Driving cross country with expired tags - how to avoid police?

This would imply that every car must be registered every year it
exists, whether in storage, on the road, or whatever. What state has
these laws?

As I understand it, vehicle registration laws were first created to
fight a 1920s surge in auto theft. If you're trying to keep it from
being stolen, then I suppose it doesn't really matter if it's being
driven.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Alohacyberian wrote:
Probably it's more likely that your car matched a stolen vehicle or one used
to commit a crime. KM

Absolutely.

I've been detained twice because I matched the description of a wanted
suspect. Though somewhat OT, I wasn't driving (but walking) both times.

(the second time, it took the dispatcher over a minute to read all the
places the real suspect had tatoos. I'm not sure who was laughing the
loudest by the end of that transmission -- me, the officers, or the
dispatcher...)

--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

sechumlib writes:

On 2006-07-19 23:46:23 -0400, (Carole Allen) said:

On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 06:41:43 GMT, Doug Smith W9WI
wrote:
Around here, (Tennessee) when you first get your plate they put a sticker
on it, showing what month it expires - it might say "JUL" in large letters.
You get another sticker that might say "2006", showing that it expires at
the end of July, 2006. When you renew, you get a sticker that says "2007",
you stick it over the top of "2006" to show the plate is valid for another
year. The procedure is identical in Wisconsin.

That's how it works in WA state...

In New York State, the new sticker goes on the windshield.

....inside, of course. Texas has done the same thing since 1994, thanks to a
rash of forged stickers - and while stealing a plate sticker was a misdemeanor
at best, to steal a windshield sticker involves breaking and entering. In the
last coulple of years, our stickers have gone to one format, with the state
flag as a background, the month and year of expiration, along with eight
characters from the VIN and the tag number (plus the barcode), along with the
county of registration. (I wonder how many stickers are out there from Loving
County. ;-)

--
Patrick "The Chief Instigator" Humphrey ) Houston, Texas
chiefinstigator.us.tt/aeros.php (TCI's 2006-07 Houston Aeros)
LAST GAME: Milwaukee 4, Houston 2 (May 9)
NEXT GAME: Saturday, October 7 vs. TBA, 7:35

In message .com "Mike
Tantillo" wrote:


Dave Smith wrote:
Hatunen wrote:



I believe getting current tags usually involves paying
registration fees for the years tags weren't obtained, which in
some states and for some cars can amount to a fair piece of
money.

Sometimes it also involves safety certification or emissions testing. In
most states and provinces it would also require payment of outstanding
fines.

Anyone thinking about driving around with switched plates or expired plates
should be aware of the technology available to police officers and their on
board computers. The enforcement agency I worked for was not exactly at
the cutting edge of technology, but I could punch in a licence plate from
any Canadian province and US state and in 2-3 seconds it would display a
vehicle description and identify the owner. If it was a plate from this
province it would automatically display the owner's driver licence number
and was flagged if he was under suspension or currently unlicensed. For
commercial vehicles, the company's safety violation rate was immediately
displayed. There were all sorts of hyper linked fields to access driver
conviction records etc.

I assume you'd still have to do something to get the cop's attention in
order to prompt them to punch in the number. Unless they're literally
bringing up license plate info as they drive around "just for the fun
of it"...

Around here, the cops do that all the time looking for violations,
outstanding warrants, all that.

--
No Sprinkles. For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you.
-- Stewie

It seems to me I heard somewhere that wrote in
article . com:

I've never been pulled over (they never had a reason to)

I'm about as law-abiding as they come, but it's still possible to come
under police attention due to bad luck or whatever.

When I was a college student, I was driving back to my dorm when 2
police cars boxed me in, and the police stepped out with their hands on
their guns. Turned out that a violent felon had just been spotted in
that neighborhood in a car similar to mine. After being frisked and
locked in the back of a cruiser for several minutes, the police
realized I wasn't the guy and apologized, but obviously it shook me up.

A more recent (and much less dramatic) incident occured about 5 years
ago, when a highway patrol officer followed me closely for about 10
minutes for no apparent reason. (Yes, I'm sure he was following me.) I
assume he was running my plates, but I have no idea why as I wasn't
speeding or anything. Probably he just picked me at random.

My point is that you never know when you might come under police
attention. Even good drivers can have it happen occasionally.

