License Plate Talk

[MikeW]

First of all, does anyone know the legalities behind sending one through the mail and/or purchasing them? Im talking old ones and/or ones that are expired.

The reason I ask is Ive sort of taken to collecting them. Most of them are from work, from auction cars or when a trade-in comes in, from out of state, the old plates(unless the previous owner requests them back) are still on the car and our used car guy just tosses them but i asked him to start saving them for me. Anyway, I got to thinking, there is a cb7tuner member in pretty much all 50 states.

So, the ides that I had was, what kind of trade/deal could we get going? Assuming it were legal. I was thinking like $5/plate. Should cover shipping and a few extra bucks for whatever. Perhaps some of you own, work at or live near a junkyard that sees lots of plates. Maybe you just have a bunch laying around from your own collection--whatever. Id just like to gauge interest in this sort of thing and see who'd be interested in giving it a go.

[Ralphie]

Id like to chime in and ask a question-

In Fla(and im assuming other states) if you sell/get rid of/lose your car and cancel your insurance, you HAVE to send your plates in to the Fla DOT or they will suspend your license(i know this because i found out the hard way lol)

So isn't that the case in every state? And if so then how do you guys have plates from your old cars?

As far as you go Mike, as long as you have no ties to any of the plates then really you can do whatever you want with them.

[MikeW]

Ive heard that rule about turning them into the DoT but I dont know because I heard Ohio is that way yet, i have (2) pair of Ohio plates.

[Joshy]

When I re-registered my 1990 CB as a historic vehicle in MD, I kept my old tags and never returned them. I didn't get into any trouble over it.

[Night Wolf]

In Fla(and im assuming other states) if you sell/get rid of/lose your car and cancel your insurance, you HAVE to send your plates in to the Fla DOT or they will suspend your license(i know this because i found out the hard way lol)

lol for real? damn cuz I got a few of them. some from my parents old cars

[DJ metadelic]

in Vermont you don't need to return them. There's some how a small tax credit if you do, however. Hell, I still have 4 or 5 sets from old vehicles...probably should send em in.

I do not know the legalities surrounding mailing plates though.

[crazymikey]

Technically you're supposed to turn in your old plates so that they can take them out of system and know they're no longer used.

However, where I've lived, it doesn't really matter. I never turned in any of my old plates, even if the sticker was still good, because you can get a refund for the amount of time left on the sticker.

Stupidly, when I moved to Alberta from Ontario, I did turn in all my old Ontario plates. Also, when I moved here, I still had my Ontario plates on the truck, but they belonged to my dad. When I registered the truck in Alberta, I mailed the plates back to my dad in Ontario, with no issues.

I have a whole whack of plates I've collected from the wreckers. I have Alberta,BC,Saskatchewan and 1 Montana plate. There's a few more there I could grab as well. Here's a partial collection of them.


I dont think any of us will have issues mailing licence plates around the country and over the border. I bought a German licence plate from Ebay, shipped from Germany and had no issues with that either.

[Julianachos]

I've been collecting since I was a kid and people who gave me plates just kept them instead of turning them in to the DMV. I even have an old matching set of orange NY plates that were in the envelope!

[nine_deuce]

Here in Washington we don't have to turn in our old plates. I just replaced the ones on the wife's car and just tossed the old ones in the trunk. I'm not sure if she still has them or if she tossed them.

I remember being at a local junk yard quite a few years ago, there was a car, I wanna say it was a Taurus or something similar, the entire interior was full of license plates they'd pulled off of vehicles that had came into the yard. It was interesting looking thru some of them, didn't see any personalized plates, though.

[crazymikey]

The coolest plate I currently have is a genuine Alberta plate from 1936.

I found it in a chest in my great grandfather's house in England. When he was young, so back in the 30s and 40s, he came from England to Alberta and BC to work in the gold mines. I'm under the assumption this may have been a personal licence plate of his.

Put it on my truck for a photo op lol.

[DJ metadelic]

^

that is pretty awesome. i like how simple plate designs once were. but some of the new graphics are nice.

[crazymikey]

Most of our Canadian plates are still pretty simple, if not boring. I see lots from the states that I find are really hard to read the numbers and letters due to the graphics on them.

British Columbia has some new plates that were issued for the 2010 Olympics, and it's a white and blue mountain background with black lettering. They're impossible to read from a distance. I always liked their old plates (see posted pic in above post with all the plates).


Alberta's plates are nice and simple, but they recently ran out of combinations, and have now added a 4th number and a new font for these new filler plates until the new design comes out in 2012. I actually have a current issue plate with a sticker good til the end of this month and it's ZZZ 689. We found it in the trunk of my buddy's project Silvia.

Our current filler plates are ugly at the moment.


The coolest plates in Canada are the Northwest Territories ones, which are shaped like polar bears.

[DJ metadelic]

Most of our Canadian plates are still pretty simple, if not boring. I see lots from the states that I find are really hard to read the numbers and letters due to the graphics on them.
------------

Alberta's plates are nice and simple

this.

that second pic reminds me of mass. plates. the graphics-less ones.


graphics version


i like both i guess. and (not bias either just saying) i've also always liked vermont plates. they're easy to read lol which can be both bad or good, depending.

[MikeW]

Mikey, Gus, Noah....I'll take one of each. Please. If you can part with it or have a duplicate, I'll take the other.

[crazymikey]

Mike, I can get you an Alberta and Saskatchewan plate. There's a couple on some cars at the wreckers I was gonna go snag.

The wreckers dont like when you take plates, so I sneak them out in my jacket lol. They have to report them stolen if you take them even if they're expired.

But I want 2 in exchange for what I send!