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Sending back license plates

dukebound85

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Original poster
Jul 17, 2005
19,218
4,342
5045 feet above sea level
So I found out after titling, getting insurance, and registering my car back to CO that NY wants the plates back

I have never heard of this before. Is this a big deal if I don't? Since changing plates, I have lost place of the old ones as they don't have any value to me. I mean I never kept my other plates before, granted they were two separate sets of CO plates (and neither have my parents from the states we have lived in) and have donated some to restaurants that collect them

Is it critical I find these? Why is NYS weird like this?
 
Surrender

I have read a little on the NY DMV and they do want the plates back. But if you don't have them I would send them a letter explaining that I was not aware that I was required to send them back and that I threw them away in essence destroying them. They might fine you but I think that would be the extent of it and there may be a jurisdictional issue since you are a resident of CO. Just let them know and you'll be fine don't let them know and it could get worse.
 
Some states are weird and the return of them could be the way you cancel registration in that state. You'd be better served to call the DMV and ask if the only way to cancel your registration is to return your plates. Being careless with your plates is really silly since you have no clue if your NY registration was cancelled. If you know it was (you just didn't say) then the plate return seems unimportant.
 
i bought a car in arizona and when i moved back to cali i registered it here. i went in to dmv, paid the fees, he handed me a screw driver and told me to go remove the az plates. he wouldnt give me the cali plates till i gave him the az ones. maybe its to cut down on people using wrong/invalid plates.
 
Several years ago I was at home minding my own business. There was a knock on the door and there was the Ontario Privincial Police looking to arrest me for a crime committed out of town. They traced me by my license plates. Somebody had STOLEN one of my plates and put it on their vehicle and then was involved in a serious hit & run accident. I'm not kidding.

I always kept track of my new plates after that. You never know....
 
In theory you are supposed to turn in your old plates here in TX but they hardly enforce it. I'm talking about Texas plates, either when you get a custom plate or after the 7 year mark and you have to get new ones. No idea about out of states that move here.
 
In AZ, you now own your plates and transfer them from car to car. We've got folks driving 2010 whatevers with plates that were discontinued over ten years ago. All you do is change one sticker every (or every other) year when you re-register. The plates themselves are never reissued, and specifically tied to the owner (and the car du jour), so the MVD doesn't want them back, even when you switch to a personalized or special series plate.
 
JNB said:
In AZ, you now own your plates and transfer them from car to car. We've got folks driving 2010 whatevers with plates that were discontinued over ten years ago. All you do is change one sticker every (or every other) year when you re-register. The plates themselves are never reissued, and specifically tied to the owner (and the car du jour), so the MVD doesn't want them back, even when you switch to a personalized or special series plate.
Click to expand...

This is one of the many reasons why I am glad I moved here.
 
renewed said:
In Texas, you have to return them every 7 years. The "reflective" coating wears down, apparently. Guess its for night time driving, although I think it's for radar guns. Who knows.
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I recently got new plates mailed to me in Houston...my car has been registered in TX since 2002. I did not have to return the old plates so I don't think that this is currently true.
 
JNB said:
In AZ, you now own your plates and transfer them from car to car. We've got folks driving 2010 whatevers with plates that were discontinued over ten years ago. All you do is change one sticker every (or every other) year when you re-register. The plates themselves are never reissued, and specifically tied to the owner (and the car du jour), so the MVD doesn't want them back, even when you switch to a personalized or special series plate.
Click to expand...

Missouri is the same way, except every 10 years or so they redesign the plates and you have to get new ones to match the re-design the next time you renew your plates. But then those plates are yours to keep if you buy a new car.

And they don't ask for old plates back either, I still have my old ones sitting in my parents' garage for some reason. I can probably throw them away.
 
All this begs the question: Why do we even have license plates in the first place? You can barely read them, so they are nearly worthless at identifying bad drivers. And if they're no good at identification, the time and money spent processing them is just a waste.

We'd be better off without them.

End of rant

mt
 
mysterytramp said:
All this begs the question: Why do we even have license plates in the first place? You can barely read them, so they are nearly worthless at identifying bad drivers. And if they're no good at identification, the time and money spent processing them is just a waste.

We'd be better off without them.

End of rant

mt
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If they are not readable that in it of itself is a violation...They are VERY GOOD at identification...
 
In Texas, the plates stay with the car so when you buy a new or used vehicle and register it, you get new plates...even if you already have plates registered to another vehicle.

I have heard stories of people getting things in the mail based on their previous plates that were not cancelled. I don't see why you can;t just transfer the plates. Worked in PA (another state that had long-term plates and stickers BTW).

Oh, I and also agree that plates are very good at identifying vehicles. Not sure why mystertramp would say they are not. Many red light traffic cams and police on the side of the road will beg to differ with you.
 
mariahrg said:
i bought a car in arizona and when i moved back to cali i registered it here. i went in to dmv, paid the fees, he handed me a screw driver and told me to go remove the az plates. he wouldnt give me the cali plates till i gave him the az ones. maybe its to cut down on people using wrong/invalid plates.
Click to expand...

When moving from MO to CA, I had to hand in my MO plates before the DMV would hand me my CA plates.

yg17 said:
Missouri is the same way, except every 10 years or so they redesign the plates and you have to get new ones to match the re-design the next time you renew your plates. But then those plates are yours to keep if you buy a new car.

And they don't ask for old plates back either, I still have my old ones sitting in my parents' garage for some reason. I can probably throw them away.
Click to expand...

The last time I registered a new car in MO, they didn't ask me for the old plates back but I was charged something like $40 for not transferring my old plates to the new car.

Seems as though more and more states want to make sure the old plates get destroyed or officially transferred to the new owner so that there is no confusion in ownership as seen above with the hit & run episode.
 
NY recycles their plate numbers, because there are so many residents here. Every 10 years or so, they change the plate, and the last time they did, you had to surrender your old plates.

You have to surrender the plates when you sell the car as well (unless you trade in your old car for a new one).

They issued new plates (back to gold with a blue stripe across the top), but they didn't ask to surrender the current plates this time. Weird...

I think it's whoever is in office at the time, and the cost of surrendering the plates (to the state).

NY doesn't have a little sticker or anything to identify that the plates are no longer in use. I guess surrendering them prevents you from putting them on a vehicle that's uninsured and hurting someone or committing some other crime.
 
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