Submitted by -jacksmack- t3_zatwvp in Pennsylvania
Situation. PA tag, moved to FL and sold car. Suspended my insurance. So now I’m in FL and have this license plate. I’ve heard some states require you to turn in your tags. Do I have to do anything else? How about my registration?
The license plate collection bureau will not show up at your house or anything.
You're supposed to but I don't know anyone who has. I currently have 2 motorcycle tags adorning my shed wall. Along with a few tags from FL that I never turned in. As far as I'm concerned they're paid for by me so I'm keeping them.
Well you know me now!!! I thought you didn't have to also but got a very strict talking to by the insurance company when I bought my new car.
I've never had that problem. I'd be getting a new insurance company if I had somebody lecturing me about something stupid like that.
I sent mine back when I got a new car with a new plate. Why wouldn't you?
Why spend the money on a new plate when you can just transfer the existing one?
I mean, as a motorcycle rider I appreciate it because those fees fund the motorcycle safety courses, which allows PA residents to take them for free. But I don't see the point in spending money on something and then giving that something back.
Pure incompetence on my part, that's why! After that I wised up and kept the old plate when I changed cars.
But that's not what this thread is about. It's about someone with a plate but no car to put it on.
Understood. I paid for them so when that circumstance arises I don't return them. Like someone else here mentioned, it's trypically not enforced. If they were going to enforce it they would just send a letter saying that you needed to return the tag so then you return the tag.
Googles “pennsylvania penalty not turning plate”
$300 penalty.
Which to my knowledge and anecdotal evidence is never enforced.
I have a few old license lates and zero fines to anecdotally support your hypothesis.
It is on commercial tags. I got a nasty-gram from PennDOT over the plate off my Kenworth after I got rid of the truck.
Ah, that makes sense, I can see them tracking those tags.
As far as I know, Harrisburg doesn't care about passenger vehicle tags. Just the commercial ones.
I have a dozen old plates. I have never been fined. They don't them. They have no value to anyone.
I’ve got 6 of my old plates downstairs. They don’t care.
They can also suspend your license iirc
I never turned my old ones in.
I mean, how else am i gonna decorate my garage?
Pa plates and deer horns. Dont get much more pa, then that
Do the antlers correspond to the license plate they were hit by?
I snorted out loud when i read this.
Nah, never hit a deer........in pa at least.
Maryland otoh...
My thoughts exactly- every garage I went in as a kid had at least a handful on the wall.
To complete thre trifecta, antique beer cans
No just destroy it. Bend or whatever so it can’t be stolen and used
I worked for PennDot theres no direct you should return it or not. You should turn in your registration. But as for the plate you don’t have to. People collect plates and believe it or not it’s pretty common in our state. So they just want you to make it so it Can’t be usable. Scratching the numbers, bending.
How do I turn in my registration? I assume I could walk into the DMV. But I’m in FL now. Do you know if I can call or just let my registration expire?
Let it expire
You can mail it into them
Yes!
I didn't because it was the first time I'd ever sold a car privately. People who bought my car put my plates on their other car apparently. I ended up getting a pile of citations for a car I've never owned in a town I've never lived. Luckily I was able to provide the paperwork showing it was my plate but it was on a car I sold to the people at the address of the citations. Codes guy was able to get rid of the hundreds of dollars in citations and made sure I contacted penndot to kill the plates in case they attempted to use them again.
I’m currently going through this exact situation and each time I provide the paperwork stating I sold my car back in February of this year they just say I am still responsible??
Even though the plate is on a completely different car
Any advice/tips ??
Cry? Lol, I mean it probably helped.
The title transfer company sent over the request to kill the plates, saying they were accidentally left on the car. The codes guy who ticketed the vehicle recognized the people who were using my plate as trouble for other reasons and believed my story.
Keep the tag. If you sell the car, take the plate off or make darn sure that it has been taken out of your name when you transfer the title with the DMV
It is a very good idea to do so.
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Unscrupulous folk will resell your old plates if you left them and a few years later you'll start getting notices about fines and penalties in places you've never driven in in your life.
Ask me how I know.
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"Turn in" might be the law technically, but apparently it's not really enforced, so at least keep the plates. Just don't leave them on your vehicle, whether you're selling it drivable or selling to a junkyard after getting totaled.
If you want to:
the only risk is someone getting ahold of it and using it for illegal reasons.
Hope this helps.
I have quite a few. Never returned them
Important to destroy it. You don’t want it lost or stolen and used on another car.
I have all my PA plates in my garage. Maryland fined me for not returning there’s. Fuck Maryland, but PA don’t care
In your case, I'd just destroy the plate. Cut or break it up.
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I wonder this too. I had put in an envelope and then realized they want to have me PAY to turn in....what the he'll is that sh%t?
I just let it go.
My kid enjoys collecting the old plates from states we have lived in.
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Long as you're sure the new owner registered the car, then you're likely fine. Most often the issue arises when one leaves their old plate on. Fortunately, you took it off, which substantially reduces the risk.
Personally, I'd suggest mailing it back in a USPS Priority envelope. That way you have tracking. Then sometime afterwards PennDOT will mail a letter indicating the registration has been cancelled. Vast majority of people don't do this and have no problems, but for several dollars, it's worth the peace of mind.
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heeroguy t1_iynlcyr wrote
you are supposed too. but ......