“I thought everyone played the game Out-of-Date-License-Plate when they were in the car. Turns out it was just the kids of a highway patrolman.”
“I thought everyone played the game Out-of-Date-License-Plate when they were in the car. Turns out it was just the kids of a highway patrolman.”
wotsa out of date license plate? Some Mercian thing?
Yeah. You plate carries the year and month when you’ve got to pay your annual vehicle tax. Pretty much VED but on hte licence plate, not a roundel in hte window.
That’s why US prisons had industrial scale license plate pressing equipment. Do they still do that?
So, you actually have to unscrew and screw on a new plate (or plates ) every year ?
It depends on the state. In California they have stickers on the rear license plate with the month and year of the registration renewal. In Texas you have a sticker low on the front windshield.
In Sask., Canada, the use of plate number readers has made stickers obsolete. If the scanner looks at your plate number, the registration information comes up on the screen of the cops computer. Note that all police have the scanners in their car, and the parking enforcement vehicles have about 5 poking out to look at all angles
“ not a roundel in hte window.”
We don’t have them now, thankfully. I got pinged for not displaying one when mine fell off and landed face down. It was not only an offence not to be taxed but also not displaying the disc.
“That’s why US prisons had industrial scale license plate pressing equipment.”
Yes, that’s always struck me as odd, that they needed such huge numbers, even with the number of cars they have there. Here the plate identifies the vehicle itself, and if you need a replacement one you go to the local garage/vehicle repairers and they run one out to order from a sort-of Perspex(tm) laminator/printer thingy.
A pheasant took mine out a couple of years ago, there’s huge amount of momentum in such a small stupid bird. I had to swerve several times before I hit it 😉
I drove around without renewing for a couple of weeks as they didn’t send me a renewal notice (not uncommon) and now there’s no sticker to remind you anymore when they do forget to send renewal, and of course you can’t do it online and have to go in person with a photo of your mileage display if you want the low mileage discount
Another oddity moving from the U.K. is that the plate doesn’t belong to the car as such so when you change cars you take the plates off and transfer them over, had the same plate for 4 different cars at different times
The Swiss system registers the owner not the car. So they have magnetic plates that you can take off any time. (I think some people register the car in more than one canton, so two or more plates, if there’s a tax dodge.)
Ownership of the plate is heritable. So beware if your taxi from the airport is GE 010 or ZH365, you’ll have an inbred behind the wheel.
If anyone’s interested, you can check the tax and MOT status online. Just need the reg number and confirm it’s the right car (make/model/colour).
https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/
@Justin
And for anyone contemplating bringing their Brit car down here, the local filth have an app on their phones does exactly the same thing. And they do play the “spot the untaxed Brit car game”. So if you’ve expired they’ll stop you & you’ll get it towed to the pound. Penalty’s around 200€ + tow charge + 50 a day storage. You will need your registration document & proof of payment to spring it. And possibly the aid of a lawyer.
And yes, you are being victimised. Here, car tax is municipal but owner registration provincial. As a result half the cars on the roads are untaxed & half of those aren’t registered to the user. Add to that the one’s aren’t insured & any car you’re unfortunate enough to collide with is highly likely to score the jackpot. Buy one second hand & you may be buying several grand’s worth of someone’s speeding tickets.
I believe that German plates also identify the owner, not the vehicle.