A few months ago I was followed several blocks, then pulled over by a
local Sheriff's deputy who questioned my registration and license plate
(everything was in order). I have Amateur Radio plates, have had for
many years now, but this young officer apparently didn't even know such
a thing existed (they're not that unusual on the California roads and
streets). When he tried to run a computer check he failed to account for
a space in the license number and it came back as unknown. I had to sit
and wait for a while before he (apparently) tried various combinations
of the digits and letters before he hit the right one. Naturally, he
told me that it was okay, but didn't bother to apologize for the
inconvenience his lack of knowledge/imagination caused me.
--
Don Kirkman

In message .com
"Doug" wrote:

wrote:
The company is justified in denying
coverage because driving without legal plates is a violation of the
statute, and thus voids any policy they have issued.

ONLY true if policy states that driving without legal plates is
EXCLUDED. My policy says no such thing, so I would be covered. You have
to READ your policy and see. There's no such blanket exclusion....

I've yet to see a policy that doesn't automatically exclude everything
except their right to collect premiums when you're violating the law.

--
"The only British idiom I know is that fag means cigarette."
"Well then tell this cigarette to shut up"

On 2006-07-20 18:00:57 -0400, (John F. Carr) said:

My insurance pays up to $20K medical and $5K property damages
to others even if I _intentionally_ hit them. That coverage
is required by state law. Beyond those low limits, it pays
up to agreed policy limits if the act was unintentional. If
I'm speeding through a school zone and reach down to grab
another beer and run over a pack of children while I'm not
paying attention, that's an accident covered by insurance.

Of course, if any of those things happen they will either cancel your
coverage after they've paid, or raise your premium about 1700%.

GK wrote:


Here's a valid question:
Used to be some states didn't legally care where you lived and would
issue a legal registration by mail even, along with plates, just as long
as you paid the fee. Wondering if any states still do that.

Such a plate would only be valid in the state of issuance. The Full
Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution only applies to legitimate
acts of one state. States cannot issue valid plates to non-residents
that the state the person actually lives in is bound to honor.

Otherwise, some smart state would just set a plate fee at $5 and sell
plates to every single person in America.

SP Cook

Doug Smith W9WI wrote:
Alohacyberian wrote:
"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...

Around here, (Tennessee) when you first get your plate they put a sticker
on it, showing what month it expires - it might say "JUL" in large
letters. You get another sticker that might say "2006", showing that it
expires at the end of July, 2006. When you renew, you get a sticker that
says "2007", you stick it over the top of "2006" to show the plate is
valid for another year. The procedure is identical in Wisconsin.

An officer doesn't have to get very close to be able to read both
stickers, and if he does he knows the plate is (or isn't) expired. He
doesn't have to run it through the computer to know.



Yes, he does. Just because you didn't put the sticker on the plate, doesn't
mean you don't have it. I neglected to put my sticker on this year and
drove around for months with the sticker in the glove compartment. And in
many states, stickers are stolen regularly. KM

Is it not technically illegal to not have your sticker on your plate?

I mean, I doubt you'd get ticketed if you could show the officer you'd
forgotten your sticker in the glove compartment, but you'd have provided
probable cause for the stop.

Yep. I got ticketed for no current registration (while the car was
parked, so I didn't see the cop) when I never received the sticker from
the DMV. Went to court with my receipt, well they sent me to the DA
(or some sub-assistant DA, I guess) who gave me a stern lecture about
how it was *my* responsibility to be sure I received the sticker and
put it on the plate. But he decided to "let it go this time", and
dropped the charge. So I'm sure the cop can stop you, and possibly
even ticket you for failing to display your registration, it would
depend on the state.

In article 2006072018384316807-sechumlib@liberalnet,
sechumlib wrote:
On 2006-07-20 18:00:57 -0400, (John F. Carr) said:

My insurance pays up to $20K medical and $5K property damages
to others even if I _intentionally_ hit them. That coverage
is required by state law. Beyond those low limits, it pays
up to agreed policy limits if the act was unintentional. If
I'm speeding through a school zone and reach down to grab
another beer and run over a pack of children while I'm not
paying attention, that's an accident covered by insurance.

Of course, if any of those things happen they will either cancel your
coverage after they've paid, or raise your premium about 1700%.

No, more like 60%. Insurance rates are set by state law.
If a company refuses to write a policy at the state rate,
I get kicked into the assigned risk pool and a company is
forced to take me at that rate. If I had a recent DUI or
homicide charge on my record they could force me to take
the version of collision coverage which only pays for
damage to my car if somebody else is at fault. They would
still be required to offer the state minimum coverage,
plus $250K/$500K liability for personal injury, plus $50K
property damage to others.

(It's also illegal under Massachusetts law to discriminate
by age or sex when setting rates.)

--
John Carr )