At what point do you remove the plates when you sell a car?

[Xist]

I saw this on Imgur:

"Are all of these sellers flippers?"
Right now the top comment is "That's what a flipper would say!"
Everyone else claims that it is perfectly normal to remove the license plates and make it illegal to test drive the car and take it to a mechanic before buying.

According to the DMV (for states excluding the 12.15% that live in California), the seller is supposed to keep the plate. The buyer needs to drive directly to the DMV, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

[Isaac Zachary]

This person keeps the plate...
Xist for $200...
"Who is the seller?"
Correct! Now for the Daily Double.

I've bought a car as far as Houston, Texas. I drove that car legally from Houston to Colorado with no plates over the weekend. All I needed was a bill of sale and some other paper I had to download from the Texas' DMV website. I crossed two state lines with no worries as I've done this kind of thing several times and when I get pulled over I just show them my driver's license and the bill of sale and I'm good to go.

[Xist]

When I bought Chorizo I drove straight to Kinko's and printed out a temporary plate and proof of insurance.

It seemed faster than being pulled over at least once.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by Xist

When I bought Chorizo I drove straight to Kinko's and printed out a temporary plate and proof of insurance.

It seemed faster than being pulled over at least once.

I would have done that had it been a week day. I always call my insurance ahead of time letting them know I might be buying a car.

I once made the mistake of selling a car and not removing the plates. The person who bought it didn't change the plates over and then her 16 year old took the car joy riding and drove it into someone's living room at 2am. I got a sudden wake up knock from the police asking why my car had crashed into someone's house.

[Xist]

There was a point where if I could have snapped my fingers and sent my Subaru into my then-girlfriend's living room I would have.

Police: "Do you think your ex was trying to get back at you?"
[Chuckles] "I don't think she could have pulled it off."

[redpoint5]

I never remove the license plate when I sell. They get that too.

In Oregon, a license plate isn't a legal requirement anymore because it's Mad Max here. Covid caused a supply chain issue with DMV making 12 x 6 inch thin metal plates with numbers, or something, and therefore you can camp and poop on sidewalks, but can't camp in nature, and because that's ok, not having a licensed vehicle is also ok, or something.

[freebeard]

I'd like to find an Oregon buyer for the Dasher diesel, because I put Pacific Wonderland plates on it.


https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...e_of_oreg.html

[Piotrsko]

In nevada you own the plates, so they come off the car when you sell it and either get turned in or bolted to the replacement. You also have a transport tag, but that's a DMV thing so you can drive a not plated vehicle for 2 weeks just using a bill of sale, owner signed title, proof of current insurance showing the VIN. That does generate a fixit ticket, however.

Previous observations show that if you are in traffic not doing anything differently, you tend to not get noticed. Not sure about solo operations on an empty highway, but figure the rear plate area isn't generally super visible (we are a 1 plate requirement state), also not sure about transport accross different jurisdictions

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Previous observations show that if you are in traffic not doing anything differently, you tend to not get noticed.

The time I bought that vehicle in Houston and drove over 1,000 miles home I passed several police cars, one time there were three of them on the side of the road, and didn't get pulled over once.

One of my first cars I drove with the plates on and got pulled over because of the expired tag. The officer told me to take the plates off BEFORE pulling out and to just drive without plates and would be fine with the bill of sale.

Anytime I've been pulled over without plates I've been fine with the bill of sale. I've called DMV's and have asked what do they require and have been fine with that

What I'm saying is I've gotten in trouble twice. Once for selling a car with plates and once for buying a car with plates. At least in Colorado, if you want to be ticketed, called into court, and woke up at 2am by the police, buy or sell your cars with plates. The DMV's in three states and the police have all told me not to buy or sell with the plates and that's what I'm doing from here on out.

Plus if I get another vehicle I can use my old plates and it's cheaper that getting new ones.

[Xist]

I just think it is weird to remove the plates before the vehicle is sold.

I always say that I always take a car for a test drive and have a mechanic look at it, but this is the kind of exception that goes without mention:

1997 Toyota Corolla with unspecified miles in Whiteriver for $500

There isn't a license plate, the owner says that it doesn't run and drive, and he doesn't know what is wrong with it. He says that he does have the keys and title, though.

I would need to drive a U-haul over 100 miles.

So, we just received a tornado warning...