Now that insurance is the reason they will be confiscated (a lack of registration gets you a ticket in California, lack of insurance gets the car towed to impound) and the only person paying for a minor to major car damage is the insurance company.... there is no longer a reason to have it's registration be renewed annually.
The only reason that occurs is to give the DMV a reason to charge you money, and check that your car is insured.
Your insurance company is going to be made aware of all your tickets that matter anyway... so, I suggest that registering cars become a thing of the past. It has no connection to who drives your car anyway.
So what's the point?
The only reason that occurs is to give the DMV a reason to charge you money, and check that your car is insured.
Your insurance company is going to be made aware of all your tickets that matter anyway... so, I suggest that registering cars become a thing of the past. It has no connection to who drives your car anyway.
So what's the point?
Where to begin....... Not every state requires insurance. Registration fees cover a gamut of different purposes depending on your state and/ or community. Registrations establish a record of ownership both present and past. Are you suggesting the insurance companies issue license plates? How would that be regulated to make sure numbers weren't duplicated and plates were consistent? Some states require insurance companies to report when coverage is dropped on a vehicle so that law enforcement is made aware of the violation when they run the vehicle's registration. Some states require emissions and/or safety inspections before issuing a registration - that helps to keep cars running around on old, dry-rotted tires off the roads where they're a potential hazard to those of us that take care of our cars
ReplyDeleteWhere to begin to reply... I don't know the laws of every state and province and island we've taken under our wing (Guam, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico) but I'm pretty sure they all require your vehicle to be insured to be on public roads, highways, and interstates. hell, I've been wrong before, and if I'm wrong this time I'm sure I'll still sleep like a lamb guarded by angels.
DeleteI'm sure that those registration fees are said to do so, but are you aware that they do or do not just go straight into the state general fund, after all, you're pretty sure that insurance isn't required everywhere.
Ergo, general fund, bankrupt state that can't balance a budget and deferred maintenance on roads, and you have those registration fees not doing a damn thing except covering bridges built to nowwhere to appease contractors and corporations that donated to the election campaign.
Ownership past and present,... exactly who cares? The states won't release that info anymore, a lot of classic car restorers and owners have tried to find out who owned the vehicles in the past.
Insurance companies have already done that, look up the AAA history.
How is the DMV doing with regulation etc? They can't even prevent license plates from being made that are offensive.
Some states this and some states that... not relevant to the fact that my opinion is that registration has become obsolete, and the states are gouging the car owners.
You know what keeps old dry rotted tires off the roads? Nothing.
But you go ahead and believe that, and in ghosts, ufos, angels, and the bible. Be my guest. Or look out the window when you are on the interstates, in parking lots, etc and see that bad tires are out there. Hell, I've posted enough of them in the past to prove it.
As for required emissions, what does that have to do with registration? Nothing. So, what was the point of bringing that up. Any vehicle in a state that requires an inspection or emissions check is going to get one anyway, aren't they? But you forget, that doesn't cover all the cars in that state that do NOT have to get checked, case in point, my 1969 R/T here in California, or the people that live in selected cities exempt from emissions testing... right here in emissions checking hell California.
So, what's the point of registering?
So they know who to write a ticket to? Well, that's already been addressed, it gets written to the driver, not the owner.
So they get the vehicle safety inspected? Not relevant to the registration, it's registered as who owns it, not what got inspected. Inspections are written out to the driver, or owner, not the DMV. They only check that the car is smogged or inspected or both, and then they license it as legal for the roads, fees paid. Again, what is the purpose of registering it? The person who drives it does not need to own it. kids driver their parents cars, and the parents pay the insurance too...
Again, as long as the driver is licensed, the car is licensed, and the car is insured... why register it?
FWIW, my research indicates NH and VA don't currently require car insurance, but under circumstances that probably cause almost everyone to buy it anyway. Further, twenty-nine states that do require car insurance apparently also accept either bonds or cash deposits in lieu of it.
DeleteWhere I come from, a registration consists of two things: A piece of paper and a license plate (updated in subsequent years with a sticker). No registration = no plate. The last sentence of your reply assumed you already have a plate, something that you couldn't get here without registering the car.
Hope this helps.
I'm a regular visitor to your site and very much appreciate the hard work you put into it. Currently working on doing a bit more than just thanking you here for that work. We'll see how that turns out.
Best regards, TD
THanks Terry!
DeleteAnd some companies are able to self insure, but, they are still financially liable for the damages, so, after all is said and done, they are insured.
I simply don't have the motivation or time to research the insurance issue, and that isn't the point I was trying to make.
I feel registration is obsolete. Licensing a car, yes. Registering the owner and charging ridiculous amounts of money, no.
On the topic you raised, if a person buys a car from someone, pays cash, and drives off.. is the license plate still on the car? Probably. Is it insured? Nope. And if that new buyer never insures or registers it, that vehicle is quite illegal, but still driving around with a plate that makes it look legal.
What gives the DMV the logical reason to charge a new buyer the same dollar amount the old owner just paid for registration? To change the name and address in a computer? That's mighty clear gouging.
100 years ago they printed books with every car and it's owner. I don't know what the point of that was either, but it was done, and it was quickly obsolete. Just like the white and yellow pages.
Anyway, if my registration was due last month, and I pay the DMV, and then sell it, why don't I get my money back?
Why must the new owner pay all over again, the DMV was just paid to do the paperwork and issue a sticker, and they aren't going to send another one, are they? I can't recall, it's been too long.
