Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hi, I have a curious question that even the DMV site is not clear on.
About 6 months ago, my car's transmission died while stuck going out on the ice during the winter. For various reasons, I decided not to replace the car until the spring, so I turned in the plates. I learned that the savings in insurance was offset by basically having to pay upfront for a full new registration and plates when I got another car 2 1/2 months later (I did get a 1-year registration refund check, but it took 6 weeks to get that).
Unfortunately a drunk driver hit the replacement car two weeks ago and it was totaled. I needed to have one of these "junk car services" that pay you a small amount of cash take it today or I would've either had to pay to tow it to my friend's house (I live in an apartment and do not have a garage) or pay the body shop storage fees to keep it there.
I need to wait to get a replacement car as I'm on a pretty tight budget for getting another one (or at least need to wait for the settlement from the other parties' insurance company, I am told I am getting one but they haven't set the amount and it could take a couple of months to get it). Depending on how cheap a car (that runs) I can get it could be as little as a few days or as much as a month perhaps before I replace the car.
My question is, can I simply "hold onto" the plates to transfer them to my next car (which is a much easier ordeal at DMV and is $60, $10 transfer fee and $50 title fee) or did giving the car to the junkyard force a plate surrender if I don't have another car to put them on today? I know you have to maintain liability insurance to keep the plates and I'm willing to do that (since I think it will be less than a month) but I don't know if there's a legal issue doing that on a car I no longer have the title to.
Status:
"Let this year be over..."
(set 21 days ago)
Location: Where my bills arrive
19,219 posts, read 17,088,442 times
Reputation: 15538
Here is the DMV page that show the rules on transferring plates Transfer a registration to another vehicle | New York State DMV . If you don't see the answer you want e-mail them directly and ask. Knowing NY I doubt you will be able to avoid the fees you mentioned.
Had an errand near my local DMV office today so I checked, they said normally you do have to turn them in but since the car is being junked and not being re-registered by the buyer, we can keep the plates to transfer when ready so long as we keep up paying the insurance (bill not due for a month so I can wait). One fee besides the $60 I mentioned that does make sense which is the sales tax on the new purchase.
Turns out I might have a replacement car that I'll be registering either the end of this week or early next week so it works out anyway. Thanks!
Status:
"Let this year be over..."
(set 21 days ago)
Location: Where my bills arrive
19,219 posts, read 17,088,442 times
Reputation: 15538
Glad it worked out....
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
