Warning about "Specialty" license plates and theft...

[GilpinGuy]

Money VOLUNTARILY given to the gov't?
I get wanting to show your pride, gratitude, etc., but not 1 cent of my hard earned money goes to the gov't unless it keeps me out of prison. Tax is theft.

[ray1970]

On a related note, I bought a brand new truck in Texas and the plates cost me $45. Moved here with that same truck a year later and when I put Colorado plates on it it was somewhere around $380. It was quite the surprise and my first lesson in the high cost of living here.

[spqrzilla]

Never heard that. My local clerk let me use the old plates from my Jeep Cherokee when I scrapped it and bought a Toyota. Those had to be six or seven years old.

[fly boy]

I thought I would update this thread with this WTF?

I have Marine Corps plates on some of my vehicles. I purchased a used truck this week and wanted to put some Marine Corps plates on it. I paid $50 or whatever it was for these plates a few years back and they were only on a vehicle for less than a year. In perfect shape so I thought why buy new ones and waste $50 again, just transfer these to the purchase.

NOPE!!! I have to buy all new ones because the DMV wont let you use them if they are more than 2 years old. WTF is that? I am going to write a letter to some douchebag politician once I figure who to send it to. I realize they dont give a shit about a citizen who isnt made of money or cant help them politcally, but I need to vent at them. I hate the government.

let me clarify. they wont let me use the plates because they hadnt been used in 2 years. I have plates that I have used for 15 years straight. but dont take them off the vehicle and then try to use them on a vehicle 2 years later. I paid for them, why cant I use them?

Because ColoFornia?

In WY we HAVE to change plates every 8 years. They re-design them, so even if you purchase custom plates, you will have to buy a new set when the new design comes out.

[O2HeN2]

let me clarify. they wont let me use the plates because they hadnt been used in 2 years. I have plates that I have used for 15 years straight. but dont take them off the vehicle and then try to use them on a vehicle 2 years later. I paid for them, why cant I use them?

I have a reasonable guess as to why. I bet after a plate isn't used for two years, the state marks the plate number as unused and can re-issue the number to someone else.

So your number may be in use on another vehicle. Most likely it isn't. Being the government (and especially the MVD), they can't be bothered to simply look up your old number and see if it's been reissued (I doubt they even have a process of taking it off the available list). Easier to shaft the customer, because they have no market pressures that result in good customer service.

O2