J-rap Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 My dd is teaching abroad, and decided to cancel insurance on her old car which is sitting in our garage unused. She researched a DMV site which I guess stated that you need to turn in your license plates to your local DMV if you cancel your insurance but still own your car. Being a rule-follower, she asked us if we'd do that for her, which we did today (or tried!). They almost laughed their heads off when I tried turning them in. They said in all their years, no one has ever done that, and in fact, they had never heard of it being required. Anyway, we all thought it was pretty funny, but I was wondering if other states are more strict about this? Apparently our state doesn't really care! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 I've never heard of that. When we pay our taxes each year we have to take proof of insurance to the DMV to get the sticker for the plate. I knew of a guy in college who would get insurance through one of those low cost agencies that advertise on tv in the middle of the night, get the sticker for his license plate, then cancel the insurance. The big fines for being an accident without insurance would not be worth it to me. I guess he didn't think the police would run his plates as long as he had the right sticker. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfknitter.# Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 I never heard of this, but a quick Google says it's done in NY state: https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/surrender-vehicle-plates-dmv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 My dd is teaching abroad, and decided to cancel insurance on her old car which is sitting in our garage unused. She researched a DMV site which I guess stated that you need to turn in your license plates to your local DMV if you cancel your insurance but still own your car. Being a rule-follower, she asked us if we'd do that for her, which we did today (or tried!). They almost laughed their heads off when I tried turning them in. They said in all their years, no one has ever done that, and in fact, they had never heard of it being required. Anyway, we all thought it was pretty funny, but I was wondering if other states are more strict about this? Apparently our state doesn't really care! I've never heard of it being required, but it sounds flipping brilliant so I wish it was. Seems like it would cut way down on uninsured drivers which is a massive problem around here. Of course now, cops can just run your license plate through their software and see if you have insurance anyway, so maybe that's why no one cares in your state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xixstar Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Maryland requires it. And be very sure you don't cancel your insurance until after you have a return receipt for your plates. I find MD to be a bit extreme with all things car related. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Here, if insurance is cancelled, the state sends a nice little letter in the mail saying to get insurance, or proof you no longer have the car or it's not on the road, or they'll send the mafia after you. Or something like that. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMWB Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 You had better do it in NV - found that out the hard way. Probably depends on the state though, WA is no big deal at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 NY state is very strict about it. I asked in another state and they said 'haha what? use them to patch a hole or something' 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 (edited) I did it, NY state Edited December 30, 2016 by Alessandra 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 My brother's non-running car doesn't have insurance, and it still has plates (which is good since it's parked in the apartment lot). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 It's required here (NC) and from what I understand you either do it or you get an ugly letter in the mail stating that you better do it quickly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schadenfreude Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Some states require you to turn in your plates and some just require you to not renew the tag. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 We returned them once and nobody laughed. Other times we gave them away. I don't see the point in turning them in (after all we paid for them). They don't reuse them. Just recycle them. So I dunno. Guess they aren't strict in NY or CT because we never got in trouble (nor laughed at). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliebee Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 We sold a car once and cancelled the insurance on it. They suspended my hubby's drivers license because we didn't turn in the license plates. They sent us a letter (that we didn't get) telling us that if we didn't have proof of insurance they would suspend. That was in Virginia in 1999. It took us a while to straighten it out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Here, if insurance is cancelled, the state sends a nice little letter in the mail saying to get insurance, or proof you no longer have the car or it's not on the road, or they'll send the mafia after you. Or something like that. I wonder how you'd prove it's no longer on the road, if you still have it on your property but in storage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 I asked in another state and they said 'haha what? use them to patch a hole or something' That's about what happened here! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 I have never heard of that. DH's old car is sitting in our garage, waiting for the day that he could put some work into it. Every year the DMV sends us our registration notice, we check "non-op" on it, send it back in and that's that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CT Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 CT requires it, we've done it twice, they gave us an acknowledgment of receipt, no one laughed, don't know what would have happened if we hadn't done it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 When we've had a car sit, we didn't cancel insurance, but had it dropped down to a storage rate. That still protects in case of theft, but doesn't carry unnecessary liability insurance when you're not driving it. It also maintains your relationship with the insurance company so you don't have to deal with higher new customer rates upon return. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 When we've had a car sit, we didn't cancel insurance, but had it dropped down to a storage rate. That still protects in case of theft, but doesn't carry unnecessary liability insurance when you're not driving it. It also maintains your relationship with the insurance company so you don't have to deal with higher new customer rates upon return. I am a little worried about her being charged new customer rates when she returns and begins driving it again. I don't think our state has storage rates though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 I wonder how you'd prove it's no longer on the road, if you still have it on your property but in storage? I had a car that was not road-worthy and sat in the driveway for over a year, without insurance. I walked in to the MVD, told them it wasn't in service, then paid a much-reduced registration fee. That was all. (If it gets caught on the road with that type registration, it does result in a ticket.) This is actually a different case than having to turn in the plate just for not having insurance. That makes no sense. What if you plan on putting the car back on the road? You have to re-register the same car to get a new plate?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Having lived in multiple states, I think all the DMV pages say that, but we have only ever done it once. DH wanted the plates for the garage after awhile, so we stopped turning them in and nothing bad happened. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 I sell insurance in NYS and we can't remove a vehicle until we have proof that the plates have been turned in. it would be great if we didn't have to do that! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 What if you plan on putting the car back on the road? You have to re-register the same car to get a new plate?? Yeah -- I wonder how that works?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 OP, can your insurance company do a suspended policy? I took my second car off the road and the insurance company said 'Hey instead of removing it like you asked, we can just suspend the policy so that you don't get charged anything but if you come back you won't be a new customer' and I said 'yes please' 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 We have to do it in MD. Our DMVs (that go by another name) have drop boxes with forms so you don't have to wait in line. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 I had a car that was not road-worthy and sat in the driveway for over a year, without insurance. I walked in to the MVD, told them it wasn't in service, then paid a much-reduced registration fee. That was all. (If it gets caught on the road with that type registration, it does result in a ticket.) This is actually a different case than having to turn in the plate just for not having insurance. That makes no sense. What if you plan on putting the car back on the road? You have to re-register the same car to get a new plate?? Adding on to this (I'm in the same state as Renai -- Hi Renai!!) In our state (NM), you can't register a car without insurance. If you drop insurance, you get a nasty postcard reminding you to register it. If you ignore it (and don't drive it), nothing happens until you try to re-register it. Before you re-register it, you have to re-insure it (of course), and you have to pay in arrears for all the years you missed. Only then can you re-register it. I didn't know there was a non-op registration option. We have two motorcycles in the non-operation mode. We paid storage insurance and registration for them for many years (more than 10 years) before dh realized that we'd be better off just not doing either. If/when he decides to get them running again, we'll have to pay back-registration, but we'll have saved on the insurance premiums. (not concerned about theft. They're not really worth much, monetarily) We don't have to surrender plates, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 OP, can your insurance company do a suspended policy? I took my second car off the road and the insurance company said 'Hey instead of removing it like you asked, we can just suspend the policy so that you don't get charged anything but if you come back you won't be a new customer' and I said 'yes please' It doesn't sound like her policy/company has that option. They do allow a storage option which is significantly reduced, but she was hoping to avoid even that (being on a very limited budget). However, now she has discovered that if she completely cancels it, she might be charged a higher rate when restarting it again; it sounds like that's more the norm than not. So she'll probably just do the storage rate instead of completely cancelling it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 Adding on to this (I'm in the same state as Renai -- Hi Renai!!) In our state (NM), you can't register a car without insurance. If you drop insurance, you get a nasty postcard reminding you to register it. If you ignore it (and don't drive it), nothing happens until you try to re-register it. Before you re-register it, you have to re-insure it (of course), and you have to pay in arrears for all the years you missed. Only then can you re-register it. I didn't know there was a non-op registration option. We have two motorcycles in the non-operation mode. We paid storage insurance and registration for them for many years (more than 10 years) before dh realized that we'd be better off just not doing either. If/when he decides to get them running again, we'll have to pay back-registration, but we'll have saved on the insurance premiums. (not concerned about theft. They're not really worth much, monetarily) We don't have to surrender plates, though. It sounds like it can vary quite a bit from state to state, I'm learning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 You have to turn them in in Virginia. And you do get a refund on part of the taxes paid for that year when you do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plink Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) We aren't required to have insurance here, so turning in the plates when canceling insurance would never have occurred to me. Edited because apparently I am only able to catch spelling mistakes after submitting a post, and never before. Edited December 31, 2016 by Plink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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