shear out with a free sign. Lasted about two hours and was gone. Neighbor has a freezer out front with a free sign. Don’t need it don’t want it. I went to a battery clipper instead of running 200 feet of cord or using the generator. I only give away quality stuff like my Milwaukee grinder that I couldn’t lift any more.
We don’t need no stinkin shoes! About to take the dog for a walk, gravel alley no problem!
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These license plates have value!
I would suggest you consider Facebook Marketplace or eBay and sell all the plates, one price for all or maybe break them down into lots, All the same type, or just smaller lots of assorted plates.
You just might find and auto club, bar, collector, etc that wants the whole bunch.
Here are two Buy it Now Sales that occurred on eBay in the last couple of months, These are not active auctions, these lots sold for almost $180 and that would buy a lot of gas…
If you search on “lots of old license plates” on eBay and then click on the SOLD filter on the Left side, you will see that this seller has sold over 10-lots of license plates in the last few months, so there is a market…
Good Luck
How did you get all those? Everywhere I’ve lived, the license plate stays on the car when you sell it. It’s not like I can sell a car and buy a new one and put my old plate on my new car.
In TN you keep your old tags, or you can even transfer them to another vehicle…
Case in point, when we still had Marta (our emissions testing), anything 1975 and up got tested, well a Hot Rodders trick was to keep an old title of a junked old vehicle and get tags for it, wait a month (give or take) and transfer the new tags over to the 76 or newer Hot Rod and you were legal for another (almost) year to drive on the streets again… Sometimes it was better to have a few old titles so it wasn’t as noticeable, rotate them yearly…
I don’t have a collection, but I do keep a few around for fab work if needed…
Weird. Any place I’ve lived the plates stay with you, not the car. The buyer has to go get their own plates. And where I’ve lives you can transfer old plates to a new car. Plates stay with the one who registered them.
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Now that I think about it, companies that are hired to decorate bars and restaurants buy stuff like this. I don’t know what they did before the internet but maybe garage sales.
The vintage plates might be worth something. I see some older Wisco and Illini plates in the collection. I still have a few plates from Wisconsin, especially my Collector plates. Massachusetts won’t relinquish your registration until you turn in your old plates. That means you can’t cancel your insurance until they are transferred to a new vehicle or turned in. When I moved out of MA, I had around 7 sets of plates to turn in. Got the 'ol stink eye from the guy working the desk. Aversion to work is common in that group of employees…
I have actually sold several plates on Ebay. Do the homework to figure out what it will cost to mail or ship them, then price them with free shipping. Everything sold. Not a lot of money but I felt better.
In California the plate goes with the vehicle, in other states it belongs to a person and gets transferred to another vehicle. No big deal either way.
eBay is such a hassle, their charges then charges from PayPal. In looking some plates are not mine, I never bought any, unsure of where they came from. Contacted a place that buys and sells plates, I can take that as a low-ball offer, then try marketplace, pickup.
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That would be illegal here. Enforcement is difficult, except where the registration is checked; i.e. traffic stop.
Traffic stop is not needed . Many patrol vehicles have plate readers that tell if the plate matches the vehicle .
Yes, Cali is different then a most states, hence 49 state legal vs Cali emissions legal vehicles and or parts…
But thankfully we don’t have the Marta testing in TN anymore so it no longer matters, it had it’s purpose, but was about worthless… take it how you may…
But in the case of the 2009 Cobalt, it would not have passed Marta with the CEL/MIL light on the dash Period (P0700/P0717), and it is transmission related and has NOTHING to do with saving the planet, so a person with a very tight budget would not be able to afford the $$$$ to fix something that is NOT affecting the emissions or drivability of the vehicle, just has a wiring glitch that I am determined not to admit it has… lol
BTW: incase of confusion, when transferring plates/tags, you get an updated/new registration that matches the vehicle with the tags, so 100% legit and legal, no matter how many times you get pulled over…
And yes buying tags back then and transferring them to another vehicle was a legal loophole, back then…
Thanks for the explanation. I see what you mean. Emissions testing imo seems a worthwhile thing, but the no-exceptions for extenuating circumstances policy does tend to make car owners think the system has lost focus on its main objectives.
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Police license plate readers can only read the license plate; it cannot compare the plate against the year, make, or model of the vehicle.
The readers have various capabilities… It compares the plate against a database of stolen vehicles and vehicles that have been involved in a crime. It will then notify the police officer if a particular vehicle has been reported stolen or is a suspect vehicle.
The readers also read all license plates and keeps a database of its GPS location and that database is usually maintained for up to 30-days, depending on the contract with the particular system. Right now, that capability is in the courts considering the legality of collecting and storing this information…
U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Amendment’s purpose “is to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions by government officials.”
It is generally required by most state’s courts that the Fourth Amendment is triggered, and the government generally must obtain a warrant supported by probable cause before conducting a search. This approach seeks to protect the “privacies of life” from “arbitrary power,” and to “place obstacles in the way of a too permeating police surveillance.”
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Don’t know about other states but here in Oklahoma when you register a vehicle or renew plates they ask for vehicle color. I was told the the plate readers will show what the vehicle is and what color it is . If they don’t match what you are driving you will get pulled over.