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@TechConnectify Interesting that the USA is still stamping licence plates. The UK stopped doing this back in the 1970s. There was a brief period of vinyl over metal. Nowadays it's black vinyl under methacrylate with a highly reflective backing. There has recently been a spate of barely legal "3D" plates with plastic letters stuck to the front of a reflective plate. (Now outlawed for new cars.)

And you don't need to get a plate made by the government. Most auto supplies shops can do it.

@nowster plenty of states don't these days, but to be honest I don't see a reason not to other than to make the process a little cheaper. It certainly makes fake plates easy to spot.

On the point of dealerships, some of them are given a supply of pre-made plates from the state. Others, though, register your car with a temporary plate and then you get a real one in the mail in a month or so.

@mark @nowster mmm that's not really what I mean by temporary.

Dealerships do have a special dealer plate (which changes color every year) they can slap on any car to move them around or for test drives or whatever.

But at least in Illinois, the plate only serves to reference who the car belongs to. It doesn't stick with the car, it's the driver's property. So a temp plate is just a laminated piece of paper to serve that purpose between when the car is bought and the state issues a real plate.

@mark @nowster and every time the car is sold, the owner is obliged to take the plates off. If they're getting a new car, they can be transferred to the new one for a fee. Or they can just keep them as a souvenir. Or recycle them at registration offices or stick 'em in any mailbox.

If you wake up and find your plates were stolen you report them as stolen and are issued new ones. The state handles all of it and it's honestly surprising to me that that's delegated in other countries.

@mark @nowster adding on here that this does not work the same in every state. I believe in California the plate stays with the car.

But to be honest, that has always felt wasteful to me. I don't really know what value there is in assigning a plate to a car rather than the person who drives the car. The car has a VIN and it's printed in SO many places so it's not like it can become a ghost.

Of course, in the grand scheme it's not like a plate matters much.

@TechConnectify @mark @nowster In Massachusetts, plates are issued when an owner registers a vehicle with the registry of motor vehicles. The plate includes a year of expiration sticker, which must be updated every two years when the vehicle registration is renewed. The registration and renewal processes also require proof of current insurance, so the sticker serves as proof of insurance as well. We don’t have insurance cards in our cars, just a printout of the registration form. Emissions and safety inspections are required annually, but that is a sticker on the lower right of the windshield.

When a car is sold, the owner can take them off the car and transfer the registration to a new vehicle. Or, they can return them to the RMV or attest to the RMV that they were destroyed.

@bhawthorne That's pretty similar to how we do things here. But I believe you only have to show proof of insurance at initial registration. Then it's up to you to keep it up to date.

However, if you live in the counties where emissions testing takes place (which is basically just Metro Chicago), the way that works is it becomes a block on renewing your registration. You don't get a separate sticker, you just won't be able to renew your registration until you pass an emissions test.

@TechConnectify You usually don’t have to show proof of insurance at registration renewal here any more, but that’s because renewals are handled online and the registry and insurance companies have integrated computer systems. When I go online to renew, the registry looks up the insurance company information last provided and queries the company as to whether it is still in force. If it is, your registration is renewed. If not, you have to fix your insurance before the registry will let you renew. If you renew in person, you have to bring the renewal application form to the registry pre-stamped from your insurance company.

@bhawthorne hmm. I suppose that could be what's happening here in Illinois. My parents have had the same insurance company for like 20 years, and I've had the same since I've had my own. So I haven't encountered what happens when you switch insurance providers.

That said, I'm inclined to believe the registration office doesn't care at all. I honestly don't recall providing them with insurance info when I registered the Figaro, and being an import with a weird VIN the process was very not normal

@TechConnectify I’m curious too. Curious enough to look into it. Nah. :-)