Whatever. Just a shower thought. It's not like any govt is going to be persuaded to stop gouging citizens, and even more certainly not on my shower thought logic. I'm just sharing thoughts over here people, if it's ridiculous, just roll your eyes and move along.... I won't know.
Jesse, why do you get so bent out of shape anytime someone disagrees with you? I merely pointed out some rational reasons for vehicle registration and asked some questions about how your alternative would be implemented. Instead of furthering a discussion you attack me and attempt to shoot down the points I was making - while also attacking points I didn't make I.e. Where the registration fees go specifically. You make many assumptions and pass them off as fact when you honestly don't know what the true facts are. I have resided in various states over the course of my life and in all of them the license plate stayed with the owner, not the car. In those circumstances, if you left the plate on the car after selling it you would be stuck with any parking ticket or traffic camera offense recorded to that plate until the new owner registered it. (Tickets written to the owner of the vehicle, not the driver). If you are going to post thoughts that provoke discussion be prepared to discuss them - perhaps you may learn a new perspective and grow in knowledge. Or you could just continue as you've always done in the past and call those who do or say something you don't like a moron - whatever makes you feel better about yourself
ReplyDeleteI dunno. Just wired that way I guess. Same reason you're wasting your time typing to a dumb ass that is hard to get along with.
DeleteI've lived in several states. Michigan, plates stay with car, California, plates stay with car. Connecticut plates go with owner, Hawaii, I think the plates went with the owner, or why the hell do I still have them?
So, there you are, some places jsut do things differently, and the tickets go to the previous owner if the new owner doesn't register.
Simple enough? You're wrong. And sometimes, you're right.
And telling other people doesn't make me feel anything about myself, it only proves I'm stupid to waste my time talking to morons.
Point of fact, I haven't called you a moron, even though you infer it.
Just so you know, when starting out a note to comment to anyone, the words "where to begin" are clearly your way of saying "You are too stupid to even comprehend what I am about to discuss, but I'm so wonderful I shall try to raise your iq and education standard, so thank me later, no groveling is necessary. Gee I'm so smart, and you aren't"
Ergo, you started it, and how's it make you feel to call other people morons, then accuse them of doing it?
Pot, meet kettle.
I was referring to your previous record of calling people morons in posts and comments when they expressed opinions differing from yours and waiting for you to add me to that long list of transgressors. I can see your point in how you perceived my original comment, but that was not my intention. "Where to begin" was simply my way of saying that your idea raised a long list of questions on how such a major revamping of an established system could be accomplished. I read various blogs as a way of exposing myself to new material or subject matter. Sometimes I comment to open or further a discussion, sometimes I research the topic further to gain more insight and knowledge. I'm quite comfortable with admitting when I'm wrong, but I am curious as to what statement I made were you referring to when you said I was wrong? P.s. Michigan plates stay with the owner and can be transferred to a new vehicle while Connecticut plates must be surrender after selling the vehicle.
ReplyDeleteAs a guy that sold his Michigan truck in Ct, in 1990, I disagree that was the way it was back then, and I'm not sure what you are saying about surrendering the plates in Connecticut... I have those from that truck I sold when it went to Hawaii. So, they sure weren't surrendered. Perhaps your info is all relevant to people who stay in those states, and not the people that get plates and move away and then sell the vehicle.
DeleteAs for what you intend, that's not something I can mind read. I can suppose you infer, or I can try for a literal interpretation.
As for my previous record, hey, it's my website. It's my thoughts, opinions, preferences, and stream of consciousness. You don't really think that with a 100 posts a week I sit around pondering the big picture of anything, do you? I stick and move. Flying by the seat of my pants, and I am beholden to no one.
Just what did you think that title up there at the top of every page refers to? Just a car guy... just a guy in a garage that is going to speak his mind. Good or bad, complimentary, derogatory, snarky, clever, genius, condescending, or praising. It's all whatever the moment brings.
I have no one telling me what's appropriate, inappropriate, censored, or preferred.
This site ain't being paid for, subscribed to, traded for, or beholden to anything.
I might be considered a good guy for all the free publicity on charity work, or a criminal for using photos I don't have rights to.
IDGAF most of the time what anyone gets from what I do, because, none of the people reading this have been here for the past 10.5 years to see why, or learn what I said way back when, to the dozen readers a day I had then.
It's just one of billions of sites on the net, and meaningless in the big picture.
Here today, gone tomorrow, like so many that have disappeared.
Go ask Go Away Garage how many morons he dealt with, and why he doesn't have a website anymore.
Hell, go back to that previous record of calling people morons, and decide on each one, were they morons? A lot of people are you know. Very few are Van Loons, Piranesis, Rembrandts, etc.
I can see your point too, and let you know that if I felt I was wrong, I'd be up front about it, correct myself, apologize to the one's I've done wrong or offended, and carry one with a purpose. I'm a car guy, not a philosopher, saint, grandpa, or village wise old elder.
You carry on, comment away etc, as you please. Just get it straight, your comment may just find someone with no time to perceive your views, appreciate your time, or agree with your facts. You seem to have displaced your ease of integration with the rest of people you talk to when you think they will just applaud at your efforts, instead of having any or every reaction that happens for causes you aren't even aware of.
For all you know, I have issues that even I'm unaware of, and being told I'm wrong might be one. Or not.
Maybe I'm... just a car guy