Titles/registration

[RiKi5156B]

Since acquiring and selling over150 cars in my time(not dealer) I’ve not really had any title/registration problems until recently. Several years ago I sold a 55 Buick on E bay to a fellow in Australia. I left the 1955 year of manufacture plate on it. He wanted it.My problem was I forgot to send in the notice of sale to DOL. So 7/8 months ago I started getting toll bills from the state for some major freeways in Seattle area. Talking to the toll collectors they saw the pictures and told me it was on a 90s Range Rover. Talked to my bud in Australia, the plate never showed. Obviously stolen in Seattle area. Toll people say that toll bills go by the plate owner and they were gracious enough to dismiss all charges. One of them said it’s a good thing that plate wasn’t involved in a crime or they would have the State patrol at my door. We got the change of ownership done and haven’t had any problems since.

[Matt Harwood]

That's why nothing going overseas goes with things that can be easily removed. We spend quite a bit of time removing things like hood ornament, knobs, cigarette lighters, etc. from cars going overseas and we never, ever let a car leave with plates on it. We usually secure all those things in the trunk, but sometimes we take extra precautions. For example, I just shipped a 1931 Cadillac to Estonia and you'd better believe that hood ornament was well-hidden inside the car. The radiator was sealed with duct tape. Stuff like that disappears at the dock all the time and I'd hate to have a client receive a car with missing unobtainium. Plates are just the most obvious thing to remove.

 

I would say that you should never, ever ship a car with plates on it, no matter how badly the new owner wants them. IN it might be OK if it's going overseas, but if you're selling a car domestically, you don't know what kind of mischief the new owner will make with your plates on the car. Sadly, you are unlikely the first guy who experienced this. I'd wager that the guys at the dock NEVER pay tolls and just keep grabbing new plates and let the other guy worry about it. It's probably a known thing. "OK, this week Larry gets a new set, Dave, you get the next set, and Mike, go over and check and see if that Mercedes still has plates on it--those are yours if you need them."

 

Always take the plates off before handing a car to a new owner. You don't know what the next guy is going to do with them.

[SC38dls]

Just my luck. I needed the plates this week and I’m scheduled for the next set. Lol

Dave S 

[RiKi5156B]

Yep,I’ll definitely do that from now on. The toll people in Seattle told me to ignore the toll bills from now on. Kind of leary about that. Several years ago I was selling mid 70s Mercedes SL 350,450, and a couple 93 500s to a fellow in Germany, reason being the cars over there were treated as dailies and rusted away quickly because of salted roads. I lost one hardtop and a few badges. No body damaged but after a zillion calls to shippers no one seemed to have a clue where the top or badges went. My customer had shipping insurance and they bought him a new one. The perils of transport.

[1912Staver]

I see licence plates for sale all over the place at swap meets. By the thousands. Someone could screw them to a car and the person the plate was issued to would be liable ?

 

Greg in Canada

[39BuickEight]

55 minutes ago, 1912Staver said:

I see licence plates for sale all over the place at swap meets. By the thousands. Someone could screw them to a car and the person the plate was issued to would be liable ?

 

Greg in Canada

Those plates are dead/not registered.  People don’t steal dead tags and use them, they use live, currently registered plates.  

[1912Staver]

The original post says the car was sold several years ago and the plate started being used several months ago. Sounds like it was not a currently valid plate, and very similar to many at swap meets. At what point does the original owners liability end ? A toll camera probably can't tell if the plate is current, it just reads the number.  Where I live we never inform motor vehicles a vehicle is sold except if we want to transfer our insurance and plate to another vehicle. If the plate expires and the owner stops using the car it might sit for years with the plate on. Be sold for parts or scrap and often the old plate will still be on it. I have bought several cars over the years with old plates still on them, they just join all the others on my shed wall.

 

Greg in Canada

Edited February 12, 2018 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[Bloo]

1912Staver: I think RiKi5156b's plate is a special case. It is a YOM plate, and in WA, if you register one of those it is limited use but does not expire. In the original post, the plate was stolen and someone used this historic 1955 plate in the same state (WA) where it had just been in use and registered with this special registration that does not expire every year. It started tripping toll cameras.

 

It was also a bold thing to do, because that plate looks radically different than a current plate in WA, and any patrolman who saw it would know at a glance that it is NOT a valid registration on a 90s Range Rover. A 90s Range Rover does not qualify for any sort of YOM plate in WA, 30 years being the current limit. When it finally does qualify, It will qualify for a plate that is a different shape and color than a 1955 WA plate.

 

WA has no sense of humor about false registrations, and if a trooper had seen this Range Rover on the road, I am fairly sure the driver would have gone directly to jail, never mind the toll cameras.

 

I believe 99.9 percent of those plates at swap meets would be long expired.

Edited February 12, 2018 by Bloo (see edit history)

[1912Staver]

That sort of makes sense, apart from a 1955 plate being used on a 1990's Range Rover. Clearly not a valid use for a "YOM" plate.

 

Greg

[JACK M]

I have an Oregon Special Interest plate that was on a Bentley that I sold years ago to a guy in Germany.

Its an obnoxious yellow plate with blue letters and is clearly marked special interest.

I couldn't say if it is still in the Oregon system at this point but I have loaned it to a 55 Chevy guy, a Model T guy and a few others for short periods of time.

 

I am pretty sure I sold it at a swap meet a long time ago as I haven't seen it in years officer.